From the sublime to the ridiculous in illustration. The slide begins

We've seen the great characterization work of Florence Scovel Shinn and others uploaded into this blog, and while such realistic portrayals of our fellow man by equally competent illustrators continued -- and I'll get to them for certain later on -- I want to document what happened at the beginning of the slide to the simpering smiling faces we've been subjected to in all forms of advertising and sales promotion. This is an ad produced for the Pontiac division of General Motors which appeared in print in 1944. 

Click on images to enlarge them.

G.I. Joe, from Central Casting. For an image of what dogfaces really looked like in their battle gear, see the work of Bill Mauldin.

His identical twin in the U.S. Marine Corps

Another handsome devil of a male model posing as a merchant mariner. I have never in my life seen a tassel on a navy watch cap worn by an American.

Of course all the members of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) were as fetching as this female model.

And Lord knows how much we love nurses, this lovely creature an angel indeed.