Another beauty and so well designed as a painting. My bad, I attributed it to Al Parker but Jolyn Bowler has just informed me that it is the excellent work of her dad, illustrator Joe Bowler. See recent comments, left. Click on all the images to enlarge.
So, I'm speechless. That's the way Al Parker's work leaves me. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and we'll get together again next week.
Click on all images to enlarge them.
From Cosmopolitan magazine for February 1952.
This is just the top of a full-page illustration.
Al Parker was famous for his Journal covers. This was a promotional piece, hence the note to advertisers in the lower left part of the illo.
Just the top of the illustration. My scanner isn't big enough for these pages and stitching doesn't much help.
Parker's talent speaks for itself. You don't need me to explain how good these are.
This is a painting, in my opinion. Al Parker transcended illustration for magazines.
Stay tuned for more from the fabulous fifties.
Here's the work of Al Parker, my idea of The Great One among illustrators.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
Illustrations don't get better than this. The complete double page spread is shown below. It's the usual copy to induce readers to think about making travel plans. The two people with their fishing gear is a predictable illustration; the fetching young woman in the mid-century bikini is where Parker makes his skill as an illustrator so obvious. I swear that you can smell her sun-tan lotion.
Another one of the great ads he did for American Airlines. It's obvious and it's been done a thousand times or more, but not as well as Al Parker could do it.
A more typical solution. You can see that Parker was doing his best with what he was asked to do. A dull and boring setup that he energized by rendering a personable ticket agent and a sophisticated traveller.
Same boring concept probably dictated by the client, except that Parker has saved it with a very restrained drawing technique.
What could be worse than this? Back view of travellers approaching the plane. Yes, that's the way we used to board planes in those days. Sometimes we had to run, with crew running along with us.
Once again, Al Parker saves the day with a very fine portrait of a flight attendant, known as stewardesses then and not averse to helping with the baby. Here he has taken a mundane situation and made an exceptionally good portrait out of it.
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