The talent was there but some of the editors and art directors were influenced too much by the sales people. The emphasis seemed to be on illustrations as decoration to complement the kitchy ads and home improvement pages of the womens' books. Click on the preceding hot link to read how Professor Mendez describes the evolution of this genre.
Click on all the images to enlarge them.
This example is by Lynn Buckham (1918-1982) and one of the best. The guy is a well-known male model of the time, and I'm guessing that the young woman is based on a profile photo of Grace Kelly, attached to photos taken of live models. The background is 1960s chic.
Joe Bowler was born in 1928 and the youngest illustrator to make it big time in the studios which fed the publishing beast that devoured illustrations of beautiful people. The word on the street at the time was that he was a delivery boy who was mentored by illustrators at Cooper Studios in New York City to become a top-flight illustrator, which he was indeed, and only in his early twenties. We all envied him.
Coby Whitmore (1913-1988) was one of the stars in the business. M. Coburn Whitmore was born in Dayton, Ohio, attended the Dayton Art Institute, moved to Chicago and apprenticed with professional illustrators while studying nights at the Chicago Art Institute. He later moved to New York City where he joined the Charles E. Cooper Studio and became one of the VIPs in probably the leading illustration studio of the time. His work appeared in all the major womens' books.
Joe De Mers was another prolific illustrator. His illustrations of sexy women appeared often in Esquire magazine. This is certainly not one of them, and appears to be from photos of the actress Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds.
René Robert Bouche appeared months ago in this blog. This is work he did for a Schweppes ad, which is not too impressive. My guess is that he rushed the job.
More, later . . .
I give somethings of the magazine ilustracion of the 1938, some 52 exemplaries. Sorry, but I don't write inglish. my telefone number is 0151335684427 - Brasil
Posted by: Alan Carlos Lopes | October 31, 2006 at 03:36 PM