Here are eight Essomarine ads from the late 1930s, all illustrated by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss). They appeared in Motor Boating magazine, a periodical devoted to the yachting crowd and are quite scarce. Plus a 1929 cartoon from the old Life humor magazine by Seuss on the Swiss Language.
A Stevan Dohanos Gallery
A Selection of his Saturday Evening Post Covers In the long line of famous illustrators whose paintings regularly graced the covers of the Saturday Evening Post, a few jump out immediately. The name of Stevan Dohanos has to rank in the top three. Leyendecker had incredible style and flair. Norman Rockwell, well, he was Norman […]
Clifford Ashley’s Whaling Illustrations
Clifford Warren Ashley (1881-1947) was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He gravitated toward an art career at an early age and eventually studied under Brandywine artist Howard Pyle and later enjoyed a successful career as an illustrator for popular magazines. His upbringing in New Bedford and his interest in sperm whaling earned him an important […]
Comic Relief: Recalling Lost Laughs From the 50s.
Two dozen cartoons from the golden age of the mag gag. Back in the 1950s magazine publishing was in it’s heyday. Millions of Americans enjoyed the content that mass market periodicals brought into their homes every week. Television broadcasting was in its infancy. Most households turned to reading for information and entertainment. Magazines like The […]
AUTO-MANIA
The automobile was a startling novelty in the first decades of the twentieth century. Would the smoke-belching, dangerous contraptions become a part of American life? Riding the roads on wheels became an overnight sensation. Ads and magazine covers for the new vehicles filled the popular media and illustrated the new motor cars in all their […]
A Shermund Sampler
Several words come to mind when describing the work and life of Barbara Shermund: Feminist. Bohemian, Intelligent, Talented. Mystery. A feminist because Shermund was a woman cartoonist when they were scarce, especially at Esquire Magazine in the thirties. And her ladies weren’t dumb. Although she drew the typical showgirls, harassed secretaries and showgirls, she portrayed […]
THE BERENSTAINS BEFORE THE BEARS
In 1962 Stan and Jan Berenstain took a new book concept to their publisher, Random House. The story featured a family of bears. Their editor,Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss.) loved it. It was published and to great success. Thus the Berenstein Bears Series was born and continued for 40 years. It became one of the most […]
Edward Penfield: Master of the Poster.
Edward Penfield, while best known as the father of the American poster, was simply a master of graphic design and illustration. He studied at the Art Student’s League. Upon graduation he immediately found a job at Harper’s and served as the art director between 1891 and 1901. For five of those ten years he turned […]
John Gannam’s Amazing Watercolors
John Gannam was an extremely successful commercial illustrator whose life was something of a Cinderella story. Born in Lebanon in 1905 as Fouzi Hanna Boughanam he came to America with his family in 1909. They settled in Chicago. Sadly, his father died when John was 14 and out of necessity he dropped out of school […]
Bundy’s Beauties – Gilbert Bundy
Born in 1911, Gilbert Bundy grew up in a number of oil boom towns throughout Oklahoma. His father was an oil company scout. After graduating high school, he went to work for a Kansas City engraving company. In 1929 he moved to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a cartoonist. He soon began […]