SatEvePost

When I left Chicago, after a summer at the Art Institute, I took two big portfolios with me on the train. One of hard-earned two bit stuff I had created, and one of all the great prints and posters I spent big bucks on at the great print/poster/book shop a few blocks off Michigan Ave. This J.C. Leyendecker was a favorite among favorites, that I actually spent money on to have professionally framed, at a time when I barely had enough money to eat on. That was my summer of exploring the essence of Rembrandt, and I remember reading that Rembrandt would spend his last few coins on a little vase as a prop for a painting rather than buy food. I identified with that attitude.

 This was created as a SatEvePost cover in the 1920s.

Ordinary Subject, Extraordinary Artist

It's wonderful to see how ordinary subjects can be interpreted by extraordinary artists . . . like Catherine Jeffrey Jones. 

Word Salad

The ol' stat counter has counted thousands of downloads from this site, but the most popular one so far appears to be Fred Schrier's underground comix work. Well that's just cool. 

Here is a story from Mother's Oats Comix #2, 1970, that has always been a favorite of mine. Some of these panels are great grafix and deserve to be seen close-up. I'm posting it extra large so you can click in on the cool details and text. These pages show what graphic panels can be about instead of the superhero beat em up fests that pass for comic books these days.

Word Salad 2

Powers That Be

1950s and 60s (and beyond) Science Fiction paperback covers  were dominated (at least from my point of view) by the artwork of Richard Powers. 

Powers brought an abstract quality (literally) to the genre with wildly imaginative designs. The first cover shown below was not sci-fi, but the quiet design appealed to me even as a kid. The Time Machine cover is also a big favorite of mine.

 

Powers That Be

Kelpie or Nixie?

Another in a series of Herbert Draper paintings, The Kelpie. Traditionally a kelpie is a supernatural water horse, so I'm not sure what Draper's title refers to, as this is perhaps more of a nixie, a type of river mermaid. Whatever.

Mean Mr. Mustard

Another Fred Schrier one-pager:

At First Glance

Here's a 1915 Willy Pogany illustration that, at first glance, I took for Franklin Booth. But it's a Willy alright, from a Sunday magazine.

Zen Zone-Outs

Underground comix helped get me through a difficult adjustment to Army life back in the early 70s. None more so than those created by Fred Schrier and Dave Sheridan. I would come back to my quarters after a rough day and many times unwind by escaping into The Balloon Vendor and Mother's Oats Comix and such. Fred Schrier, who now goes by Alfred Schrier, was my favorite with his goofy, benign, zen zone-outs. He's now a kid's illustrator.  I'll post more sometime, but this back cover one-pager is a good introduction to his comix and to a great idea.

Mr. Schrier, if you're out there, Clevelandish, I would love to hear from you. I'm a big fan of yours. Thanks for the good ol' daze. 

I've posted this extra large so you can get into the detail. Be sure to click on it.

Good Together

Husbands and wives rarely work together well, or so I've heard. But Leo and Diane Dillon are so good together, they literally work on top of each other's work. My wife and I aspire to work similarly, but we have found how difficult that is.

I met and talked with the Dillons at a book signing and was so impressed with their loveliness.

This illustration is, of course, from their spectacular Ashanti to Zulu.

Whelan

Michael Whelan has some really nice paintings, but these are two of my favorites.

Summer Queen

Snow Queen

It's Another Kelly Sunday

Forty-five years ago today:

Notice how Kelly purposely misspelled 'inc.' in the syndicate blurb.

Artful Rendering

From back in the stone age of the 1970s, another artful rendering by Stephen Fabian.

Ursula Andress as "She" by H. Rider Hagard

Stood Out-1

Gene Szafran had an art style that certainly stood out on the book spinner racks:

Stood Out-2

And Szafran did some nice illustration for Playboy, among other mags:

It has Magic

Stephen Fabian, illustrator of sci-fi and fantasy, seems undervalued and unrecognized by many. While his work could be a bit derivative here and there, it has magic. 

Decorative Art

Not all fantastical art was created for books. This is a decorative oil panel by Howard Cushing—commissioned  to decorate a room (that's a lot of what our studio does--some of my best artwork has only been seen by affluent families and their friends).

Appropriate Thought

A few minutes ago, out of the blue and unplanned, I came across this photo portrait of Amelia Earhart. I thought, oh this is cool, I want to post this next. But I thought, I should wait and use it when some particular date is appropriate. Then I thought (I'm always thinking) no, I want to post it next. I scanned it and just now before uploading I thought (there I go again thinking), I thought I'll just quick check any appropriate dates today. TA-DAA, this is her birthday, today, right now. She was born July 24, 1897. How much more appropriate could it get? I love synchronicity.

A portrait of Amelia Earhart by the Bachrach Studio, 1930

Wild About Harry

Here's a nifty Gahan Wilson illustration of Harry Potter for the New Yorker, for the first film. Notice that Harry is pinning up cartoons from the New Yorker, including a great Charles Addams on the upper left, and in his hands, the most famous James Thurber cartoon ("All right, have it your way—you heard a seal bark!").

That Was the Week That Was, July 25, 1969

People were high on the moon all week, not just for the one small step. Time magazine was still 'timely' with a cover date of July 25. But it also became a 'time' capsule of other icons of that dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Besides the cover and the moon men, I've pulled a few pages relating to us people on earth, just to show the context of the 'time'.

A really nice cover by Louis Glanzman, his 30th for Time, showing Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon . . .

' The Moon'—a catchy catch-phrase . . .

The Moon Men were photogenic and brave. The neat thing is that they weren't cocky . . .

It was a wonderful event for cameras, but it was cool that Robert McCall, and other artists for other media, were on hand . . .

In hindsight we can laugh that there was concern about bringing back 'moon bugs', but if they hadn't done the quarantine and there really were cosmic pathogens and we all died horrible blood-spitting deaths . . . wouldn't we have been pissed?

A cool Time diagram, adapted from Life . . .

Keep scrolling down to see about life on Earth . . .

That Was the Week That Was

Yes kids, Americans could land on Mars as early as 1982 . . .

And, hmm, it says here the Nixon Administration has secretly decided something. But Dick, you've always been so forthright. . .

And Ted took the wrong turn somewhere . . .

Raquel shows us that the moon wasn't the only heavenly body covered in the news . . .

And look who all was on hand for the media including Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers hisself and (Wow!) Rod Serling . . .

That Was the Week That Was

Here's an interesting little column about 'hip ticket buyers'. As was pointed out in a comment by one of our esteemed visitors, Woodstock  became a cultural milestone just scant weeks after the moon landing and the time of this article.

The original slug bug was becoming the flower child's vehicle of choice, though seldom bought new off the lot:

And a new movie hit the road . . . so to speak.

And that's the way it was on Friday, July 25, 1969. For CBS News in Washington, I'm Walter Cronkite. Good night.

Good night Walter, wherever you are . . .

Sunday Comics

The Sunday comics used to be such a treat. Week after week a phantasmagoria of HUGE pages of art delivered right to the door! A wide variety of cartooning styles were a delight to the eyes, colored and printed with care. 

One of the most visually exciting artists of the time was Alex Raymond with his Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon presented in tandem, usually on the front page. 

When I was a kid, I found this page in my grandmother's basement with old newspapers, waiting to be used as dropcloths. Grandma said 'sure, take em', and boy I did, along with some others, and kept them safe all these years. 

This page was so big I had to scan it in 6 sections.

A Beautiful Queen of Libya

Another Herbert Draper painting, called Lamia. In ancient Greek mythology, Lamia (Greek: Λάμια) was a beautiful queen of Libya who became a child-eating daemon. . . and oh yes, that IS a snakeskin she's wearing around her waist.

Oookay then, yeah, well, that's the lesson for today kids.

And below a study for Lamia.

My Kind of Town

Speaking of Chicago, it's my kind of town (cue Frank). I got these posters just off Wabash in '69.

above, Leslie Ragan

Electrified with Excitement

As if you haven't seen enough about the 1st moon landing, these are oversize postcards that I bought 40 years ago today from a street vendor, downtown Chicago. The city was electrified with excitement. 

I can't think of the moon landing anniversary without thinking about my dad, as he passed away 23 years ago today.  Cheers Dad!

Transcendental Portal

I think of this as a Transcendental Portal. If I cross this threshold, my life will never be the same. Until I am prepared to do so, I gaze through it from time to time and wonder. 

I'm sorry to say I don't know who the artist is. For a number of years I would clip scrap from magazines (in this case Omni) and file the images in the morgue without regard as to who when where etc. These days, if I clip (and I don't nearly as much as I used to) I would keep track of such pertinent data.

Prince of Fairy Tale Illustrators

Another handful of illustrations from the prince of fairy tale illustrators, H.J. Ford.

Kelly Sunday is Here Again

Pulled out of the Way-Back Machine, from 45 years ago this morning:

Outstanding Decorative Painter

William P. Welsh was an outstanding decorative painter and illustrator, primarily of the 1930s, who seemingly has not been given his due. He was very prolific, yet it's hard to find many examples of his work, let alone a collected works book or such.  

Welsh did fiction illustration for numerous publications. He painted many magazine covers and posters. He also did several murals, many portraits, exhibited internationally and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. 

He too is one of my favorites.

Another Castle

Another Philip Castle, another retro favorite:

TechnoRetro

A really nice example of the TechnoRetro illustrator—Philip Castle:

My Favorite Hong Kong

I'm sorry I don't know the photographer of this portrait of Hong Kong, but it is my favorite image of that amazing megopolis.

Fairy Tale Art

Fairy tale art was abundant in 1920s advertising. This Djer-Kiss art by C F Neagle.

Golden Age of Mythology

This is one of my very favorite paintings by Herbert Draper, called Sea Melodies, very evocative of the golden age of mythology. This is a time and place I go to when I'm in a fever dream.

Art Deco Artform

Art Deco manifested itself in many artforms, but none so charming as the many bronze and ivory sculptures of the era. This one is by Pierre Le Faguays. I plan to post a number of others.

Image Treat

Millions of people have already been there, but just in case you haven't, run—do not walk— over to www.SkullADay.com, for an image treat. Buy the book. Below are just 3 samples of many many examples of creative skull. . .I mean skill of Noah Scalin.

The plate of spaghetti is my favorite.

Yow, Ditko!

A cool Steve Ditko piece, from the cool Fantagraphics book: Strange and Stranger—The World of Steve Ditko. This artwork originally for  the cover for All Stars #1, 1965. Some people say Ditko lost the early Kubert influence in the early 1960s, but somehow I always still see it in most of his work. Here especially in the woman, but also here and there. Not a bad thing by any means.

Personified Waves

What fabulous stylization! Personified mermaid waves, subtly evoked. An Edna Cooke cover from 1920.

My Favorite Vermeers

These two paintings are my favorite by Vermeer, and below them is my favorite photo inspired by a Vermeer. OK, OK, they're everybody else's favorite Vermeers too.

Enchantment's Veil

Mid-summer enchantment doth impart its veil upon us. This lovely tableau, entitled Mid-Summer Nights Faeries, was painted by Robert Huskisson in 1847.

Dark and Brooding

A dark and brooding poster by Edmund Dulac, 1911.

Photo Reference

I love comparing artists' work with their source material. Alberto Vargas painted this publicity portrait of the Ukrainian-born actress Anna Sten. The photo reference is a work of art in itself.

Primitive Charm

These are a handful of illustrations from Tales From the Arab Tribes, a collection of stories told by the Arab tribes of the Lower Euphrates, a 1950 publication. The illustrator is John Buckland-Wright, not very well known, but the drawings have a primitive charm. 

It's interesting that I found this volume in the children's section of an old bookshop. Heck yeah, where else would you place it?

Flower Faerie

I have many favorite Arthur Rackham illustrations, but this flower faerie is one of my special favorites. It's simple and sweet. 

Magazine Stylings

I am crazy for the magazine stylings of the 1920s and 30s.

Homer Conant

Disney Stuff

Disney stuff made for good illustrations in the national media back in the 30s and 40s.

A Bucky Project

Another set of original art that I obtained from Wally Wood, but is no longer in my possession. This must have been for a 'Bucky' project? I love in the sketch how Wood tried a couple of arm positions.

Sunday, Kelly Sunday—Gack

Exactly 45 years ago this morning, this Pogo strip first saw 'print'. Now it's seeing 'post'.

Mucha : L'illustration

Here's a Mucha I haven't seen reprinted a lot, a beautiful cover to L'illustration, a beautiful French periodical. I would dearly love to see a coffee table book dedicated to this magazine's contents that were published over the years.

Costume Drama

A Herbert Draper oil study, this time a costume drama regarding the story of Tristram and Yseult.

Swirling Red Cloak

The previous post was intriguing for its swirling red cloak and evoked a sense of similarity. And then I remembered Frazetta's and Krenkel's riveting use of amorphous, nearly organic, swirling red cloaks on some of their covers. But these were the two covers I had at hand.

I came back into this post to correct my mistake of crediting both of these covers to FF, but the person correcting me also made the mistake of thinking both of these were RGK.

Frank Frazetta

Roy Krenkel

Art and the Jade

Another in an on-going series of Herbert Draper works, this one entitled Art and the Jade.

My Favorite Adventure Movie Poster

Vintage Morn

Another Herbert Draper painting, The Vintage Morn. 

I'm sure there's a story attached to this painting, but all I know is—that kid is on quite an adventure. Stuff that dreams are made of.

Another Mucha print

The last post was a quality Mucha print that I've treasured for years. Likewise for this simpler Mucha print.

Beautiful Preliminary

A beautiful preliminary study by Mucha. . .

Bogart

Anyone who loves Bogart has to love this beautiful illustration by Sanjulian. 

This is as good a place as any to remind everyone that material posted on this 'blog is copyrighted by creators and publishers and it is a major violation to utilize these works in a commercial manner, without proper authorization. I post this material in the non-profit interest of public information. 

Some of these creations would make dandy posters and such, but don't try to make money at it.

This piece is copyrighted by Sanjulian.

Ain't it a beauty though?

Allegories

Gustav Klimt created two versions of an Allegory for Sculpture. Lovely to compare.

Day & the Dawn Star

Many times I find that I like preliminary work more than the final artwork, for myself as well as really top-notch artists. Such is the case here with another of Herbert Draper's paintings, Day and the Dawn Star. Immediately below is the study, below that is the final art. 

Mountain Mists

Herbert Draper's Mountain Mists 

Final Painting

Oil Sketch

Figure Study

Public Notice

As much as I really want to, I just don't have time right now to post entire sets, themed or otherwise, of images that I treasure. But I do have time to pull up images (at decent resolutions) one at a time, with little comment and apply labels so that ultimately they will organize themselves somewhat. So just a notice, that for now I will do that more often than not, just so that I can keep posting until my projects die down (oh please don't die down too much--projects are good).

Thanks for tuning in, and keep doing so, cause here and there I will make time for larger posts.

Bangola

Pogo, as published 45 years ago today, is written only as Kelly could write it. Bizarre and funny.

The sound effect of 'Bangola' is too similar to 'payola' to think that isn't what Kelly was referring to. But it seems to be an oblique reference. For debaffling sake, here is a summary of 'payola', as found on the internet:

Payola -  The paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay.

"Payola" is a contraction of the words "pay" and"Victrola" (LP record player), and entered the English language via the record business. The first court case involving payola was in 1960. On May 9, Alan Freed was indicted for accepting $2,500 which he claimed was a token of gratitude and did not affect airplay. He paid a small fine and was released. His career faltered and in 1965 he drank himself to death. 

Before Alan Freed's indictment, payola was not illegal, however, but commercial bribery was. After the trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor, penalty by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison.

Intrigue

Ah, the fireworks are lovely this time of the year, as is the intrigue of the night.

L'Intrigue Nocturne by Gaston de Latouche

Educators, Please Read This

I've been scanning a lot of Pogo strips lately, and looking at the strips on the backside. 99% of that material is meaningless, but this Archie strip stood out, for its message-of all things. I ask anyone who has an interest in improving education to please read this, and take it to heart. It's message is valid. 

Technical Difficulties--Please Stand By

As you can see on the surface of this cartoon, I've got ink spots all over my scanner glass. I don't know how they got there, and they won't clean off! I'm not naming names but somebody else is using this scanner. Please stand by for any further posts until I figure this out.