vince’s ear

This is a continuation of the earlier post The Holidays and J. C. Leyendecker to point out some of the early 20th century American illustrator’s New Years paintings.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was first commissioned to illustrate the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1899.  This would begin a fourty-four year long career which made him incredibly popular with the Post’s editors, and of course the readers. He came up with the idea of using a baby to illustrate the birth of a new year and faithfully returned to the theme at each New Years holiday.

Keeping up with current events, as always, Leyendecker would show the baby in all types of creative poses in relevant settings. The one above shows an optimistic rebound from the Great Depression.  The ‘34 cover would show a baby tycoon reading stock ticker tape at the end of a rainbow. In the years to come the little tike would anticipate and participate in World War II sometimes with little uniform hats or helmets and a rifle.

Along with the New Year Baby, Leyendecker helped to popularize the new image of Santa Claus as a jolly red fat man in his now familiar suit, and he began the tradition of giving flowers on Mother’s Day in his May 30, 1914 cover shortly after President Wilson made the day an official holiday. His influence would reach the younger Norman Rockwell, who idiolized Leyendecker and emulated much of his style. Rockwell would go on to be the main illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post after Leyendecker.

Speaking of Rockwell… In the Christmas post I showed one of his Four Freedoms paintings. It’s interesting to find one of them in Empire of the Sun, the movie which introduced a young Christian Bale to the spotlight. Early in the movie, after talk of impeding war escalates, the Bale character is shown being tucked in by his parents (from whom he would soon be separated); a perfect resemblance to the Freedom From Fear. This was no accident, as the Bale character keeps a copy of the actual Rockwell print as a reminder of his parents.

Anyway, happy new year, baby.

Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and the hopes that you can sit around a nice and delicious holiday meal with your family like the one in the painting above.

This painting is actually part of a series from American illustrator Norman Rockwell, called the Four Freedoms, with this one being the Freedom From Want. The title comes from the State of the Union address of FDR in 1941 in which the president explains the four essential human rights: the freedom of speech, the freedom from fear, the freedom of worship, and the freedom from want. The rights were emphasized as motivation to continue the support of the fight in WWII.

Rockwell, as a major contributor to the Saturday Evening Post covers, used the “freedoms” as a four week theme to coincide with essays and articles from major thinkers of the day with the underlying message: “In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.” Later the original oil paintings highlighted a touring exhibition which would raise money for war bonds.

Norman Rockwell, along with his predecessor J. C. Leyendecker, painted in oils with a distinctive realist style to portray early 20th century America. Like Leyendecker before him, Rockwell enjoyed a long and prolific career as Saturday Evening Post illustrator. He helped to spread ideas and messages to the public using the vehicle of one of the most popular weekly magazines. The message was sometimes one of unity and family, and others one of tolerance and peace. Often the illustrations were playful and humorous.

The covers, of course, also went along with the seasons and holidays with the best of all being the warm and jolly covers of the most popular holiday season. The Rockwell santas, in part inspired by the Leyendecker Saint Nicks, were always a favorite among among Rockwell fans. He always made sure to remind people of the origin of Christmas by being sure to include a little halo of the jolly elf to show that he is in fact still a saint.

Even fans of the most modern abstract art can appreciate the warmth you get when looking at classic Rockwell holiday paintings. Maybe the realist style is unfortunately gone and real oil paintings done for magazine covers almost obsolete, but the family values, “Peace on Earth,” friendliness and happiness that Rockwell art represented is still alive and well.

Early twentieth century Americana was the epitome of traditional holiday imagery: warm settings with friendly families together at a table set with a feast, carolers huddled together in the snow bundled up and cheerfully singing old songs, or Kris Kringle sneaking from the fire place with his bag as an astonished youth peaks around the corner.

Images like these were brought to homes on the covers of magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post by illustrators such as the J. C. Leyendecker, beginning around the turn of the century (his first Post commission was 1899). This was the Golden Age of Illustration, the time of Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, and the like, and The Saturday Evening Post was the most popular magazine in America.

Leyendecker was commissioned by the U. S. military for recruitment posters, along with numerous consumer products such as the Arrow Collar Man, and enjoyed a forty four year relationship with the Post. He helped shaped parts of American culture, such as beginning the tradition of giving flowers for Mother’s Day with his cover of a 1914 edition after President Wilson declared it an official holiday, helping to popularize the image of the red-clad jolly fat Santa along with the Sundblom Coca Cola ads, and creating the famous New Year Baby. Every holiday had a special cover- Thanksgiving, Easter, you name it. He eventually retired, handing the covers of the Post to his friend Norman Rockwell, who was very much influenced by his predecessor.

Life was one big party during the decadent roaring twenties but the thirties, with the Great Depression, marked a slow down of comissions, increased reclusiveness and later the eventual end of his career. His partner of 48 years, Charles Beach, whom he had modelled the Arrow Collar Man, was with him when he died in 1951.

It’s here already!- that festive holiday season where advertisers get to compete like no other time of year for all of your attention they can get. With attention spans dropping and the world moving faster and faster, ad agencies need to be newer, faster and sexier to get you to buy.

And what could be sexier than Kris Kringle? Okay, that’s not where I’m headed and don’t worry, I have no intention of filing this under “erotica.” He’s not exactly new either, but he is fast being able to reach every house in one night with time to relax with a bottle of Coca-cola. At least that’s what we always see him with.

Coca-cola has been doing the best, time-honored Santa ads which date way back to the Great Depression. Of course, there’s nothing depressing about pure Christmas jollity year after year to cheer you up and, naturally, make you buy soda. Did you know the modern Santy Claus image was pretty much formed by these commercials? Yes, giant corporations really do shape our culture.

It started in 1931 with artist Haddon Sundblom commissioned to replace what had been a wide range of Santa imagery: some being not so fat, and others not even jolly, none of which were suited to advertise a soft drink or anything. To place ads in such magazines as The Saturday Evening Post, Sundblom looked to the poem “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas,” as inspiration to show a wholesome, friendly, fat man in red who could make people feel warm and happy.

Through the years the Coca-cola Santa appeared in many different settings but keeping that traditional style and image, always holding up a glass or bottle of Coke with a grin which says, “If you don’t want coal in that stocking, better leave a Coke with those cookies!”

The illustrations are always superb, and there’s nothing wrong with appreciating good commercial art (Brillo boxes anyone?). The original Sundblom Santa oil paintings are prized artworks today and regularly exhibit around the world in such places as the Louvre. There are also a number of memorabilia which are popular collectibles. Nowadays we see the Polar Bears which have been around since 1993, but the traditional Santa has never fully disappeared.

Forget Black Friday, forget the first of December, we know it is truly the Christmas season as soon as we see those Santas on Coke cans.

Coke-Lore: Coca-cola and Santa Claus

hello.

is the lone inscription on the drawing.

It might be this simplicity that makes Kareena Zerefos’ artworks so charming. Or maybe it’s the multi-colored stripes going across a beautiful image of an owl. The illustrations seem to come from some enchanted fantasy: no crowded backgrounds; just the essentials- a single subject in focus, often with an intriguing subtitle.

Sometimes her art makes you think, other times it makes you feel. The colorful owl just said, “hello” to you. Now, don’t you feel better? You see an image of a young girl hugging the leg of a giant dog with the statement, “They defeat the mean giants.” How does that make you feel? His name was Sebastien it says as a young boy holds his pet goldfish, out of water, but in a bubble dripping.

The Australian artist uses colored pencils and gouache to create with now, but started out using anything she could find and on cheaper paper. She’s a self taught illustrator who studies design and printmaking at a university in Canada. She now lives and works in Sydney, and just had her first solo exhibition. She’s just getting started.

I look forward to seeing more of her dreams becoming art.

kareenazerefos.com

This post is really just an extension of the previous post Alice’s Adventures In Art, which shows some of the many illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. There are so many styles of illustrators of this classic book which span over a century. Those illustrators have the power to bring fantastical stories to life, giving children images which last a lifetime. Seeing the pictures can bring back so many memories.

I made the video after I made the obviously unrelated Yamamoto erotica montage (though if you look closely in that video, Alice makes a not quite G-rated cameo appearance).

I talk about coloring books so much (Coloring outside the lines, etc.) you’d think all I do is sit on the living room floor with those big Crayolas in my fist and color away. Would that be such a waste of time?

I stumbled across this website showing these Asian coloring books for adults which you have to check out. There’s everything from mandala designs and Manga cartoons to anatomy books and Jagdpanther German tanks. There is even one with Led Zeppelin characters which you can dress.

The idea is that no matter what age you are the physical act of coloring can relax you, and the choosing of the colors can enhance your creativity. In our rough and tumble world, sitting down on that living rug and putting crayon or pencil to coloring book sounds very therapeutic. Does it not?

Of course these are only a few of what’s out there, but they seem to be a good start. There are links on the page which send you to the Japanese Amazon- just click on the “translate to English” link on the right side of the screen to do just that.

Maybe I’ll give that Nazi tank buster an Andy Warhol camouflage look.

PinMag- Tokyo based magazine about “Design and Making Things”- Coloring books

I had just finished watching Searching For Bobby Fischer the other day after a sudden chess mood and I set out to search the disaster area that is my room for my old chess book. In my searches I stumbled on an Aesop’s Fables book I bought at a book sale years ago. It was the same book sale where I passed on buying a “Joy of Painting” type book written by Winston Churchill long before World War 2. I don’t know why I didn’t get it, but I kicked myself when I found that the book sells for about $60, it being somewhat rare. (Doh!)

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I tossed the book aside but then noticed it was illustrated by Alexander Calder of the famous Calder family of Philadelphia. It was his grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, who sculpted the most well-known statue in Philadelphia- the William Penn atop the City Hall. Alexander’s father was also a prominent Philadelphia artist who, among other things, designed fountains around the city, including on at the end of the Ben Franklin Parkway.

Interestingly, standing above the Great Stair Hall in the Philadelphia Art Museum, you can look out the window toward the east entrance and gaze out at the Parkway. With one of Alexander Calder’s giant mobiles hanging above the stairway behind you, you can see Alexander Sterling Calder’s fountain with Alexander Milne Calder’s William Penn off into the distance, all forming a straight line.

Being the youngest of three generations of great artists, Alexander had no lack of skill and creativity. Many of his sculptures dot the landscape around many of Philadelphia’s public areas. I had not known that he illustrated anything and count the discovery serendipitous. The illustrations are very interesting and seem all to be contour pen drawings drawn mostly in one looping stroke.

I took the liberty of including some scans here for you. See if you can tell which fables they are. Enjoy.

P.S.- It’s been a while since I posted anything due to recent case of poison ivy rash which rendered my fingers useless when it came to typing. Starting a garden required the clearing of many poison ivy vines. In an effort to find my green thumb I got a red one instead.

During my absence the readership of this blog has tripled for some reason. What’s the moral to that fable?

L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz books once complained that his books were better than Lewis Carroll’s Alice books because the stories in the fantasy world of Oz actually meant something while the Alice books were just nonsense. It appears the joke was on him, as the books such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass literally were literary nonsense. The style Lewis Carroll used was all about playing with language and logic with a careful balance of sense and nonsensical elements. This type of literature therefore knows no limits but the imagination, which we all know has no boundaries. This gives us wonderful characters which, with the help of illustrators, come to life on the page.

Alice was first published in 1865 after inspiration from Alice Pleasance Liddell and others to write some of the stories Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) had told them. In 1871 Through the Looking Glass And What Alice found there was published which also included illustrations by John Tenniel. The original early Alice’s Adventures Under Ground manuscript is published in 1886- with drawings by Lewis Carroll. The Nursery Alice is published in 1890 meant to be a shortened version for “children from nought to five,” and included colored Tenniel plates. In 1998 one of the surviving first editions was sold at auction for $1.5 million making it the most expensive children’s books ever traded. This would be topped when J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books sold for $3.9 million nine years later.

In 2000 American McGee’s Alice is developed by Rogue Entertainment and features our character in a story based on a merging of the Alice books. The excellent artwork is supplemented by the music by Chris Vrenna, the drummer for rock band Nine Inch Nails, to give the game play an eerie atmosphere. Many movies have been made from 1903 to 2004, most notably the Disney version.

Few classics have had the illustrative scope as the Alice books through history. Since it was written in 1865 hundreds, if not thousands, of publications have been made with the illustrative talents of hundreds of artists gracing the pages. We all know the famous Sir John Tenniel version, the first to illustrate Alice, and then the legendary Arthur Rackham gave us his version in 1907 (see above). Did you know even Salvador Dali did some Alice illustrations? Many wonderful illustrations of Wonderland can be found and they all have their distinct styles and qualities.

See also Illustration, and Spotlight on Arthur Rackham.

Read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Gordon Robinson illustrator), and Through The Looking Glass on Project Gutenberg.

One look at one of Sidney’s Sime’s wonderful illustrations and I was intrigued. His fantastical imagery is superb enough to adequately complement the writings of any great author.

Hailing from England, Sidney Sime lived and worked in the Golden Age of Illustration along with other illustrator greats as Sir John Tenniel and Edmund Dulac. He was even born in the same year as the legendary Arthur Rackham. Educated at the Liverpool School of Art, Sime illustrated for such humourous London magazines as Pick-Me-Up and later for the more prestigious Pall Mall and The Idler. He even purchased and co-edited The Idler after a rich uncle left him a sizable fortune.

In just under two years, however, The Idler went out of business. But, with the help of his dead uncle’s estate, the illustrator still had no troubles staying financially afloat himself. Without the need to work, he found the time to work on his illustrations with an ever enhanced fervor.

Though magazine work was his forte, Sime would catch the eye of a certain up and coming Irish aristocrat author. Lord Dunsany at the time was only 26 years old and was working on The Gods of Pegana, and knew of only one illustrator alive who could possibly complete the task of effectively illustrating the work. Lord Dunsany approached the artist and eight plates were completed for the book, which was published a year later. This started a fifteen year collaboration between the two.

Lord Dunsany was so impressed with the illustrations he would eventually write an entire book based on the Sime artworks called the Book of Wonder. Besides providing frontispieces for two other books, Dunsany’s were the only books Sime illustrated. When Sidney Sime died in 1941, his works were left to his wife who later created a memorial in Surrey, England.