Thornton Utz (1914-2000)

Looking over many hundreds of illustrations by dozens of illustrators who regularly received assignments from the major magazines of the 50's, one begins to appreciate that certain artists were called upon to prepare visuals for stories with themes or genres the editors felt they were best suited to.


So one could predict that a romance story might be illustrated by, say, Coby Whitmore while a James R. Bingham illustration was more likely to be attached to a crime story.

But then there are those illustrators I like to call "the generalists".

These were the artists that magazine editors assigned to illustrate any number of situations or topics. Of these, the best could stretch their styles and techniques to reflect some aspect of the specific scenario they were illustrating, thus enhancing the viewer's experience on a visceral level.

Among these top-tier generalists, I consider Thornton Utz to be the best of the best.

This week let's take a look at the variety of approaches this talented artist brought to his work.