Britian's Vauxhall: More Cars by Kass

Some months ago I posted some other Vauxhall ads. At first glance I had thought they were the work of Robert Fawcett - and many people commented that they had thought so as well. But thanks to Harold Henriksen, we learned the they were by an illustrator named Allan Kass.

Today, thanks once again to Harold, we have three more gorgeous Vauxhall ads to enjoy.


Kass was certainly a remarkable draughtsman. But despite spending more than a decade in Detroit during the 50's and early 60's doing automotive art, these elaborate scenes don't represent how Kass spent the bulk of his career. Like many artists who saw that times were a-changin', Kass went into paperback book cover illustration and eventually painted about 1,000 covers before retiring in 1998.


Rhonda Whiting, a huge fan of Allan Kass' work, contacted me after an earlier post with biographical info on the artist - and to share a gallery of Allan Kass book covers she had posted on Facebook.


To all of the above comes another tidbit, courtesy of Harry Borgman, who sent the scan below. Harry writes, "I never worked with Allan, but saw him around [Detroit] often at exhibits, restaurants, etc. I knew he was thinking about getting into the paperback field, and he sure did!"


"I found one of his ad illustrations in an old art director's annual, they just listed his name,so he apparently painted the car as well."

My thanks to Harry, Harold and Rhonda for generously sharing their Allan Kass art and information.

To best appreciate Kass' Vauxhall ads, go to my Allan Kass Flickr set and click the "All Sizes" tab above each image.