Friday, February 03, 2012

A Few More by Bowler

The announcement of Brian Neher's free online art contest, which is beginning next week, and Joe Bowler's donation toward the grand prize, got me digging through my old magazine collection once again for more examples of Bowler's fantastic artwork.

I haven't had much time this week to post, but I hate to leave you to get through the weekend with no new mid-century artwork to inspire you. So here are a few more pieces by Bowler. I find it fascinating to see the artist's stylistic development in a compressed format like this. Below, Joe Bowler from Cosmopolitan magazine, 1951...

Bowler39

... from the Saturday Evening Post, 1959...

Bowler37

... and from Woman's Day, 1962. In each piece you can see Bowler getting looser, rougher, and more energetic with his technique...

Bowler38

... until one could almost imagine that Bowler's rough sketch from the early '50s might have looked like the finished art from the early sixties!

Finally, below, an actual Joe Bowler "sketch/study" for an illustration, found at the Heritage Auctions website. (This last, incidentally, is currently open for bidding)

Bowler40

Have a great weekend - and don't forget, I'll be at The Nook next Wednesday evening talking about Female Illustrators of the Mid-20th Century

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:27 PM

    This was a wonderful post. I cannot thank you enough for archiving these wonderful artists. I have learned so much by exploring your site and visiting and lingering over your links list. This is where I discovered the Provensens and Lines and Colors. I can't say enough about the opportunities to learn that your site provides. Thank you so very much. Betty

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