Tuesday, June 26, 2012

More Fun Stuff for Summer: Pete Hawley's Jantzen Ads

Summer mean its bathing suit time again and without a doubt, nobody ever illustrated the ideal beach wear body like Pete Hawley did for Jantzen in the '40s and '50s.

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Let's take a closer look, shall we?

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I presented a bunch of Pete Hawley's Jantzen ads when I wrote about his career a couple of years ago.... but here are a few more from the early '50s that I've managed to dig up since then.

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*Whew!* Is it just me or is it getting hot in here? One last piece for your viewing pleasure. I found this scan of what looks like an unsigned Pete Hawley original online this morning. No idea what ad this came from, but it must be yet another gorgeous Jantzen ad - very likely also from the early '50s.

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Interested in reading more about Pete Hawley? Just click the links below:

Pete Hawley, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

7 comments:

  1. I was first made aware of Pete Hawley's art through Shane Glines' site, and I appreciate very much all the imagery that both Shane and yourself have brought to our attention, Leif. He's quickly become one of my favourite illustrators, due to way he so deftly straddles the line between straight illustration and cartooning. He seems to be able to subtly caricature both his figures of adults and kids in order to imbue them with a heightened sense of life and personality. Obviously I respond to his illustrations of pretty girls the most, and I find that their bright smiling faces cause me to smile as well in viewing them. His work is always delightful, and that's become an increasingly rare quality in artwork in the decades since.

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  2. Great post Pete E., and I agree with you on all points. Thanks to Leif and his constantly digging up more Hawley's, he really has become one of my all-time fave illustrators. And hats off to Jantzen for having the maverick attitude to use such a stylized artist to represent their company. Anyone else would have gone strickly realistic. Hawley's playful pixy quality worked perfect for Summer swimwear (and everything else he illustrated).

    Nice to wake up and find a bunch of Hawleys I'm not familiar with! Thanks again Leif!

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  3. Love the "cartoonish realism" of this work. As always, thanks for posting, Leif. You are a Great Canadian!©™

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  4. I owned that last painting for several years, unfortunately had to part with it. The detail on the suit was incredible.

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  5. Anonymous1:55 PM

    Love these paintings- though I have to wonder if the odd looking dolphins resulted from a lack of reference or a deliberate "classical" dolphin motif?

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