The Old School: Actually "The Chicago School"?

A friend emailed me the other day, saying he always thinks of what I call "the old school style" as "the Chicago style" - and that might be an appropriate term. Of the artists we looked at this week, Harry Anderson, Haddon Sundblom and Andrew Loomis all worked out of Chicago.


Even the Formfit ads from yesterday list Chicago as a primary address, adding to the plausibility that the art for those ads was done by Chicago-based illustrators. I mentioned the famous pinup artist, Gil Elvgren in the context of those ads and he too was a Chicago based artist (who had learned how to paint while apprenticing with Sundblom).

Add to that list Joyce Ballentine, who worked out of the Chicago art studio, Stevens Gross and of whom Frederick W. Bouton, VP of Creative Services, JWT, Chicago, writing in the November 1952 issue of Art Director and Studio News had this to say:


Ballentine famously created the "Coppertone Girl"...


But I would consider well known east coast artists like Walter Baumhofer...


...and Tom Lovell (both of whom had roots in the pulps)...


...and Fred/Chaite Studio's Mary Mayo to fall well within the broader range of the "old school" style. In fact, there were a great many artists enjoying tremendous success by painting in the style of the old school.



Haddon Sundblom claimed among his influences, John Singer Sargent, and Frederick Bouton described the look I'm trying to classify in his AD&SN article as "the solid chords of academic realism". For the sake of expediency, that description might be enough. Whatever the case, in spite of the long-enduring popularity and high profile of the old school, there was a change taking place as the 50's progressed.

Next week: The New School

The Old School: "That Formfit Look"

During all those years Pete Hawley was wowing us with his singularly unique take on illustrating women's undergarments for Jantzen's long-running series of ads, the folks at Formfit chose a more old school approach.


Formfit's ads, which ran in most of the women's magazines (and, for some reason, in the general interest digest publication, Coronet) utilized the skills of a variety of illustrators -- but the look of all their ads closely resembled a lot of the pinup art of the day.


I'm not well versed in the subtleties of individual pinup artist's styles so take this with a grain of salt but among varying degrees of skill displayed in the anonymous Formfit illustrations the really top-notch ones look to me like they could have been done by Gil Elvgren or Joyce Ballentyne.


Having spent so many years in advertising, I find Formfit's marketing strategy really intriquing... it seems to be implying a sexually suggestive message while attempting to conform to the acceptable standards of that sexually repressed era.


Otherwise why would Formfit choose to create ads that were so reminiscent of the pinups of the day? Were they attempting to appeal to their women customers or the husbands of those women? If it was the former, how often did 1950's women see pinup art? And if it was the latter, how often did 1950's men peruse their wive's magazines? Its a little difficult to fathom from the distance of a half a century and decades of more sexually liberal attitudes.

All these images plus several more have been added to my Pin-ups Flickr set.

The Old School: Andrew Loomis

I would venture to say, "They owe it all to Loomis."


Before Sundblom, before Anderson, before Joyce Ballentyne, Gil Elvgren and before a host of other practitioners of "the old school style", there was Loomis.


William Andrew Loomis was born in Syracuse, New York in 1892 and studied under the legendary George Bridgeman at the Art Student's League in New York City. By 1915, at age 23, he was already working in a Chicago art studio. Apart from a 20-month stint in the army during WW One, he would spend the rest of his working life in that city, eventually opening his own studio and ultimately becoming an instructor at the American Academy of Art.


Perhaps more importantly, Andrew Loomis quite literally wrote the book on illustration: his Creative Illustration, first published in 1947, is considered by many to be a masterpiece of commercial art instruction. In his introduction to the book, Loomis wrote:

"My purpose is to present what, in my experience, have proved to be the fundamentals of illustration. To the best of my belief, such fundamentals have not been organized and set forth before. So I have attempted to assemble this much-needed information, trusting that my own efforts in the active fields of illustration qualify me to do so."

I found my fourth printing copy about 20 years ago in a Toronto used book store for ten dollars, but a quick internet search for this long-out-of-print book shows me that you'd need to spend a couple of hundred dollars to get a copy today.


Really, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in drawing,painting, design and illustration and I can't understand why it hasn't been reprinted. For those students who can't afford a two hundred dollar book, I discovered a site that offers all of Loomis' books free for download in pdf format.

By the late 1940's, Loomis illustrations in the magazines, like the one below, are rare. I've got a few more, all from Ladies Home Journal, that you can see in my Andrew Loomis Flickr set.


Why did Loomis fade from the pages of America's major magazines? Was he busy teaching? Did he retire? Or perhaps his style was simply a little too old school.

Whatever the case, Andrew Loomis should be lauded for the powerful influence he had, both on the industry and on the many students who learned from this master illustrator - either in the classroom or through his books. Andrew Loomis died in 1959 - and for reasons I can't imagine, it took forty years for him to be inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.

The Old School: Haddon Sundblom

While its not my intention to provoke a popularity contest, surely Haddon Sundblom deserves the title of Pre-eminent "Old School" Illustrator of the 20th Century.


Just take a moment to luxuriate in Sundblom's ability to lay down a stroke of paint and have it somehow magically transform into a perfect fold of clothing or curl of hair.


In an article by Robert E. Olsen in the 16th issue of Illustration magazine, Charles Showalter, who worked in Sundblom's studio, said of the artist that it was amazing how he could put so much paint on so fast, with "all the colours, values, lighting, and everything in there."


You can examine Sundblom's amazing illustrations more closely in my Haddon Sundblom Flickr set.

At the Crossroads

While I was searching out the pieces by Sundblom for today's post I came across an interesting confluence -- a crossroads in illustration history:

The same April 1947 issue of Ladies Home Journal that held the Sundblom illustration above of the sad little boy also contained quite a bit of work by a former Sundblom studio artist named Coby Whitmore. Not only did Whitmore do a story illustration just a few pages away from the one by his old boss, not only did he have a full page ad in that issue...


...but further along in that magazine master and student illustrated ads on the same spread. I wonder how the two men would have felt about seeing each other's work juxtaposed like that? While Whitmore was still a few years away from becoming one of the principle drivers of the "New School" 50's style, and Sundblom's days of popularity were far from over, seeing the work of these two highly influential artists in this context helps clarify the transition period between the two schools.


And, as if to close the circle, even further on in that same issue of Ladies Home Journal, this full page ad by Jon Whitcomb (below). I'm not sure if Coby Whitmore had already joined the Cooper Studio by 1947 or if he was soon to join, but he and Whitcomb would, within only a few years of this work, become the twin pillars of the premier art studio in 1950's America and set the tone of romance illustration for a generation.

Harry Anderson Addendum

Yesterday's post on Harry Anderson generated some wonderful responses, including this one from TI list member Aron Gagliardo, from the American Academy of Art:
"Leif,
Looking forward to this weeks "old school" illustrators. Take a look at the Academy's website for an original Harry Anderson (top left)." Thanks for the head's up, Aron!

As well, TI list member Eric Colquhoun sent a note that he had "a couple" of Harry Anderson scans he was willing to share -- so this morning I was wowed by a second message from Eric with nearly a dozen images I'd never seen before...


... including a nice little selection of Anderson's later, relious paintings.


They have all been added to my Harry Anderson Flickr set -- with many thanks to Eric for his generous contribution.

The Old School: Harry Anderson

Last week's look at Canadian illustrators of the 50's reminded me once again about the clearly defined split between those artists who were experimenting with previously unseen styles and techniques and those who were fully immersed in "the old school".


In the States this split was perhaps a little less obvious since the new school of illustrators - most often thought of as "The Cooper Look" illustrators - still painted realism... its just that it was a sort of contemporized, more graphic approach to realism. Many of that "next generation" of artists had trained and apprenticed with the old school illustrators and it took them several years of experimentation to evolve their more modern techniques. But the "old school", fully rendered, "buttery" painting style was still very much in vogue, especially for the first half of the 50's.


Harry Anderson would most definitely be among the top tier of "old school" illustrator/painters. The amazing thing about Anderson is that he got that oil paint look, that "Sundblom style", with watercolour.


Want a closer look at these pieces and a bunch more by this artist? Take a look through my Harry Anderson Flickr set.

William Winter (1909-1995)

Another very regular contributor to Canada's magazines in the 50's was William Arthur Winter.


Winter may never be considered to have had the artistic stature of a Cahén or a an Arbuckle... but I have to say, I'm extremely fond of his work.


Artists who experimented with a variety of styles and techniques, who had the versatility to try many approaches, have always held a special interest for me - and William Winter was definitely one such artist. (Perhaps, in the small pond of Canadian commercial art, stylistic versatility was a key to survival).


Winter's illustrations often had a sort of lyrical, storybook quality to them - and he seems to have been assigned many projects that involved the portrayal of children. He even wrote and illustrated a June 1954 article in Chatelaine magazine for young parents entitled "Hey Pop - It's Raining Out!" with the credit line "by William Winter, artist and father of two".


Winter's expertise, sensitivity, and interest in drawing and painting children seems to have lead to his later career in fine arts: the Roberts Gallery has a good selection of his work from that period, when Winter focused almost exclusively on stylized paintings of children. Click here to see a page of examples.

The piece below, done in the 1960's for Prudential Insurance, is a pretty good example of Winter's later painting style and suggests that he was still involved with the commercial side of the art business.


There is some biographical information on William Winter at this site.

You can see all of today's images at full size in my William Winter Flickr set.

Well, that's it for our week-long look at Canadian illustrators of the 50's. Of course there were others -- and plenty of them! If you've read this blog for a while you're already familiar with James Hill and my friend, Will Davies. In the coming weeks and months you'll meet some others as well.

Rex Woods (Birth-Death Unknown)

After Franklin Arbuckle, Rex Woods was probably Maclean's magazine's most prolific cover artist during the 50's. Some have called Woods "the Norman Rockwell of Canada".



In spite of that status and Woods' tremendous popularity with commercial art clients in Canada at that time, there is surprisingly little information available on him. This may be because Woods seems to have invested all of his efforts in illustration art -- and the relative anonymity that often comes with that choice. I cannot even find confirmation of the date of Woods' death, though I heard an intriguing anecdote from a reliable source regarding a situation related to that event:


A few years ago I was called in for a cover assignment by Maclean's Creative Director, Nick Burnett. As Nick lead me down the hall from reception to the studio I fell further and further behind as I realized that the hallways were lined with framed originals by Rex Woods. The larger-than-printed-size paintings were stunning to behold and Nick seemed surprised by my enthusiasic desire to linger and study them. I suppose that when one passed by these gorgeous works of art day after day, one could become blasé even about such accomplished craftsmanship.

Shortly thereafter, once we were settled down at Nick's desk he related the following to me:

By complete coincidence, Nick had discovered, he was living in the same well-appointed downtown Toronto apartment building where Rex Woods and his wife had lived for much of their lives. The superintendent of the building, upon discovering that Nick worked at Maclean's, had told Nick about how the elderly couple had passed away several years earlier - the husband and wife dying only a few weeks apart.


It seems that Woods had no immediate family - in fact, no relatives of any sort could be located at all. Upon cleaning out the apartment, the super found it filled to overflowing with original artworks, paintings were stacked in columns and leaning against every vertical surface in deep rows. Woods had managed to get a vast amount of his original art returned and had hung onto it for the remainder of his days. Perhaps he had hoped the art would be a sort of retirement fund... perhaps he was simply attached to it.


Whatever the reason, now that both he and his wife were gone, there seemed to be no one to pass along this treasure trove to. The superintendent even tried to contact potential publishers of a Rex Woods art book but none expressed any enthusiasm for putting together such a project. The market which Woods had so thoroughly dominated just a few decades earlier had lost all interest in him and his work.


Happily, the super realized this art was too valuable to simply landfill. Apparently he had had quite a close relationship with the Woods' and genuinely loved the artist's work. He put it all in storage. As far as we know its still out there somewhere under lock and key in some darkened, faceless cinderblock building waiting to be rediscovered.


You can see all of these images at full size in my Rex Woods Flickr set.

Franklin Arbuckle (1909-2001)

Lest you think every Canadian artist of the 50's was simply biding his time in commercial art until he could make it big as an abstract expressionist, let me assure you -- there were plenty of "realistic" illustrators in the field. Chief among them would certainly be Franklin "Archie" Arbuckle (below, at left).


During the 40's and 50's, Arbuckle, who had a close friendship with one of the editors at Maclean's magazine, was responsible for a huge amount of the publication's cover and interior art.


During that time, Arbuckle travelled across Canada by train, painting scenes that caught his interest and sending them back to Maclean's editorial offices in Toronto. Through Arbuckle's work, featured so regularly on the cover of the nation's highest circulated weekly magazine, Canadians across this vast land saw the familiar and the unfamiliar , the extraordinary and the everyday, that which we all shared and that which was unique -- in landscape, people and activity.


A mutual friend, Tom McNeely, who, as a young in-house artist at a Toronto art studio got to see Arbuckle's originals when they arrived for print production and who later befriended the older man when they met through the Toronto Arts & Letters Club, told me that Archie called himself, "a painter who did some illustration."


Arbuckle taught for many years at the Ontario College of Art. When he retired in 1989 he continued to take many independent sketching trips to the east coast and various small Ontario communities. Tom joined him for many of those trips. Clearly, Archie never lost his love of painting on location and enjoyed interpreting the many beautiful spots around the country through his work.


On March 30th, 2001 I was fortunate to be invited by Tom to join him, Archie, and a few others for lunch at the Toronto Arts & Letters Club. There, at last, I got to shake the hand of one of the great old men of Canadian illustration. It was a little overwhelming to be in the presence of someone who embodied almost a century of experience in the field I had chosen for my career. Archie was a genial, cordial gentleman, and I wish I had had the opportunity to ask him in greater detail about his career but the happy, noisy gathering never allowed for it. Even then, at age 91, Archie was planning their next painting expedition. Sadly, he passed away only a couple of months later.

Take a moment to study the full size version of these images in my Franklin Arbuckle Flickr set.

Harold Town (1924-1990)

Another member of the group, Painters Eleven - in fact, the member credited with coming up with the name - is Harold Town.


Town doesn't seem to have received nearly as many assignments from Canada's major magazines as his fellow Painters Eleven alumni, Oscar Cahén and Jack Bush, but when he did work for Maclean's, it looks like he was entrusted with some fairly daunting assignments!


Artist James Picard has created a tribute page to Harold Town where you can see a portrait of the artist as well as examples of the abstract work for which Town became reknowned.


I find this piece, Mechanical Forest Sound, which Town painted in 1953, very shortly after he had completed all three of these illustrations for Maclean's magazine, provides an interesting juxtaposition. If you look at how Town dealt with the arrangement of colour and shape in these busy illustrations, you can almost see a natural progression leading to the abstract piece.


Take a closer look - view these images at full size in my Harold Town Flickr set.