Naiad & Walter Einsel's "Art from the Heart"

I had wanted to post about this for Valentine's Day, but it didn't work out. No matter - any time's a good time to spread a little love!

This is the cover of Naiad Einsel's book, which she was working on when I first interviewed her in 2006. "Walter and I loved Valentine's Day," said Naiad. "It was a big day for us. We loved it more than Christmas. We loved it more than birthdays."



Just before Christmas last year, I was delighted to discover Naiad had completed her book (it can be ordered at this link) which collects the hand-made valentines she and husband Walter exchanged annually during all the years of their life together. When they were a young couple living in a one-room apartment in Manhattan, they would put a dividing screen in the middle of the room while they worked on their valentines.



While Naiad always created artworks on paper for Walter (like the beautiful design above) Walter's valentines for Naiad began to take on an added dimension.



"Each year these efforts became more complex," said Naiad. "What started out as collages with old decorations and rubber stamps incorporated into the design, evolved around 1960 into elaborate 3-dimensional sculptures carved in wood, with internal whirling disks and moving parts."



This remarkable little book (it measures just 9" square) is a wonderful document of a lifetime of creativity by two tremendously talented artists. It's also a very personal window on a life-long passionate love affair. Naiad has given us permission to share in that intimate relationship through her and Walter's words, pictures and sculptures. If you're like me, you will close this book feeling genuinely touched by the experience.



Walter Einsel passed away in 1999 but happily, Naiad is still going strong at age 86.



Nolan Pelletier, an illustrator who visited Naiad last year sent me a note saying, "Naiad's doing really well! She's an amazing person. I'll be visiting again in a few weeks, and will hopefully get to see her collection of clippings of Jerome Snyder, Joseph Low, and other great illustrators' work. [Her home is] an amazing museum of her and Walter's work. Every inch of space is carefully curated, full of beautiful things, and all kept meticulously clean. It's heaven."



If you're interested in ordering your own copy of Naiad Einsel's Art from the Heart, you can do so at this link.

*Art from the Heart is © 2008, 2013 Naiad Einsel

Crazy in Love

"We were really just crazy about each other," said Naiad.
"it was like a fever," Walter agreed. "It just went on for weeks and months."
"Years," said his wife, smiling across at him.

From a 1989 article in The Advocate

Early on in their life together, the Einsels began making elaborate Valentines for each other. It was a concrete expression of that crazy fever of love they felt for one another. When they still lived in their one room New York apartment, they would put a dividing screen in the middle of the room while they worked on them. "We were on our honour not to peek," says Naiad. Later, in their Westport farmhouse, the screen was no longer needed. Though the Einsels shared a second-floor drawing studio, their desks separated only by an old U.S. Navy map file cabinet, Walter would work on his Valentines in his sculpting studio in the barn.

"Each year these efforts became more complex," says Naiad. What started out as collages with old decorations and rubber stamps incorporated into the design, evolved around 1960 into elaborate 3-dimensional sculptures carved in wood, with internal whirling disks and moving parts. This was a result of Walter's interest in engineering and mechanics and took his career in a new direction as he began creating Rube Goldberg-like sculptures for advertising clients in print and television.

Naiad, meanwhile, was hardly resting on her laurels. Among many other prestigious accomplishments is her design and direction of the Westport Bicentennial Quilt. At 76" by 104" and with the assistance of 33 "needlewomen" to do the sewing, the quilt, begun in October, 1974 was finally put on display in January, 1976.

But in spite of their hectic work schedules, the Einsels always found the time to continue creating their Valentines. "Walter and I loved Valentine's Day. It was a big day for us. We loved it more than Christmas. We loved it more than birthdays."

Walter Einsel passed away in 1999.


"When Walter died," says Naiad, "I felt that I had been so fortunate to be a part of his life and his love. I feel very blessed. The memories of all that we had sustain me."

In tribute to those memories and that love, Naiad has been working on a book, A Passion for Love, depicting the nearly 50 years of hand-crafted Valentines that she and her husband exchanged. "I just received some galleys on my Valentine book & I have to concentrate on them now," Naiad wrote to me yesterday as I pestered her with yet more questions.

There are so many moving examples of Naiad and Walter Einsel's tremendous love for each other, but for me, one of the most charming anecdotes is also the very first, again from the article in The Advocate: back in 1952, when Naiad was assistant art director in Promotions at CBS and Walter held the identical position at NBC. They had seen each other's work but had never met...

"I liked his work, because it looked like my own. I had this image of him with a thick German accent who was married to a big German housfrau out of Wagner," she said.

One day, a job opened up at CBS and Walter came over to apply. "I walked in and there was this adorable-looking man," said Naiad. "you know when you're young you picture this knight on a white horse..."

"I wasn't that impressed with myself," Walter interjected, "but I thought you were very attractive."

"Then we both stood there and looked at the floor," said Naiad.

To ease the tension, Walter then put his hand in his pocket and whipped out a hinged nutshell containing a miniature stage set from the opera "La Traviata".

"I thought to myself, 'Ooh, he's really weird; this is a kook...' "

More Feast than Famine

"There were always ups & downs in freelancing...feast or famine. But there definitley was a slowdown when photography became more popular. It may have been a period when Walter concentrated more on 3-dimensional illustration." I had asked Naiad if the sudden decline in magazine illustration that occurred in the early 60's had impacted her and Walter's workload.

But the 60's ushered in a new era in illustration for which the Einsels were ideally positioned: the rise of decorative styles. As well, Walter had begun experimenting with 3-dimensional moving sculptures ( you can see a couple of them in the photo above ) and in doing so had created a unique and lucrative niche. Naiad described this period in an article she wrote for Northern Light magazine in 1970:

Last summer, when Walter was working day and night on a mechanical sculpture for a television commercial, I was working day and night on a campaign of full-page ads for him along with my own freelance assignments. Since we think so much alike and have such similar tastes, its easy to fill in for each other at any stage.

By this time in their careers, the Einsels had both truly "arrived". They had both done children's books, book jackets, album covers, TV commercials, TV titles, packaging designs, movie posters, and of course, countless magazine illustrations.

As well, they had appeared in Graphis and other design publications, received awards from the Art Directors Club, the Society of Illustrators, The Type Directors Club and AIGA.

Of the inevitable "famine" periods in the life of the freelancer, Naiad says, "We also sent out more self promotion pieces. We had a few agents over the years but we never felt comfortable with them. We always felt better dealing with AD's on our own."

"Leapfrogging"

"We met in April of 1952 and got married in June 1953," Naiad said in an article from the Westport News. "We fell in love right from the start and it stayed like that forever. We had so much in common. Even our artwork had similar styles. We were able to help each other, right from the start."

The Einsels employed a method of working Naiad calls "leapfrogging".

"This is especially useful when one or both of us is under pressure of a heavy work load. First we'd sit down and verbally consult, brainstorming ideas. Then I'd draw a little sketch and Walter would add to that and we'd go on and on in this way, refining all the time."The Einsels would sign the finished piece according to who received the assignment.

The 50's were a busy time for the young couple. As well as illustration work, they were starting a family with daughters, Leslie, born in 1956 and Hilary, in '58. During one lucrative assignment from Collier's magazine Naiad recalls, "I just rocked that carriage with one hand and drew a five-page spread with the other."

As well, a big move was coming for the Einsels: by the mid-60's they had traded in their one room New York City apartment for a circa 1853 Victorian farmhouse in Westport Connecticut. West port had long been home to some of America's most famous illustrators, including many of those whose work the teenage Naiad had admired in Seventeen magazine.

"We met some of the realistic illustrators at the Society of Illustrators & a few of them in Westport where they are revered. They were quite a bit older than we were. A lot of them taught at Famous Artists school here in town. We were friendly with Bernie Fuchs, Fred Otnes, Howard Munce, Wendall Minor, Jerry Pinkney, MurrayTinkleman & others closer to our age."

Of those realistic artists she adds, "As a member of the Society of Illustrators I was kept aware of their work & did actually meet many of them & still admired their work but they no longer influenced me."

"I liked his artwork because it looked like mine."

Naiad says her Pratt education in Illustration did not prepare her for the working world of a commercial artist. "They didn't help us decide what to put in our portfolios, how to approach art directors, how to conduct an interview. Perhaps more of that was taught in the Advertising Department. I had to learn everything about layout & typography on the job."

I asked her how art directors found out about her. "I ...made cold calls in the early days of my career. I was very shy & nervous & insecure but I was a good actress & I don't think anyone noticed." She took assistant art direction jobs for the security but found plenty of freelance illustration work to do as well. "The freelance work paid better but not much by today's standards. For example, the spots I was doing for the [New York] Times paid $15 each although I slaved over them for days. My job at the Weintraub Advertising Agency paid $75 a week which at the time I thought was great. It paid my monthly rent. When I left CBS I think I was making about $150. I did like the security of a staff job. I was getting good samples for my portfolio too. I also liked the prestige for my resumé."

It was during her tenure at CBS that Walter Einsel came into her life. "We met when he came over to CBS to apply for an opening at a better salary. He didn't get the job. He got me instead."

Walter Einsel was born in New York City in 1926 and graduated from Parsons in 1949. His first assignment was from the New York Times Magazine but, like Naiad, he ended up taking a staff job - in his case, at rival network NBC. "Whenever Walter picked me up at the office," says Naiad, "everyone hastily covered up his work out of fear that the spy from NBC would take back ideas with him."

Naiad and Walter had already been aware of - and were fond of - each other's work . Now they discovered they were also fond of each other. "We discovered we had similar tastes in almost everything - the furnishings and colours of our apartments were interchangeable - we liked the same foods, antiques, people, animals, cars, and politics. So we decided to combine all of this under one roof, and since we liked one another also, we decided on a practical and romantic working arrangement: marriage."

*All these images can be seen at full size in my Naiad & Walter Einsel Flickr set.

A Calling Card for All the World To See

Imagine a story of a young girl who came to the city to make it big as an illustrator. What if she got a job as an assistant art director at a major national network? And what if, one day, she met a man who had the same job at another national network? What if they liked each other, and each other's work ( which was uncannily similar in style ) and what if they fell in love and decided to marry, and move to the country, and raise a family, and work together - even on each other's assignments - so that their lives became connected in every way, in a perfect union of hearts and minds. Wouldn't that make a great and romantic story?

Well there is such a story. Its a true story - the story of Naiad and Walter Einsel, and thanks to Naiad's generosity in sharing her story with me, I'm able to now share it with you:

Naiad was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in a tiny town called Ocean Gate. In the one room schoolhouse of her childhood she copied pictures from children's books. When she brought these drawings home, her parents praised her and told her she would be an artist when she grew up. And they were right.

Her childhood love of comic strips like Popeye and Terry & the Pirates lead to her teenage interest in the work of Al Parker and Jon Whitcomb and that lead to Pratt, where Naiad majored in Illustration. "I was exposed to a whole new world of art from Indian Miniatures, The Renaissance, Cubism along with perspective, anatomy & basic drawing. I was definitely planning to become an illustrator," she says.

She might have followed in the footsteps of the realistic illustrators of the day but "[in] my last year at Pratt... I discovered illustrators in Seventeen Magazine such as Jan Balet, Jerome Snyder, Ben Stahl & Saul Steinberg in the New Yorker. Even shortly before that I was very influenced by primitive art such as Egyptian, Indian Miniatures [as mentioned before] & especially early American folk Art."

So it was that Naiad began to develop the illustration style that would eventually lead to her first job: "After graduating from Pratt [in 1947] I showed my portfolio to Frank Lavaty , an agent. He told me that Ralph Daddio, the art director at Seventeen Magazine, was looking for an assistant in the promotion department. I called him & showed him my portfolio & got the job...$45 a week. My work on staff began to be seen by advertisers who called me & I started to freelance nights & weekends. After a year I got bored there & heard about a job as an assistant to Paul Rand [my hero art director] at the Weintraub Agency. I was interviewed & hired & learned a lot about graphic design there although Paul was a very difficult boss. We did become friends though. After about 3 years I wanted to move on. I had been doing a lot of freelance for CBS & heard of an opening there & was hired. Again, people called me when they saw my work & I was kept very busy. I had regular assignments from the N.Y. Times which was like publishing a calling card for all the world to see."

For a young illustrator in the ultra-competitive world of commercial art in New York City in the early 50's, Naiad had certainly seen her share of good fortune. But more importantly, she had known to answer when opportunity knocked. Well another knock was about to come, and this time when Naiad answered, she would find Walter, portfolio in hand, standing there.


*These images are from a tiny accordion-fold self-promo booklet from the early 50's. You can find them (plus many more) at a much larger size in my Naiad & Walter Einsel Flickr set.

Coming Up Next Week

Remember this piece from our week of Ads with Storybook Styles back in March?

Well I just couldn't get it out of my head. That signature, "Einsel" was an intriguing clue I couldn't let go of. I'm so glad I decided to dig deeper into who the mystery artist of this lovely piece was because I was rewarded with making the acquaintance of Naiad Einsel.

So then she is the artist of this piece? Well yes... and no. You see there were two Einsels - Naiad and her husband Walter - and much like the Provensens, the Einsels shared their lives and their work in a perfect union of love and art.

Starting on monday Naiad takes us back to the beginning of her and Walter's wonderful story.