Tuesday, October 20, 2020

A LAST LOOK AT THE AUSTIN BRIGGS ARCHIVES: part two, the noir years



In the 1930s and 40s, Austin Briggs did a huge number of illustrations for "noir" stories-- dark pictures of hard boiled characters in trench coats and fedoras.  Gun fights under street lights on rain soaked city streets.  Deep shadows and angle shots.






The magazines that published these stories are long gone and their illustrations are unlikely to be reprinted any time soon.  So here is a good selection of images from Austin Briggs' personal files.












Just as "film noir" was traditionally filmed in black and white, black ink drawings with chiaroscuro effects would seem to be the ideal medium for noir stories.  But by 1950 Briggs had graduated to a full fledged painter.  Look how he handled the same gritty urban subject matter using the values and contrast that color afforded him:   












This is an artist who was maturing.

5 comments:

Li-An said...

Beautiful. Such intensity in these pictures.

Tom said...

Thanks for all the great pictures David. The conflict between two forces just lends itself to the creation of dynamic compositions and pictures.

Wes said...

Beautiful stuff! The 1949 police cruiser with the zany riot of colors is incredibly creative -- almost noir Maxfield Parrish -- if there can be such a thing.

Thanks for these beauties.

Wes

kev ferrara said...

His noir stuff is fun and well done. Never knew of this work. Thanks.

David Apatoff said...

Li-An-- I agree. The noir content really gave a boost to the pictures, books and movies of that era.

Tom-- When I received the boxes from Briggs' son, all these fun pictures spilled out unto my lap. "Dynamic compositions and pictures" is certainly right. They've been in hibernation for 80 years but they spring right back to life when exposed to daylight.

Wes-- "Noir Maxfield Parrish" sound like an oxymoron at first but it's a good way to characterize that odd picture with the man sitting on the curb. Briggs was clearly beginning to flex his muscles, not just with color but value.

Kev Ferrara-- I didn't know about this body of work either, which is why I felt I should be offering up batches of it for others to view and assess.