The legendary Will Elder passed away last week at age 86. He had a long, glorious career as a founding artist for MAD Magazine, TRUMP, Humbug and Little Annie Fanny. Working from these platforms, he made a deep impact on the youth of America (especially teen age boys).
For me, Elder's great contribution to humanity was not an original style or a sensitive line or brilliant designs. His work offered no profound insights into human comedy or tragedy. Instead, his strength was slapstick. Note how Elder equipped the menacing space creature with a glass cutter to get access to the space cutie:
Look closely and you will see that her helmet is also a gum ball machine. Elder's unruly imagination wouldn't have been effective without the technical skill to draw so convincingly. Yet he never gets bogged down in the detail; his gags never interfere with the fluidity of the picture.
Here you can see Elder's craftsmanship close up:
In order to keep a consistent value on the girl's thigh, he painted out and redrew individual dots. Was it worth the effort? All I can tell you is that those legs were extremely important to boys all across America who would have noticed if even a single dot was out of place.
Many of those boys were motivated to become artists just so they could draw girls the way Elder did.
I speak from experience.
I really like this piece. It fits with what has become for me a new appreciation and discovery of all those artists who contributed to Mad's early years. I love the technique and the subtle humor of this piece.Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it, Mark. Those early MAD artists were a gifted group but beyond that, they were also truly and deeply weird. Harvey Kurtzman had a lot to do with the tone, but each artist contributed his own juicy eccentricities.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorite single Elder drawing. I alsmost chose it for my homage, but in the end I went with two busier samples from the early magazine Mad.
ReplyDeleteGer, I enjoyed your excellent (and obviously heartfelt) tribute to Elder on your blog, and I commend it to others. You certainly picked two fine examples of his MAD art.
ReplyDeletegreat post
ReplyDeleteAm I incorrect in assuming that Elder is "parodying" Virgil Finlay's pulp illustrations with this wonderful drawing?
ReplyDelete"Many of those boys were motivated to become artists just so they could draw girls the way Elder did.
ReplyDeleteI speak from experience."
Too true. I gave it a shot as a lad, and tracing this sort of thing occupied LOTS of my time! lol