Saturday, April 20, 2019

WHAT DO THESE 70 ILLUSTRATIONS HAVE IN COMMON?


Dean Cornwell

Skidmore
James Montgomery Flagg
Pruett Carter

Gruger
Harrison Fisher










 








                            










Charles Mitchell













































Richard Flanagan






  






Answer: they were all in a typical issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1920s.  (In this case, September 1923).
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16 comments:

  1. Joss4/21/2019 1:30 AM

    Wow just one issue, that is impressive. I never would have guessed it.

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  2. Brian Carrick4/21/2019 2:58 AM

    Such quality, I don't suppose we could achieve that in this day and age? but that's progress for you!

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  3. chris bennett4/21/2019 4:22 AM

    That is astonishing and impressive, by any standards. Thank you for such an enjoyable post David.

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  4. kev ferrara4/21/2019 8:11 AM

    Well put, David.

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  5. Donald Pitteqnger4/21/2019 5:13 PM

    Just curious, David, but what prompted you to select that particular issue?

    If it were me, the hook would have been the Cornwell illustrations forNever the Twain.

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  6. Donald Pittenger4/21/2019 5:17 PM

    PS -- I created the messy comment above while on my iPad in a Starbucks. Environment is everything, it seems.

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  7. David Apatoff4/22/2019 4:03 AM

    Joss, Brian Carrick and chris bennett-- Many thanks. When you consider that there were half a dozen comparable illustrated magazines at the time, and some of them were published weekly rather than monthly, the math quickly conveys why this was an era of great bounty for illustrators.

    Kev Ferrara-- yes, the best blog posts are the ones that require no words.

    Donald Pittenger-- It really was a totally random choice. The five issues before and the five issues after September 1923 had illustrations just as excellent. Many of these illustrations, including the Cornwell illustrations, were painted in full color with oil paints on canvas. I've seen some of those Cornwell illustrations in the original, and they average about 32 inches high, with paint thickly applied. For me, that underscores the incredible level of effort that went into illustrating these magazines.

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  8. Laurence John4/22/2019 6:23 AM

    thanks for the Ralph Barton i hadn't seen before. probably my favourite 1920s cartoonist.

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  9. Li-An4/22/2019 10:33 AM

    I know : hair. In each image, we can see hair.

    Or : all the images come from your collection :-)

    Thanks for sharing and thanks for Wallace Morgan. I love his work.

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  10. Lance Ross4/22/2019 6:45 PM

    So many in one issue. How much or how little would the illustrators have been paid? Did the magazine have a massive circulation to afford all that?
    ...Lance Ross

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  11. Albert Campillo Lastra4/23/2019 4:25 AM

    Guau! Todas son fantásticas, pero la ilustración de Ralph Barton me parece sublime. Muchas gracias por este post y por tu magnífico blog, (un verdadero descubrimiento). Ah, y perdón por no expresarme en inglés, pero es que soy realmente malo y no me fío mucho de google translator.

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  12. Anonymous4/25/2019 12:42 PM

    Wow... and every illustrator could draw.

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  13. comicstripfan4/25/2019 8:23 PM

    The almost photgraphic auto-vs.-train panorama is astonishing! The “STOP” sign near the middle gives a sense of utter futility. An incredible era.

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  14. Mark Armstrong4/27/2019 3:55 PM

    If ever there were a post designed to humble today's digital artists, this is it. I'm utterly abashed!! Just fantastic. Many thanks for sharing.

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  15. Aleš4/29/2019 4:53 PM

    Really impressive, thanks David.

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  16. Unknown5/19/2019 2:04 PM

    Hi David, this is Heather Woodburn (of the Oberhardt crew). Trying to get a hold of you via eml. Would you be willing to eml me back at hwoodburn@comcast.net?
    thx.
    Heather

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