Lifestyle Flashcards
Al Parker
(1906 - 1985)
- A trendsetter credited with creating the “new school” of illustration. His work was often imitated to prevent this he experimented in a variety of styles, themes and media-equally adept at painterly renderings and minimal line drawings
- defined style of progressive illustration from 1940s – 60s.
- Once, in cooperation with the art director of Cosmopolitan, he secretly provided every illustration in the September 1954 issue using different pseudonyms, styles, and mediums for each story
- attended Washington University’s School of Fine Arts, afterward, he opened an ad agency that failed (due to the Depression). then moved to New York in 1935.
- His big break came when he won a national cover illustration competition for House Beautiful. began illustrating for other women’s magazines
- Best known for his many Ladies’ Home Journal covers which featured mother and daughter in matching outfits
**Interesting fact: He played several musical instruments, including the saxophone, clarinet, and drums, and played in jazz bands to pay his way through college. Music was very important to him and he continued to play throughout his life.
Al Parker
Ladies Home Journal Covers (1948)
Al Parker
Ladies Home Journal Covers (1950)
Al Parker
The American Weekly (November 1959)
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Al Parker
Austin Briggs
- Spent his early career struggling to find his own illustration style and working to improve his drawing skills
- Later, became best known for his draftsmanship and seemingly spontaneous line quality
- His work often switched between limited color line drawings and full-color gouache paintings
- He was born in Minnesota on a railway car and only attended one semester of City College of Detroit.
- He moved to New York City to continue his studies at the Art Students League while continuing to freelance.
- When the Great Depression hit, he struggled for jobs and set forth to improve his drawing skills and try to find his own voice.
- During this time, he worked as a cartoonist, starting out as an assistant to Alex Raymond on the Flash Gordon comic strip, and eventually anonymously taking over drawing the daily strip through 1944 and the Sunday strip through 1948.
- He left comics completely in 1948 to focus on book and magazine work and gradually became known for his masterful line quality and busy compositions.
- He eventually retired to Paris, where he died of leukemia at the age of 65.
Austin Briggs
Flash Gordon (mid 1940s)
Austin Briggs
Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (1956)
Austin Briggs
Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (1956)
Austin Briggs
Look Magazine (April 1957)
Austin Briggs
Austin Briggs
The Counterfeiter’s Knife, Saturday Evening Post (1961)
Lorraine Fox
- Born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents encouraged both she and her brother to pursue art, both became illustrators. Her brother, Gill Fox, became a cartoonist and comic book artist (worked for DC comics and ghosted on The Spirit).
- She studied at the Pratt Institute, met her future husband, Bernie D’Andrea, who also became a popular illustrator.
- began freelancing for magazines and joined The Charles E. Cooper studio, one of the most influential illustration studios of the time.
- Her work is known for its simplified shapes, folk art influence, interesting composition and design quality. Her artistic style challenged the ideals of feminine beauty in commercial art, which had historically been determined by men (more simplified and stylized, less realistic and sexy).
- called her early work style “decorative design”
- Illustrated books, book covers, advertisements & continued magazine work, worked in oils, watercolors, and mixed media
- Fox went back to school part time in 1961 and studied painting for 4 years at Brooklyn Museum Art School with Reuban Tam, which shifted the look of her work to a more mature & sophisticated style.
- She taught for the Famous Artists School and at Parsons School of Art and Design (1965-75)
- described as “an elegant, quiet woman, highly imaginative, gifted in design and a standout artist in a field overbearing populated by men” by a journalist of the time.
- She died of lung cancer in 1976 and was the first Woman inducted into the Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame in 1979, 3 years after her death.
Lorraine Fox
Unknown publication (early 1950s)
Lorraine Fox
(1953)
Lorraine Fox
Woman’s Day (March 1956)
Lorraine Fox
Lorraine Fox
Woman’s Day (October 1956)
Lorraine Fox
Woman’s Day (March 1961)
Lorraine Fox
Coby Whitmore
- His work epitomized the “new school” look - minimal or eliminated backgrounds, partially obscured bodies, obtuse camera angles and figures arrayed in a visually unusual manner.
- Became well known for his fresh compositions, use of stripes and patterns that switch between flatness and a sense of depth, and layers of textures and transparent glazes
- He was born in Ohio and studied at the Dayton Art Institute.
- He joined Charles E. Cooper Studio (a New York City illustration studio better known as “Cooper Studio”) in 1943 and became one of their top illustrators right away.
- His work became incredibly popular - showing up in all of the well-known magazines, which led to him developing many imitators.
- He was incredibly good at designing his illustrations around the typographic elements of a magazine or advertising spread, which led to more cohesive layouts.
- In the 1950s & 60s, he designed and raced sports cars.
- Eventually retired to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he died at age 75.
*He’s the illustrator who owned the water-damaged Carl Erickson (Eric) portrait sketch that we saw during the Fashion Illustrators presentation
Coby Whitmore
Saturday Evening Post (January 1952)
Coby Whitmore
Coby Whitmore
Saturday Evening Post (1957)
Coby Whitmore
Good Housekeeping (1957)
Coby Whitmore
Good Housekeeping
Coby Whitmore
McCall’s (1959)
Bernie Fuchs
- His early work is often compared to Austin Briggs’s, his mentor. He was also a huge admirer of Coby Whitmore’s illustrations.
- He was the biggest force in the magazine illustration field from the mid-to-late 1950s, through the next 15 years.
- He’s the youngest illustrator ever elected into the Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame. His work was selected for the annual every year for 40 years.
- He was born in Illinois to humble circumstances. He wanted to be a trumpet player, but lost three fingers on his right hand
- Attended Washington University’s School of Fine Arts (the same as Al Parker) and briefly opened an illustration studio in Detroit catering to auto companies.
- In 1950s, he moved to Westport, Connecticut, a large illustration community, worked for numerous magazines, children’s books, U.S. postage stamps, portraits of presidents, athletes and celebrities.
- His work became so popular that he developed groupies and imitators, which forced him to continue experimenting with his style throughout his career.
- Some consider his use of color, values, composition, and painting technique better than any other illustrator of the time.
Bernie Fuchs
Cosmopolitan (1960)
Bernie Fuchs
(Early 1960s)
Bernie Fuchs
Redbook (1963)
Bernie Fuchs
Ladies’ Home Journal
Bernie Fuchs
Sports Illustrated (April 1964)
Bernie Fuchs
Look (1965)
Bernie Fuchs
Look (1965)
Bernie Fuchs
Look (1965)
Bernie Fuchs
Sports Illustrated (Early 1970s)
Bernie Fuchs
Sports Illustrated (Early 1970s)
Charles E. Cooper Studio
(est. 1935)
- One of the emerging illustration studios was one of the most successful
- Charles Cooper had an art background, but was better at organizing and recruiting top illustration talent.
- Some of the artists who worked for the Cooper Studio included: Coby Whitmore, Joe Bowler, Jon Whitcomb, Lorraine Fox, among many others
- Cooper took no commission on editorial work, just advertising, since he figured the prestige of having his illustrators featured in the pages of top magazines would only garner the studio more work (this became true).
- Member artists had individual light-filled studios in the same office, which also featured a darkroom, costume room, and two dressing rooms. An assembly and shipping room was centrally located. The rest of the space held a conference room, a large salesman’s room with files of artist’s samples, a library and general business offices.
- The studio (and many other illustration studios) died out by the mid- 60s, when the influx of color photography in magazines began to compete with editorial illustration work and television advertisements killed off many print advertising jobs.
Charles E. Cooper Studio
Charles E. Cooper Studio
Charles E. Cooper Studio
Famous Artists School
(est. 1948)
- In 1948, after having a conversation with Norman Rockwell, illustrator Albert Dorne conceived of the idea of correspondence courses in art that he called Famous Artists School.
- Founding faculty included Austin Briggs, Al Parker, Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcett, Ben Stahl as well as several other leading “new school” lifestyle illustrators of the time period. Coby Whitmore, Bernie Fuchs, and Lorraine Fox also served as instructors for a time.
- Three courses were originally offered: Painting, Illustration/Design and Cartooning, with Cartooning being dropping in the 1980s
- Each course consisted of 24 lessons, with a new lesson mailed to the student upon completion of the last. The student had to mail in completed assignments, which were critiqued by a professional artist who sent suggestions back to the student.
- In 1948, the two year course originally cost $300.
- The school was bought by Cortina Learning International in the 1980s and a version of it is still in existence today.
Famous Artists School
The magazine that went along with Famous Artists School cover illustration by Robert Fawcett (Vol 7, 1959)
Famous Artists School
Famous Artists School advertisement (June 1954)
Famous Artists School
Famous Artists Magazine cover by Austin Briggs (Vol 13, 1964)
Famous Artists School
Example of a lesson featuring Austin Brigg’s work
Famous Artists School
Example of a lesson featuring Albert Dorne’s work
Famous Artists School
Lesson featuring Bernie Fuch’s techniques (1960s)
Famous Artists School
Lesson featuring Bernie Fuch’s techniques (1960s)
Famous Artists School
Lesson featuring Bernie Fuch’s techniques (1960s)
Famous Artists School
Lesson featuring Bernie Fuch’s techniques (1960s)
Famous Artists School
Lesson featuring Bernie Fuch’s techniques (1960s)
