Make Themselves at Home

I received a really nice email from Michael McC, who recently discovered the beautiful work of Golden Age great John Bauer. Michael noticed I didn't have any posts with him listed and thought he would be at home on this blog. Well, I'm certainly aware of Bauer and greatly admire his work, I just didn't want to compete with Mr. Door Tree's site where he has shown a slew of Bauer's work here.

But to honor Michael's opinion, I've opened the door and invited a couple of Bauer's pieces to make themselves at home.

Thanks for thinking of this blog, Michael!

 John Bauer — Freja

John Bauer — Winter Tales About the Yule Goat — 1912

Pale Hands I Loved Beside the Shalimar . . .

In the Golden Age of illustration, even prosaic adverts, usually for women's products, utilized storybook renderings to raise them to poetic beauty. In this case the illustrator was Gwynedd Hudson, far more known for her Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan books.

Gwynedd Hudson — for Crème Shalimar — 1916-20

(The illustration dated 1916, the page from 1920)

The Daring & The Different

I have a genuine fondness for the DC comics of the 1967-74 years, a transition period of sorts between the Silver and Bronze Ages. The art and the stories were actually better in many ways than the Golden and Silver Ages, as the comics industry was starting into its 3rd generation of talent. Don't get me wrong though, the Golden and Silver years were raw, bold, colorful, and wonderful — with a huge nostalgic factor. 

Below is a tribute by Nick Cardy, one of the 2nd generation artists that was at the top of his game during this period. I have bittersweet memories of this time, as it bookended my high school years into my army years, when I was still collecting as I could, attending early comicons and such, and seeking out my favorite creators to shake their hands.

Nick Cardy — Comic Book Artist — 1999

Inside Front Covers

The late Joe Kubert had probably the record for the longest career in comic books, from the early days in the '40s to just recently. His art style was highly distinctive all that time, though it did evolve consistently. The quality of his style took a leap upward in the early '50s, seemingly quite suddenly. But the first item below seems to be a 'missing link' in his evolution. It has hints of years to come, while still showing youthful experimentation. Even his signature is experimental, rarely used elsewhere like that.

This was an inside front cover for Avon Periodicals, a publisher with a propensity for assigning the best artists to create pen and ink illustrations to 'draw' readers inside the comic, assuming the cover also did its job. As the samples further below showcase, many of those inside covers were by Everett Raymond Kinstler, an illustrator in the making, and Wally Wood with Joe Orlando—two of the most compelling comic book artists of the 1950s.

All of these gentlemen were helping to keep the Golden Age of comic books alive as long as possible, until smothered by the oppressive Comics Code Authority.

 Joe Kubert — Attack on Planet Mars — 1951

 Everett Raymond Kinstler — The Phantom Witch Doctor — 1952

Wally Wood/Joe Orlando — Space Detective — 1951

Little Jewel

Edmund Dulac was one of THE classic illustrators of the Golden Age of illustration. Over time his style evolved to a simpler, more antiquarian effect. But even into the mid-century when other artists' styles had taken divergent paths, Dulac's was distinct with an aura of the Golden Age.

This little jewel of an edition was commissioned by The Limited Editions Club for The George Macy Companies and was the last of Dulac's books published prior to his death in 1953.

Edmund Dulac — The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche — 1951

Ten Cent Adventure

Speaking of Superman, and the golden age, this is one of my favorite of his covers, especially of recent years. You never saw anything quite this dynamic in the golden age, yet it is fully evocative of those years. I think because the design is reminiscent of those great Fleischer animated shorts of the '40s and the stark logotype evokes a NY World's Fair Deco style. If more modern comics were like this, I'd be buying more modern comics.

Scott McDaniel/Andy Owens

Superman-The Ten Cent Adventure — 2003

So Much Fun!

The Golden Age of Comics is so much fun to look at, and this item is icing on the cake. The 1942 novelization of Superman by George Lowther helped to solidify the legend, including a description of Krypton in detail, re-naming Kal's parents as Jor-el and Lara (previously Jor-L and Lora) and so forth.

The illustrations are golden, by Joe Shuster—the original Superman artist, showing depth and vitality. The paintings are vibrant and the sketches are beautiful gesture drawings, full of spontaneous action. This book is just so much fun to look at!

Joe Shuster — illustrator throughout

Jor-el placed his infant son into the model of the Space Ship.

The steel bullet went hurtling into space

The anvil in his hand was like a feather.

Superman brought the old man to the surface.

Leering down at Kent were skeleton faces of a skeleton crew.

Superman caught the white-hot shell in his bare hands.

Superman felt the steel-like muscles of his shoulder

sink into the metal.

Superman forced his shoulders between the twin propellers.

Speed and power were behind the fist that landed

on the skeleton's jaw.

Then Superman saw the convoy.

Spellbound

It doesn't have to be Christmas for winter to be cheery.

This illustration would be beautiful on its own, but as a magazine cover design it is so effective with its warm yellow logotype, red price button and white type situated for a lovely balance.

I am spellbound by this graphic as I imagine the interior of this warm 'n' cozy little bungalow, probably with a warm 'n' cozy little den (back there where that fireplace is being used), filled with warm 'n' cozy little books.

Not only was there a golden age of illustrative design in the early xxth century, but also a golden age of architectural design.

R.C. Hare — Own Your Own Home — ca 1920s

Now Showing

Great golden age illustration now showing at The Pictorial Arts Journal, from a version of Spenser's Faerie Queene.

Frank Papé — The Gateway to Spenser

Frank Papé — The Gateway to Spenser

Graphic Values

The golden age of the graphic arts just so happened to have a world war erupt right in its midst, yet for the most part its arts survived and thrived. This poster was printed at the onset of World War I, and is so lovely for its graphic values. The auto ain't bad either.

R.E. Schreiber — color lithograph — 1914

Russian Art & Design

Golden age Russian art and design make me feel warm and cozy.

Ivan Bilibin — The Feast — 1905

Ivan Bilibin — Fairy Tales — 1899

A Saga

Oh, hey! Happy birthday to Joe Kubert, whose gold, silver and bronze age work brought so much enjoyment to so many people!

I bought ANYthing with a Kubert cover!

Joe Kubert — Showcase #82 — May, 1969

The Great Enchanter

Charles Robinson was one of the greatest enchanters of the golden age of illustration. And this illustration is one of his most enchanting, in my opinion.

Use ter Be

Oh yes kids, you hear it all the time, but it's true—the newspaper comics were amazing in days of old. Imagine magic like this Johnny Gruelle strip at the huge full-size that comics use ter be.

Johnny Gruelle — Mr. TweeDeedle — ca 1915

FYI, Gruelle is the guy who created the Raggedy Ann and Andy story books.

Word Images

This blog is about images, and this header from a pulp contents page certainly deserves to be seen in that context. Even the 'ordinary' logo-type is enticing.

But consider for a moment the notion of word images. The teaser blurbs for these stories paint vivid scenes on the canvas of my mind. What about you? Isn't this stuff what science fiction is all about?

Erupting from hyper-space in the teeth of startled DIC patrols and readying all hands for a crash=landing, adventurer Fletcher Pell could still wonder which he dreaded more—the U-235 in the hold . . . or the strange girl by his side . . .

His black science threatened the whole cosmos. Against him frail Princess Nuala thrust her ancient knowledge—but he sneeringly smashed that. And space-toughened Clark Travis stood by helplessly. Of what use here was a pair of ready fists?

Quoting one more:

They played a ghastly game on that lonely asteroid. Killer and victim-to-be danced and feinted between space beacon and ship. Only the stars knew the winner.

All the blurbs (and the stories) are worth reading. Look at those authors! Bradbury, Fox, Knight! THIS was the golden age of science fiction!

Jungle at Night

Let's get back to the Alley Oop sequence we started a while ago. It would be two years after this current time period that VT Hamlin would retire from drawing the Sunday strips, but his drawing seemed as fresh as all the decades before. Hamlin and Walt (Pogo) Kelly were two old-school masters still delivering the goods in the early 1970s.

For the decline of the comic strip, some folks blame the shrinking newspaper sizes, some blame the readers' changing tastes, some blame the zeitgeist. But let's face it, it's the individual cartoonist that makes all the difference, and when Hamlin and Kelly left the stage, the golden age of the comic strip left with them.

Patron Saint of Fantasy Art

One more word about a new golden age of illustration and then I'll shut up (for now).

I have to backpedal a bit more and admit, of course, that the field of Fantasy Art has been in an aura of a golden age for many years, with Frank Frazetta as the patron saint of the genre. Fantasy illustrators are some of the most talented creators of all time, continuously transporting us to realms far beyond our mundane world. Every year that is confirmed and kept alive for us by the wonderful Spectrum annual of The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, published by Underwood Books.

Speaking of Frazetta — Doc Dave, if you're looking in, as I know you sometimes do, please email me. I'm concerned about what happened with your blog.

Frank Frazetta — Spectrum III — 1996

Continuous Golden Age

I know I've been oversimplifying in the last few rants about the need for a new golden age of illustration. Oh, I still stand behind the notion that modern graphic design principles need to be reestablished. Yet I know that lots of great design, integrating great illustration, is ongoing. But in order for it to be a golden age, it needs to be ubiquitous, constantly encountered—not just rare finds. Though rare finds are obviously still a delight.

In a comment to the last post, Annie delivers a positive note (as she always does) that reminds me, as it should remind us all, that children's books have been in a continuous golden age since books were first published for children. For over a hundred years, children's literature has remained magical, entertaining, and ever delightful—resulting from illustrators and authors given nearly free rein to leap and cavort and shed inhibitions through an ever twisting and tumbling literary universe.

Demonstrating that is a random, serendipitous, example I pulled blindly from my digital archives of children's books—illustrations by Eric Kincaid:

Above and below: Eric Kincaid — A Children's Book of Verse

I need to drop the subject of a new golden age—for now—only because my deadlines are demanding my attention again. But I will be returning to my rants, and I won't just be yakking about it, I plan to do something about it. I have some plans for this year that I'm looking forward to telling you about soon enough.

Until then, for the time being, I'm back to posting random images here and there, with minimal text. That's more like it, sez you.