Design & Desire in the Twentieth Century

Thanks to Kevin Lee Allen Design for sharing this amazing article and the accompanying illustrations of the Playboy Club in Space. While the concept of the club is totally Twenty-first Century, illustrator Thomas Tenery’s work was undoubtedly influenced by Twentieth Century art directors: Sir Ken Adam and Norman Reynolds; production designers John Barry, Harry Lange, Ernest Archer and Anthony Masters; as well as architect John Lautner.

Read the article and view the rest of the illustrations on playboy.com.

Thomas Tenery, Playboy Club in Space: Game Room (2012).
Source: http://pictures.playboy.com/assets/articles/ab065abb-697b-4408-87a2-c7d851b6890f/d642add5-2494-42b1-b851-49d5cce71cfe.jpg

Thanks to the Animalarium for sharing these great animal-themed travel posters. To view more, visit the blog.  More terrific posters by illustrator Harry Rogers can be found on Airways Art.

Leo Pecchioni. Costa Viola Poster (1960)
Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JU5_T-pXyaE/TcRcqgz3gfI/AAAAAAAAGTw/1S_jqS5B7Gg/s640/6+leo+pecchioni+1960+brandina.jpg

Harry Rodgers, Japan Poster, Qantas Airlines (circa 1950s).
Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHRagDuYxGQ/TcRcunxyDgI/AAAAAAAAGUE/_B1wzlABJew/s640/10+harry+rogers+japan.jpg

Check out mid-century interior designs and advertising illustrations in this slide show of retro bathroom designs from 1955 through 1960. Thank you to Fix A Faucet for the original post.

Robert Krantz, Kohler “Mayflower” Bathroom Illustration, 1959.
Source: http://fixafaucet.com/retro_bathrooms/images/crop/kohler_bathroom_1959.jpg

I’m not one of those folks who has great luck at garage sales, but my new online friend  interior designer, Joshua Taylor does. One of his recent garage sale finds is a Douglas Fir Plywood booklet “77 Ideas for Remodeling Your Home with Fir Plywood.”

Douglas Fir Plywood Company Advertising Pamphlet, copyright 1957.
Source: http://www.javiergd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/douglas-fir_9_sm.jpg

The booklet is wonderful because it not only gives advice on how the product was used during the period, but the graphic design and illustrations in the pamphlet make it an interesting mid-century advertising piece. You can see more from the booklet at Josh’s Blog.

Other examples of use of fir plywood.

Interior, Hadley and Peter Arnold, Bel Air, CA.
Source: http://media.dwell.com/images/230*306/canyon-house-living-room-portrait-interior.jpg

Frank Lloyd Wright, Bench from Unitarian Church, Shorewood Hills, WI (circa 1951)
Source: http://media.dwell.com/images/230*306/canyon-house-living-room-portrait-interior.jpg

Thank you to Cathy of California for sharing some great cover designs for the Ceramics Monthly Magazine (1953-1954).

I especially like this one:

Source: http://cathyofcalifornia.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4eba53ef0147e1a54c97970b-pi

That cover reminds me of dinnerware designs I created:

Joanne Capella, Artifacts Dinnerware (1996).

Visit Cathy of California to see more Ceramic Monthly Magazine Covers.

Thank you to illustrator Stephen Kroninger for sharing his remarkable collection of Gebrauchsgraphik: International Advertising Art Magazine covers from the 1950’s. According to the Delicious Industries blog, Gebrauchsgraphik “Commercial Arts’ Magazine was a German design and graphics publication founded in 1923 by Professor H. K. Frensel.” More covers from this publication are available for view on their site.

Artist unknown. Gebrauchsgraphik Magazine Cover, February, 1953.
Source: http://www.drawger.com/kroninger/images/3673008821.jpg

If you know more about Gebrauchsgraphik: International Advertising Art Magazine or have more graphics from this magazine to share, we’d love to hear from you.

While this topic doesn’t actually qualify as “silly,” we’re posting it as a Silly Saturday since it’s lighter than our usual fare. Monster Brains posted a fantastic collection of international movie posters promoting the original 1954 “Godzilla.” Enjoy.

Artist unknown. Godzilla Poster (1954).
Source: http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/22/2249/I2AZD00Z.jpg

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but no, he was not created by the Coca-Cola Company. The origins of Old Saint Nick first appeared in third century Greece; under Roman rule “Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned” (1). Many folk legends later surfaced regarding Nicholas’ legendary generosity. The feast day of Saint Nicholas is observed in many countries on December 6 (1).

Left: From New York Historical Society Alexander Anderson (1775-1870), St. Nicholas. Dec. 6th. A.D. 343. Printed for the New-York Historical Society, New York: 1810. Reprinted by Alexander Anderson, 1864. Source: https://www.nyhistory.org/web/images/Exhibits_Collections/Exhibits/santa/santa2.jpg

“It Happened Here: The Invention of Santa Claus,” on exhibit now through January 7, 2011 at the New York Historical Society in New York City, highlights the creation of the American vision of Santa Claus.  “Clement Clarke Moore…penned a whimsical poem about St. Nicholas” (2), which is retold each holiday season as “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Moore described the jolly old soul as “dress’d all in fur, from his head to his foot” (3) and continued:
          His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,
          His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
          His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
          And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow (3).

Thomas Nast “Merry Christmas.” January 4, 1879
Source: http://www.philaprintshop.com/images/nast1479.jpg

Later in the century “Thomas Nast’s Harper’s Weekly cartoons of Santa”(2) would further mold the American image of Saint Nicholas. In the early 1920’s, beloved illustrator, Norman Rockwell’s saintly version of Santa appeared on covers of the Saturday Evening Post.

Haddon Sundblom (circa. 1931). Santa Claus and his Coca-cola.
Source: http://www.junkfoodnews.net/COCA-COLA-SANTA-712w.jpg

So where does the connection between Santa and Coca-Cola come in? According to the Coca-Cola Company Web site, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, people tended to think of Coca-Cola as a warm weather drink. In order to change the product’s image, a campaign was launched to let everyone know “that Coca-Cola was a great choice in any month” (4). Fred Mizen was the first illustrator to depict jolly old St. Nick for Coca-Cola in 1930, but in 1931 the firm “commissioned Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus”(4). Using Moore’s poem as inspiration “For the next 33 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that helped to create the modern image of Santa“ (4).

Who was Haddon Sundblom?

Illustrator Haddon “Sunny” Sundblom, was over six feet tall and struck an imposing looking figure. Prior to rendering his Coca-Cola Santa advertisments, he specialized in creating images of “wholesome, sexy young women” (5) enjoying Coca-Cola. Sundblom’s work influenced many pin-up artists of the forties and fifties. Another of Sundblom’s iconic advertising images is the Quaker Oats Man, created 1957 (6). The artist’s last magazine cover was published in 1972, a sexy pin-up style Miss Claus for Playboy’s Christmas Issue. Sundblom died in 1976 (7).

Haddon Sundblom. Playboy Cover, December 1972.
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/ Playboy_magazine_ december_1972_cover.jpg/200px-Playboy_magazine_december_1972_cover.jpg

Design & Desire would like to thank all its readers for their support and wish you all a joyous holiday season with best wishes for the coming year.

References
1. Who is St. Nicholas? http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

2. It Happened Here: The Invention of Santa Claus. New York Historical Society. https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?section=exhibits_collections&page=exhibit_detail&id=6101893

3. Variations 1823-1844, Troy Sentinel, Tuesday, December 23, 1823. http://iment.com/maida//familytree/henry/xmas/poemvariants/troysentinel1823.htm

4. Coke Lore: Coca-Cola® and Santa Claus. http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_santa.html

5. HaddonSundblom. http://www.mutoworld.com/Sundblom.htm

6. Quaker Oats: Reference. http://www.thefullwiki.org/Quaker_Oats

7. Haddon Sundblom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haddon_Sundblom

For Further Reading
Haskell, R.B. (2006). The True Story of Saint Nicholas. Alan C. Hood & Co.

Moore, C. C. (1912). Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas. New York: Houghton Mifflin

Santa Claus Picture. (2010). Holiday Decorations. http://www.holidaydecorations.com/Santa-Claus-Picture.html

Sundblom, H.  Fahs Charles, B.  &  Taylor, J. R. (1997).  Dream of Santa: Haddon Sundblom’s Advertising Paintings for Christmas, 1931–1964. Random House.

The title of the exhibit currently on view at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, “Fantasies and Fairy Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of the Print,” could be construed as somewhat misleading. While “Fantasies and Fairy Tales” does relate to the artist and illustrator’s subject matter, the Everson’s exhibition shows that there is nothing dreamy in Maxfield Parrish’s practical straight-forward approach to his art and the modern technology of print media though which his timeless images were mass produced. “Fantasies and Fairy Tales” consists of Parrish’s most successful commercial work dating from the late 1890’s through the 1950’s.

Daybreak (1922). Source: http://www.artsycraftsy.com/parrish/mp_daybreak.html

The wide-spread popularity of Maxfield Parrish’s art is due not only in great part to improved lithographic printing technology that allowed for lower cost mass-production of print publications, but also to the rise of an affluent American middle-class with more expendable income with which to purchase these publications and increased leisure time in which to enjoy them.

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