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Original illustration art comes in many forms and is used in many ways. Classic
illustrations were used to enliven covers and insides of both books and magazines.
Illustrators interpreted themes on canvas and paper while transporting readers to
places and adventures never before imagined. Artwork suggested what characters looked
like and how the surroundings appeared; it would be impossible to think of stories
without also envisioning the artist’s suggestions. Story and image became one.
Before television and the widespread availability of photography, it was the skilled
illustrator who was the fashion trendsetter of the day. The beautiful women drawn
by Charles Dana Gibson (“The Gibson Girls”) or Howard Chandler Christy
and the stylish men portrayed by J.C. Leyendecker were to their contemporary fashion
worlds what the electronic media is to “cool” trends today. Other illustrators
reflected society in their art. Norman Rockwell was a storyteller beyond reproach
in his “Saturday Evening Post” covers. He engaged readers with a visual
language with which they could identify. His career-long theme was the celebration
of American values and virtues portrayed in a hopeful culture threatened by encroaching
modernity. His characters are timeless.
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Magazine covers, product and travel advertisements, calendar illustrations, and
patriotic posters rallying a war-weary nation all were avenues reserved for the
American illustrator as a mass communicator, storyteller, and image-maker. (The
Art-cade Gallery also has a representative selection of vintage wartime posters
by America’s favorite illustrators; see “American Memories” page
on this web site.)
Today illustration art plays a less important role in publications since the advent
of computer graphics and the ability to rework photographs. But there is a continuing
output of good artwork by new and talented artists to illustrate magazine and book
articles – only now it is “TV Guide,” “Time,” and the “Smithsonian”
rather than “Harper’s,” “Colliers,” and “Scribner’s.”
But these refreshing illustrations still capture a moment to remember in a most
decorative way.
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