Illustration Magazine
04.13.06 By Deanna Dahlsad
“For those with an interest in popular culture, commercial art and design, publishing history, comic books, paperbacks, pulp magazines, or collecting original art, ILLUSTRATION is the best source for new information on the illustrators of the past.”
So reads the website. Is it too good to be true? Yes, Virginia, Illustration Magazine is that good.
As the golden age of American illustration is considered to be the period of 1890 to 1960, the magazine covers an array of art. Inside Illustration, you’ll find the art of 1940 Marvel comic books, vintage magazine story illustrations, postcards, sci-fi book and magazine covers, posters, pulp novel art, advertising and other ephemera of graphic delight.
Collectors of trashy vintage pulp novels, Elvgren pinups, and vintage magazines (be they men’s magazines, turn of the century copies of Collier’s, or Amazing Stories volumes) will drool. Pop culture addicts will greedily await the next issue. Art lovers, artist themselves and anyone with an eye for style will enjoy flipping through Illustration to find classical creations, stylized advertising pieces, elegant deco drawings, fine art, eccentric arrangements, and other works to ooh and ah over. While the publishers occasionally devote an entire issue to one artist, most issues are a mix of the humorous, the sinister, the sleazy, the graceful, the surreal, the charming & the cheeky.
It’s clear from the quality that for the publishers this is not just another job, not just a way to make some money — this is an act of love.
Printed on heavy weight, glossy paper, the high quality reproductions of of these illustrations are a joy to behold. The magazine includes articles by the artists themselves, as well as historians, professors & fans of the artists and their works; making it not only fun to read, but so informative, each issue is suitable for research and reference.
In an interview with John B. Dwyer at The American Thinker, the publisher and editor, Dan Zimmer, said “My goal is to document the history of a vanishing art form, which is commercial illustration. Most of the history of these artists is unknown or unpublished. In many cases, if I don’t publish a story on a particular artist, chances are no one ever will. I have given a lot of space to ‘lesser artists’ in an attempt to broaden our horizons. The magazine tends to focus on biography more than rigorous academic examination and I think that’s because we need to see more of the history of illustration before we can start examining it critically.”
This helps to put the works in context. And I think that’s equally important in understanding their purpose and value.
For example, Issue Number 13 has 30 pages on W.T. Benda.
Not only do you have an article by Mark B. Pohlad, PhD., an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Art and Art History at De Paul University in Chicago, a plethora of exquisite reproductions to gaze at (including many full-page images!), but also a piece by Colonel Charles Waterhouse on Benda’s last performance. Reading all of this, one gets information on his contemporaries (such as Charles Dana Gibson), Benda’s bio, the culture of the 20’s and 30’s, a trail of magazines in which his works appeared, but the story behind his gallery work and famous masks. What more can a collector ask for? And yet that’s not all that’s in the issue.
Also in #13 are “The Fantastic Art of Alex Schomberg,” “Sticks and Bones: The Life and Art of Lee Brown Coye,” and book reviews and information on exhibitions and events.
Published quarterly, Illustration is one magazine that illustration and art collectors must have.
(But be warned, this may ignite new passions for illustration, i.e., you’ll end up with another collection or two!)
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Article Tags: Colonel Charles Waterhouse, Illustration Magazine, Marvel================
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July 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
chicago advertising…
First time poster and wanted to say nice blog….