Treasures and Musings @ Modern Graphic History Library

This Week in History: Norman Rockwell's Fan Letter to Al Parker

Although Al Parker had many admirers during his career, perhaps the most famous individual to send him a fan letter was fellow illustrator Norman Rockwell. Read the letter, written February 25th, 1948 (64 years ago this week), below.

Ernest Trova's 1947 Sketchbook

As you may have read recently, the Modern Graphic History Library has acquired the archives of St. Louis artist and sculptor Ernest Trova. During the next few months while we process the collection and prepare it for use, we'll occasionally highlight pieces we come across that we think are particularly interesting, noteworthy, or important.

This week's post  features a sketchbook illustrations of the artist's from 1947. This was an important year for Trova: while working as a window decorator for the department store Famous-Barr, a painting of his appeared in a local exhibition at the St. Louis Art Museum and won first prize, a serious feat for a 20-year-old self-taught artist showing his work in public for the first time. Although we have several of Trova's sketchbooks and many of his sketches, this item is unique in its use of watercolors and for being one of the oldest items in the collection. While some of these illustrations may upon first glance look surprisingly different from Trova's later output, the faceless, armless figures can't help but evoke the Falling Man series for which Trova would become famous. (Check out some examples of them here.)

 

In 1947 Trova also received national attention when his work that won first place in the exhibition -- a mixed media painting entitled Roman Boy -- was featured in LIFE magazine (a scan of Trova standing beside the piece is below). While this sounds like an undeniable honor, the article's tone of bewilderment and hostility are hardly complimentary:

"Ernest Trova is 20 years old, lives with his parents, and earns his living by decorating the windows of a St. Louis clothing store. For recreation he writes poems that few can understand [and] paints pictures that are about as eloquent."

Fortunately for us, Trova wasn't deterred by such criticism.

 

New Jack Unruh Images in LUNA

You may remember our post last November announcing new acquistions to the Jack Unruh Collection. Since then, we've digitized many of these illustrations and have recently made them available online through our digital image database, LUNA. (You will need your WUSTL key to log in and browse the images. If you're not affiliated with Washington University and would like to see them, you can contact us for access.) Unruh is well known for his portraits, and his illustrations of actors, musicians, politicians, and other celebrities have appeared in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, and the late Premiere. We've highlighted a few of these finished portraits as well as sketches (all available in LUNA) below.

If you're interested in looking at more of Unruh's work, you can also check out this excellent online exhibit  about his artistic process that a practicum student created for us last year.

Silent film star Buster Keaton

John F. Kennedy

Actress Julia Louis-Drefyus

Microsoft's Bill Gates

Bob Dylan (sans guitar)

Beauty Secrets from the Periodicals Collections

Much like today, advertisements about maintaining an attractive appearance were a staple of early twentieth-century women's magazines. This week we bring you a selection of beauty-related ads from our Periodicals Collections.

 
This ad for Othine which appeared in a July 1929 issue of the Delineator states that the product will free you from the shame of having freckles by removing "these homely spots." Because darker or tanned skin was considered less desirable than fair skin, during the early twentieth century there were countless products promising to lighten skin and fade blemishes, freckles, and liver spots. Unfortunately, many of these products, like other cosmetics of the era, contained harmful amounts of mercury.

Sometimes ads for personal hygiene and beauty products reflected the changing ideas about gender and femininity, as is the case with this ad from a May 1930 issue of the Delineator. "Can a girl Smoke and still be Lovely?" The answer, of course, is yes -- with the help of the right toothpaste.

Scanning our old periodicals, you're likely to find ads for a familiar product with an unfamiliar angle. Listerine was originally created in 1879 as a surgical antiseptic, and over the years has been marketed in many different ways for a variety of purposes. This ad, from an October 1929 issue of McCalls, touts the product's ability to "close pores...tighten sagging muscles" and keep skin youthful.

Even ads for foods and household items sometimes centered on femininity and attractiveness, suggesting that a woman's appearance was the result of not just proper hygiene or a beauty routine, but all aspects of her life. According to this ad from the February 1930 issue of the Delineator, if a look in the mirror reveals sallow skin, dark circles, and dull eyes, chances are it's because you're not eating Post's Bran Flakes: "the pleasant way to build a background for beauty."

Again, we've saved our favorite for last. This ad for Wrigley's Doublemint gum published in the February 1930 issue of the Delineator claims that, thanks to chewing gum, "the enchanting women of ancient Aztec civilization probably had the most exquisite teeth and youthful  loveliness of mouth of all the women who ever lived" and therefore "chewing Wrigley's for beautiful lips is but making use of an old Beauty Secret." When Wrigley's began including packages of chewing gum with their baking powder in the early 1890s, the free gift proved to be so successful that the company phased out their primary product and shifted their focus to gum soon after.

Annabel Drazen Rosenbloom Collection

This week we're highlighting the Annabel Drazen Rosenbloom Collection, another collection related to Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts that the Modern Graphic History Library recently received from the University Archives.

Rosenbloom received her BA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1936 and her MA in Art History in 1939. The photographs below were taken in 1937, while Rosenbloom was studying on scholarship at the Sorbonne, and capture the energy and beauty of a pre-war Europe through the eyes of a young American artist.The film went undeveloped for several decades until Rosenbloom rediscovered it when she took a photography class in 1979. In 1986, they were displayed in an exhibit on campus. You can explore the collection's finding aid here.

Chartres Cathedral

Notre Dame

 

Sidewalk cafe in Paris

 

Bastille Day in Versailles

Venice

High tide at Mont Saint-Michel

Four Views of Winter

One of the benefits of the MGHL having such a diverse collection is seeing the different ways  illustrators portray a particular subject. With that in mind, today we're highlighting a few winter scenes by Robert Andrew Parker, Al Parker, Jack Unruh, and Robert Weaver. Links to the finding aids are below.

An illustration from the children's book Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum, written and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

A greeting card illustrated by Jack Unruh

Magazine illustration by Robert Weaver

February 1938 cover of The Country Home by Al Parker

Gustav F. Goetsch Papers

During the past few weeks we've been in the process of transferring a handful of collections related to Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts from the University Archives to the Modern Graphic History Library. While doing so, we realized that some of the artwork is too good not to share, so this is the first of a few posts about these collections. The collections are available to all, and we encourage you to visit the library if you'd like to see more.

Gustav F. Goetsch taught at Washington University's School of Art from 1909 to 1914 and then from 1917 until his retirement in 1952. The Gustav F. Goetsch Papers contains artwork by Goetsch and his wife Hazel as well as biographical accounts. The finding aid for the collection is available here.

Below are a few campus illustrations Goetsch created while teaching at the university. The captions link to the Danforth Campus Tour, where you'll find more information about the buildings featured. Take a look and compare the drawings with more recent photos to see what's changed and what hasn't.

Brookings Hall from the quad

Adolphus Busch Hall

View from Forsyth Boulevard of Lee Hall and Graham Chapel

McMillan Hall

Ann M. Olin Women's Building

Illustrator Spotlight: Thelma Mortimer

Continuing with highlights from the Charles Craver Collection, we bring you a few illustrations by Thelma Mortimer. During the 1930's Mortimer's work appeared in Good Housekeeping and Woman's Home Companion, sometimes accompanying fiction, but more often illustrating Companion-Butterick sewing patterns. Looking through the images below, it's easy to see why the company used her work so frequently -- her sleek models and vibrant watercolors make the clothes seem both fashionable and accessible. More information about Mortimer is available here.

Happy Holidays from the Parkers

Below is a selection of the Parker family's holiday greeting cards. Al Parker's wife Evelyn was a fellow artist he first met while studying at Washington University's School of Fine Arts. The third card shows their daughter Susan's name at the bottom ink red ink, suggesting that she was responsible for the illustration on that year's card. More info about the Al Parker Collection is available here.

Christmas Gift Ideas from Ladies' Home Journal

Just in time for the holidays, below are a few Christmas gift ideas from Ladies' Home Journal, one of the magazines you can find in our Periodicals Collection.

Handmade cravats, watch fobs, ash trays, and laundry bags are some of the ideas "fourteen men suggested...as acceptable Christmas gifts" in the November 15, 1910 issue.

From the Christmas 1915 issue, this feature on last minute gift ideas "for those who have been busy with other affairs" observes that there's still enough time to crochet slippers, a bag, or hat trimmings.

A page from the November 15, 1910 issue  notes that because "youthful enthusiasm is at its height during college days" handmade blankets, pennants, and pillows bearing the school's name will "bring a thrill of pleasure and happy recollections to the students at home."

 

Our favorite Christmas present idea comes from a December 15, 1910 issue that recommends a puppy or kitten for the child who already has plenty of toys. The feature suggests presenting the new pet with a bow tied around its neck, sitting in a basket decorated with ribbon and holly. (While the animals images are likely to draw your attention first, don't overlook the art by illustrator Florence E. Storer at the top of the page.)