Since its beginning in 1936,
Life magazine was an ongoing chronicle of American life, including popular culture. They also gave dignity to fine artists of their time by giving them not only space, but rare color pages. Color pages in magazines in the 1930s were very rare, so it put special emphasis on the artwork.
I found these articles on artists published within a very short span of time in 1937, in four issues published in October and November.
Contents of this posting are taken from scanned editions of
Life at Google Books.
John McCrady (1911-1968). An artist from the South, he did a lot of paintings featuring African-Americans. McCrady studied under Thomas Hart Benson, an artist whose work was hugely influential.
James Daugherty (1884-1974). Daugherty became a Newbury and Caldecott winner with his work in children’s books.
Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was a popular illustrator and printmaker.
Paul Sample (1896-1974). Sample learned to paint after being hospitalized for tuberculosis.
Two of my favorite illustrators. You don't see artists like that anymore thanks to Photoshop and the digital age. I haven't seen much of the art shown here. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI should have added that I meant Kent and Daugherty. I am not familiar with Sample. Nice work, though.
ReplyDeleteDave, I didn't know any of the artists except for Rockwell Kent. I think I still have a book of his prints around somewhere...
ReplyDelete