Steven Heller
Paul Rand’s forgotten ads
Despite being witty and smart, much of the famed art director's work was never preserved
When Paul Rand was art director of the William Weintraub Agency in New York, he did scores of advertising campaigns, most with his distinct drawing or collage styles. Much of this work, though smart and witty, especially when compared to the heavy-handed advertisements in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was neither saved on film nor in original printed formats. When I was writing “Paul Rand” (Phaidon), I had only limited access to his Weintraub-era tear sheets, which were not in job bags like the work he did after leaving the agency. These ads for Shur-Edge knives and Stafford fabrics, printed on newsprint, appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. One just has to look at the poor typographic ads on the verso side of these sheets to see how much better Rand’s work was.
The Kaiser car image was a cover for one of their typical sales brochures. Rand also designed revolutionary advertisements that barely showed the new cars — a no-no in the auto sales world. When unfolded, however, this brochure looks like any typical sales sheet and was obviously not done by Rand.
Thanks to Jim Heimann for this treasure of virtually forgotten Rands.
Copyright F+W Media Inc. 2012.
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The quaint days of skin mags
Despite seeming relatively tame today, Playboy and the like fought the early censorship battles in '50s and '60s
If you were one of the “Mad Men” (which boringly premiered the new season on March 25) or any other kind of man in the late ’50s and early ’60s, you probably subscribed to Playboy and/or any one or more of the many so-called “skin magazines,” “stag magazines” and “girlie magazines” that copied the pioneer’s form and content. Playboy, art directed by Art Paul, was an original, but others including Escapade, Cavalier, Dude and the Gent (shown here) were helping to define the era’s maleness. Even more significant, each of these magazines became an outlet and launch-pad for some major literary and art talents. The names on the covers were impressive, Nelson Algren, Groucho Marx, Tennessee Williams, Tom Lehrer — and they are just among the writers. The best were hired by the Gent, which was better than average, even had a virtual line-for-line Jules Feiffer doppelganger doing similarly themed socially satiric cartoons.
The return of Nazi-plundered art
A Berlin museum is ordered to give a Jewish man thousands of rare prints seized from his father
Germany’s top federal appeals court finally ruled earlier this month that the Berlin-based German Historical Museum must return to “a Jewish man from the U.S. thousands of rare posters that were seized from his father,” Dr. Hans Sachs, publisher of the famed Das Plakat magazine, by the Gestapo, “saying that for the institution to keep them would be perpetuating the crimes of the Nazis.” The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe said Peter Sachs, 74, was the rightful owner of the posters collected by his father, now estimated to be worth between $6 million and $21 million. The outcome of this hard fought court case allows Mr. Sachs to demand the posters be returned to him.
The golden age of print advertising
These vintage window posters were once the first line of promotions for films, plays and dances
In the age of LED and plasma screens at least one grass-roots design business will never go out of style … or need: the common window sign. Once a major source of income for print shops, these posters, also known as “show prints,” were the staple of everyday advertising and communications. Now, the old ones are valued as antiques and the new ones, which lack the vintage patina, are taken for granted. But if you drive through any small town in America, you’ll see these show prints promoting a county fair or other local spectacular. The days when they were the first line of promotion for films, plays and dances may be over, but they exist, just waiting to be collected.
America’s original fast food
Through press manipulation and worker exploitation, United Fruit Co. transformed the once rare banana into a staple
Did you know that bananas were America’s first fast food? Once a rarity in the U.S., the United Fruit Co. fostered a huge market for this fruit-with-appeal, and brought the price down far enough to make it so commonplace in the U.S. that it became the fruit of choice for generations of consumers.
United Fruit was founded in the 19th century in the jungles of Costa Rica and eventually became a provocateur for corruption among so-called Banana Republics (not the clothing store). The company was involved in an invasion of Honduras, a massacre in Colombia and a bloody coup in Guatemala. It had unsavory dealings with many high-ranking political leaders, manipulated the press, and was partly responsible for revolutions in Central and South America. (Daylight come and me want to go home.)
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The strange evolution of medical art
A new book traces these illustrations, both squeamish and divine, through the ages
(Credit: George Spratt) The National Library of Medicine, founded 175 years ago, is the world’s largest medical library―home to a rich heritage of objects from rare medical books to disturbing 19th-century surgical illustrations to delightful mid-20th-century animated cartoons. It contains more than 17 million items dating from the 11th century to the present.
Page 1 of 8 in Steven Heller
