(American- 1907-1994) Stevan Dohanos made his mark as a nationally famous cover artist for The Saturday Evening Post and chronicler of Americana, but he began at the bottom.
He studied nights at the Cleveland School of Art long enough to get a job as an apprentice letterer, and gradually developed a solid studio background. A hard worker, he simultaneously painted and printed woodcuts for national exhibitions. [The Illustrated Gallery]
John Sloane is an award-winning artist whose detailed paintings reflect simpler times and restful places amid the unspoiled beauty of the American countryside…. [Pinterest]
“John Newton Howitt [Pulp Artists.com] was born May 7, 1885 (1958) in White Plains, New York. His parents were John and Addie Howitt. His brother Louis was five years younger. They lived at 21 Lake Street. His father manufactured ladies’ clothing.
At age four John Newton Howitt contracted polio. During his convalescence, his father interested him in drawing. After his recovery he wore a metal brace on his right leg. In 1901 he graduated White Plains High School at age sixteen…
In 1902 Howitt studied in New York City at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and Walter Clark. When commerce collapsed during the Great Depression, slick magazines suffered from lost advertising. Howitt began to work for pulp magazines instead. The pulps were funded by newsstand sales and were growing extremely profitable as idle workers began to read more. Howitt was an excellent pulp cover artist. He signed his covers for Western pulps and romance pulps with his regular professional signature, “JOHN NEWTON HOWITT,” but he also painted many ghastly and shocking pulp covers, and these were all signed with only his initial “H.” Most pulp artists who wanted to disown the covers would conventionally leave them unsigned and uncredited. Howitt’s “H” is only a modest deception, which seems to imply some ambivalent pride in even his most outrageous pulp covers.”
[Perhaps most peculiar for me, is that there was quite a collection of similar artists born in the late 1880s that went to work for various advertising and publications. The most famous I would say by a landslide was Norman Rockwell. But why? That’s my question. They were all wonderful artists with very enjoyable art, yet Rockwell garnered all the attention. Why him?]
John LaGatta (1894-1977) enjoyed painting women more than anything else. It worked well for him as an illustrator and as a result, he and his wife were able to live a very comfortable lifestyle. His career was substantially taken with illustrating women for romantic stories, magazine covers for all sorts of periodicals, as well as creating exotic fashion illustrations, and eye-catching advertising pictures of his beautifully idealized women. LaGatta’s images appeared in the nation’s most famous publications: Life, Ladies’ Home Journal,Cosmopolitan, Delineator, Women’s Home Companion, andAssociated Sunday Magazine. [more at American Illustration]
His style has been referred to as “racy”, I didn’t see one car or horse. I loved his use of color and the incredible way he captured form. But most amazing for me was the way he implied motion. The link above is from the illustration museum. To me “illustrator” means ‘stuff you enjoy looking at’.
“Born May 11, 1950 in Columbia, S.C. Jones has been a freelance artist and illustrator for more than 25 years. His former clients include Time Life Books, IBM, Westinghouse, Rubbermaid, NASA, Gadded Space and Flight Center, and the U.S. Postal Service.
Jones explores life through art. This multi-talented artist uses oils, acrylics and watercolors for his painting. Striving for detail in light and reflection, he meticulously draws each painting first, and then layers it with color, resulting in very realistic interpretations of everyday life and landscapes, as well as historical insights into our past.
Jones’ goal is to paint the African American experience starting with the slave trade in Africa, through the Middle Passage and pre-civil war era, and contrast it with African Americans today.” – from Gallery Chuma
[I just love art of people doing their thing, living their life.]
John Walter Scott (1907 – 1987). “John Walter Scott, Jr. was born on December 1, 1907 in Camden, New Jersey. His father of the same name was a second generation immigrant from Scotland, and was a draftsman at the Camden Shipyard. His mother was Helen L. Scott, who was of Irish ancestry. They lived at 7 Wood Street, which was one block from the busy riverfront piers. he and his father were avid fishermen. During the Great War his father rejoined the U.S.Army and attained the rank of Captain before dying in 1919. His mother took a job at the La France Tapestry Mill in Philadelphia, and in 1923 at age fifteen, he left school and began to work at the same mill. The mill operator offered free night school classes in various facets of mill work to him…” [From Ask Art]
It took me a minute to figure out that even though he signed his paintings ‘John Walter‘, it was actually the same guy whose bio I kept seeing, ‘John Walter Scott‘. This is the type of art I just love. From warm homey scenes, to hunting and fishing, to True Detective type cover art. Wonderful stuff. His memories and subjects would range from WW I to the end of the Reagan administration. When America was at its finest. These artists are not nearly celebrated as they should be in my mind. Perhaps they harken to a time some people would rather forget, or pretend had never existed. This type of art would make a wonderful calendar.
My search skills are so poor I was unable to find out anything about this English artist. Just the obvious. He creates art that is used to make jigsaw puzzles. I would guess he is still alive. This one is called ‘Boot Sale’, in that is their term for car trunk, so I assume that’s what’s going on here, a sort of farmers market or thrift market. Fancy Dan art is boring as hell to be, wonderful landscapes without a sign of life in it. No animals, no people. Just seems really dumb.
I know one of the early printers of this genre (not quite as busy as this) was Currier and Ives (below) in the 1800s. Art with animals or people in it capture a moment frozen in time for me. My mind creates a story of what it sees. Looking around my room I can always check in on the little doggy at the sidewalk café. The girl on her bike. The couple kissing under the umbrella in the rain. I just have so much more respect for artists that can represent people, faces, dogs, cats and wildlife. No its not “sophisticated”, but its fun.
From Calgary, Canada comes the quintessential American artist Ryan Sardachuk. He refers to himself as ‘the world’s youngest old man’. That would be because of his penchant for 60s & 70s American muscle cars (even though he looks to be just 35 or so himself). His niche is “automotive illustrator”. Okay so this is my type of art. I self-identity as a heterosexual redneck. A lot of that queer New York stuff is okay but its really not me. What is it they call comic books? Graphic novels? That’s me.
As seen below from the years she lived, according to Art in America, she was the quintessential Victorian era snob. As the article about her said: “socially and emotionally the prim Philadelphia spinster of her generation.” Her father validated it! As could be guessed from the examples of her work below, her interests were women and children. She was friends with Degas, even if their personalities were complete opposites.
Born: Mary Stevenson Cassatt, May 22, 1844, Allegheny City, PA. Died: June 14, 1926
What an interesting time to be alive; Born: May 14, 1932, Kewanee, Illinois. Someone he is compared to, Edward Hopper, I would imagine he met. Both of them living at the time in the New York area. Even though Hopper was 50 years older, there was 15 or so years of overlap. Estes probably concentrated more on the urban street scenes. He was also considered a founder of the technique known as ‘photo realism’. And while sometimes it takes a moment to realize, his works are indeed paintings. They are not photographs. On a 10 scale as to how he fits with my tastes, I’d give him an 8.
Iowa life 