Robert Baxter Revisited: "I try to get good by working hard."

I thought my post a few weeks ago on Robert Baxter would be a one-off, but it seems we're not done with him yet. Shortly after I posted some examples by Baxter from Reader's Digest Condensed Books...... I received the following note from my friend Murray Tinkelman:"Unless I am sorely mistaken Robert Baxter was, for a time, a Cooper Studio member in the early 60's or late 50's. I later bumped into him at the Famous Artist School. It was returning...

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Albert Dorne, Master Illustrator

I remember seeing these ads on the back of old comic books when I was a kid. Often they featured Norman Rockwell, whom everybody knew. But occasionally they featured some guy with bushy black eyebrows. I had no idea who he was - he wasn't drawing Spiderman, so I really didn't care either.If you had told me as a kid that one day I would know all about this guy, have researched his life and written about him and even corresponded with his daughter,...

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The Reports of TI's Death...

... have been greatly exaggerated - so take a deep breath and relax, folks.Sometimes life gets in the way and one must turn one's attention elsewhere. TI will return next week, once my teaching obligations have concluded for the semester.For anyone needing a daily hit of mid-century art and discussion (and in the absence of new posts here on the blog) I encourage you to join the TI Facebook Group, where nearly a thousand members have already added...

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Robert Baxter, Condensed

Last weekend, as I was driving up my street, I glanced over and saw a tidy stack of Reader's Digest Condensed Books sitting at the curb in front of a neighbour's house. Tucked in near the top, a hand-written sign said "FREE." Of course I grabbed them. What you see below was in one of the 20 or so volumes. From "The Tower of Babel" by Morris A. West, RDCB, 1969.These illustrations are by Robert Baxter, an artist previously unknown to me. A quick...

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David Grove: Condensed

Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame member David Grove passed away on October 25.Others have posted many of Grove's most famous works in recent days. Here's something a little less well known by the artist: a series of illustrations Grove created for Reader's Digest Condensed Books in 1969.Greg Newbold has posted a tribute to David Grove with some terrific art, anecdotes and details of Grove's painting technique. Click here to have a lo...

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Oscar Cahén, Painter Extraordinaire - Oscar, Celebrated Illustrator

By guest author, Jeffrey Spalding C.M., R.C.A Artistic Director, Museum of Contemporary Art CalgaryThe passage of time does much to alter our perceptions. Art history holds a place of great distinction for the work of Oscar Cahén as a painter. His dazzling colour and inventive compositions earned him the admiration of his contemporaries. His erudite European training prepared him to be a role model and leading figure in the band of abstract artists...

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