Ronald Searle (1920 - 2011)

The legendary cartoonist/illustrator, Ronald Searle, passed away late last year. I received a note from Chuck Pyle shortly after Searle's death:"As archivist of our illustrated world, I was hoping that you might be able to pop up a post on Ronald Searle, who just passed away. One of my great heroes. There is a BIG hole in the fabric with his loss."How true. No doubt hundreds, perhaps thousands of artists and certainly many millions of fans worldwide,...

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Bradshaw Crandell: Man of Distinction

By guest author Kent SteineBy the late 1940's Bradshaw Crandell had turned over the reigns of producing the covers at Cosmopolitan to Jon Whitcomb. Crandell himself had been Harrison Fisher's beneficiary in the 1930's. However the decade of the 1950's brought a new direction for Crandell. Throughout his career, Crandell had used pastel as his primary media for it's spontaneity and managing deadlines. He was ready for a change. He had taught himself...

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Bradshaw Crandell: Artist of the Stars

By guest author Kent SteineBy 1930 Bradshaw Crandell was producing covers for many of the major periodicals of the time like The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and American. In 1925 he opened a "shop" at 405 Lexington Avenue and simply called it John Bradshaw Crandell Studios. Crandell himself only recalled producing one editorial or story illustration. That was produced for Redbook magazine early in his career. There were countless advertising...

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Bradshaw Crandell: The Natural

By guest author Kent SteineAnxious to return to his studies, he enrolled at the Art Students League. However, again he only attended for a few short months. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that he had already begun to receive commercial commissions and had never stopped independently studying. (Above: In addition to his glamorous magazine covers created during the 1930's and 40's, Brad Crandell painted advertising art for many high profile...

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Bradshaw Crandell: Impressionable

By guest authorKent SteineHe was born John Bradshaw Crandell, June 14, 1896 in Glen Falls, New York.(Above: Of Bette Davis, Crandell remarked, "She was a swell model, and was always on time." Davis sat for Crandell on three separate occasions, with each session lasting about 2 hours. He encouraged his models to talk while he worked, claiming, "It helps make the picture interesting.")Brad, as friends knew him, became interested with art through the...

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Bradshaw Crandell and the Art of Glamour

By guest author Kent SteineHollywood glamour portraits, the creation of idols in paintings and sketches rose with the star system in the motion picture industry of the 1920's. Studio publicity departments created an image of the star, artists fabricated that image with dramatic lighting, costumes and props. They used traditional methods of portraiture to achieve an on-model likeness, and added the veneer of Hollywood's glamour and idealism, drawn...

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Susan Perl... for Grown-Ups

As much as Susan Perl will always be remembered for her prolific contribution to the world of children's books, as much as she is loved for her keen and sensitive observations of 'the secret world of children'......there was another more mischievous side to Susan Perl's art...You could call it "Susan Perl for Grown-ups".Perl's sense of humour and her skill at observing and interpreting didn't stop with children. Her hilarious (and accurate) delineations...

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