Gary Taxali on James Hill: "the most underrated, and talented, illustrator in our country's history."

Here's the earliest piece I have by Canadian illustrator, James Hill. This was done for MacLean's magazine, May 1952. Hill would have been in his early 20's at this time, and already getting assignments on a regular basis from Canada's leading magazines, his work being seen by the public from coast to coast. Hill once told an interviewer,"Back in the early 1950s, many of us had dreams of becoming "star" magazine illustrators like Al Parker [or]...

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McLauchlin, Canadian Cartoonist

Let's get back to the Montreal Eaton's fashion art team later. Today, I want to share with you a couple of ads I found by a Canadian cartoonist who signed his work with just his last name: "McLauchlan"Both these ads were for a Toronto art supplier called E.E. Tigert. The first ad appeared in the 1960 Toronto Art Director's Annual, and the second one appeared in the '65 Graphica, an annual sponsored by the art directors clubs of Montreal, Toronto...

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Eugenie Groh on her new style: "this was good for business and Eaton's of Montreal got the message."

Eugenie Groh was born in what is known today as the Czech Republic. She came from an artistic family - both her parents encouraged her from childhood to express her creativity. She recalled her father buying her her first paint sets in oil and watercolours. Her mother's fashion magazines fascinated her and were her childhood inspiration.Groh remembered with great fondness Sunday coffee house visits with her mother and sister. They gave her the...

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Jack Parker, Eugenie Groh & Georgine Strathy: The Montreal Eaton's Store Powerhouse Fashion Art Team

Katherine Bosnitch must have very fond memories of March 2000. That's when her thesis was published by Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The topic: Eaton's Prestige Fashion Advertising Published in the Montreal Gazette, 1952-1972.For those who don't know, The Eaton's department store chain was one of Canada's leading retailers for over a hundred years. From the Eaton's Wikipedia page:"The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest...

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Serendipity on a Sunny Spring Saturday

By some sort of harmonic convergence, mid-century art studios, fashion illustration, female illustrators, Canadian illustrators - even the Famous Artists Course - all came together for me over the weekend. Listen...On Friday I told you about a Canadian illustrator, Jerry Lazare who was one of the first Canadian students of the Famous Artists School back in the late 1940s. Serendipitously, that same day (Friday) I acquired the 12th Annual of the...

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