James Bama: American Realist

Average customer rating:

A ubiquitous presence

A beautiful book!

Will appeal to both pop culture fans and those who like fine art

He's Not Just for Doc Savage Fans

The Bama, the whole Bama and nothing but the Bama!

James Bama: American Realist
Brian M. Kane
Manufacturer: Flesk Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Pop Culture | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0972375880

Product Description

The illustration art of James Bama has now been collected into this impressive 160-page full color hardbound edition. James Bama: American Realist is the first book to span his entire career. Examples explore his diverse brush from magazine illustrations, paperback book covers, and advertising. Chapters examine his work in pop culture, horror, science fiction, adventure and western genres, concluding with his most recent fine art endeavors. This volume features a detailed biography exploring his noteworthy and singular career. Insightful quotes by Bama accompany many pieces. In addition, testimonials by leading artists, writers, and historians are contained throughout. During his career, Bamas art graced many memorable pop culture paperback book covers. Among his most notable works are the 62 cover paintings for Bantams Doc Savage adventure series, all of which are contained within. Over 260 illustrations are featured, of which more than 85 are from the original art. Over 30 personal photographs of family and modeling shoots are contained within.

Customer Reviews:

A ubiquitous presence.......2007-09-16

Bama's illustrations collected in one volume bowled me over.... He was responsible for so many book covers and illustrations that I remember as a kid in the sixties and seventies. It was a nostalgic look back, but also an incredible appreciation of this artist and his type of art. He was so present in my day-to-day life...posters I hung on my wall, books I read, owned and still own. A beautiful collection.

A beautiful book! .......2007-08-23

James Bama is a wonderful artist who dazzled me with his covers for Doc Savage when I was a child. Seeing his massive output in paperback covers and beyond is astonishing. Bama not only painted exciting and dramatic scenes, but his vibrant use of colors is stunning.

This book gives us a plethora of examples of this versatile artists work, while also giving us an insight into his background and history. His real life situations were sometimes as dramatic as the scenes he illustrated on paperbacks and magazines.

The book was a delightful read and well worth purchasing.

Will appeal to both pop culture fans and those who like fine art.......2007-02-22

Anyone who glanced at a rack of paperback books in the mid 60's to early 70's was bound to see at least one or two covers painted by the gifted artist James Bama. The most memorable of these covers were those for the "Doc Savage" series published by Bantam Books. These illustrations were always striking and dramatic and served to make the book stand out from the other titles next to them. When I saw a second-hand copy of "The Living Fire Menace" at a thrift store in 1973, it was the dramatic cover painting of Doc, in all his ripped-shirt glory against a background of orange flames and some kind of electric-blue sphere, that made me shell out my hard-earned 50 cents. From that day on I was hooked, and collecting the adventures of Doc became one of my hobbies. It became second nature to scan the shelves for those distinctive Bama covers, and when he stopped painting them in the mid-70's the series lost some of its appeal.

At the time, it was hard to learn much about James Bama, much less the significant role he played in making these repackaged 30's pulp stories bestsellers for a contemporary audience. Indeed, any artist who worked for the paperback market in those days had to confront the reality that the publishing world considered them hired guns at best, and getting a credit line of tiny-font text on the back of the title page was about all the acknowledgement they could expect to receive.

James Bama: American Realist is therefore a timely, and handsomely produced, overview of Bama's art. Over the course of 7 sections, it covers his work in commercial art in the 60s and early 70s, and his subsequent career in studio art since that time. I'm sure many Baby Boomers will be nostalgic at seeing the illustrations Bama did for pop culture artifacts from their childhood reproduced here. Such as the boxes for the Aurora plastic model kits for the Universal monsters (Frankenstein, the Mummy, etc.), and the covers for bestsellers, such as "The Harrad Experiment" and the first of the "Star Trek" paperbacks by James Blish, as well as a seemingly unending series of potboilers churned out by William Goldman and Howard Fast. All 62 of the covers Bama did for the Doc Savage books are presented here as well, six to a page, with some getting full-page treatment.

The reproductions are of good quality and the layout pleasing to the eye, with the text placed to minimize encroaching on the illustrations. The introductory chapters offer an interesting account of the commercial art scene back in the era when magazines were starting to lose ground to the burgeoning paperback book as the principal format for print media. Once paperbacks became the dominant media and on-shelf competition tightened, having the right cover became increasingly important in boosting sales. Indeed, during his busiest period, Bama was producing a paperback cover painting a week, but he and his fellow freelance artists were stuck in a 'work for hire' system that rarely provided any royalties or other compensation for illustrating top-selling books. This fact of life as a commercial artist, and burn-out, may have been what led Bama to go into semi-retirement in Wyoming in the early 70's. Since then he has focused on Western art, and his paintings of cowboys and Indians are featured in the book's last section.

If the book has a weakness, it is the lack of any exposition on Bama's technique. Whether the author felt it would be out place in this particular book format, or if the artist himself was reluctant to reveal too many of his 'secrets', is unclear. Unfortunately, this means that those hoping to learn how to paint Bama-style, will have to look elsewhere.

He's Not Just for Doc Savage Fans.......2007-02-09

Cover paintings for the Bantam reprints of Doc Savage "novels" brought Mr. Bama to my attention. Later, as many others have noted, I began to spot and recognize his work elsewhere. The elegant simplicity of the title says it all: he lovingly renders each and every wrinkle and shadow in flesh and clothing.

This is an expensive book, particularly if you are going to just flip through once and put it aside. However, if you keep art books handy, and periodically take them down to re-experience them, this one is worth the price of admission. It has been produced with the same care and attention that Mr. Bama puts into his art. And, if you do know Mr. B. only from the paperback covers, there will be some surprises in this volume.

OK, so you're the flip-through type, but you've got the bucks? Buy a copy of this for your local or favorite library!

The Bama, the whole Bama and nothing but the Bama!.......2006-10-26

When Bama's book of Western art came out in the 1990s I gobbled it up, buying copies for family and friends. My only disappointed was that the only thing I could share was his fine art. James Bama: American Realist has rectified that problem.

Interspersed with Kane's biographical text are quotes by some pretty powerful artists, such as Evertt Raymond Kinstler (who has known Bama since they were both 15), Boris Vallejo and Mark Schultz, not to mention dozens of quotes and observations by Bama himself, but it's the color illustrations that this book is really all about.

If you're a Doc Savage fan you not only get all of Bama's amazing Doc covers, but a number of the Steve Holland photo shoots that inspired them. What I particularly like is that in many cases you can compare the photo to the painting and see what Bama adds to each; his innate sense of color and design, the way the figures in his paintings glow with some inner strength that is not present in the photos. Some people say that Bama just paints reality, this book should remove that notion from their heads.

Bama abandoned the commercial art world at the height of his career in the 1970s and this book covers both of his careers. It's dominated by his commercial work but there is plenty of his fine art work as well. Like I said, this book is complete.

You open the book and you are bowled over by a portrait of Robert Kennedy and I wonder, "How can Bama paint hope?" Maybe it's in the eyes or the gesture of the hand, whatever, it makes a immediate and powerful impact. And it's just the first of the many treasures to be found within.

Average customer rating:

marvelous. good gift for a cook.

Wild Raspberries
Andy Warhol , and Suzie Frankfurt
Manufacturer: Bulfinch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0821223402

Customer Reviews:

marvelous. good gift for a cook........2003-11-25

I adore this little book, am getting copies to give to my cooking friends and have plans to frame some of the entries.

The recipes are spoofs of the intricate French recipes en vogue during the 1950's, the illustrations are brightly colored Warhol sketches and each entry is calligraphed by Andy Warhol's mother (complete with scratched-over corrections). One of my favorite recipes for an impromptu summer picnic dessert requires a portable regrigerator from Abercrombie & Fitch ...

Amazon.com

Taschen's legendary decade-by-decade chronicle of American advertising hits a high point in the book on the 1920s. Its hundreds of coruscatingly colorful Jazz Age advertisements, superbly reproduced on practically bulletproof paper, add up to an irresistible question: why stay this side of paradise when the new consumer culture can send you to heaven right now? Just look up: apple-cheeked cherubs bear steaming flapjacks to a beaming sleeper; fluffy, angel-like Michelin tire men ply the skies; the Certainteed building-supplies giant (a sort of Australopithecus Jolly Green Giant) throws his head back against billowing cumulonimbus clouds. Cecil B. de Mille's poster for his 1933 tsunami-disaster film The Deluge can't match the grandiosity of some of these ads for the humblest household products.

After a short but sweet introductory essay by New York Times designer Steven Heller, editor Jim Heimann organizes the ads by subject: consumer products, fashion and beauty, entertainment, travel, etc. It's gripping to watch sex and status try to outdo each other in selling 1920s cars: the snooty Pierce Arrow associates itself with wealthy Century Club types, while the Ford Fordor stresses the populist $660 price and the flapper struggling to keep the wind from whipping her perilously brief hem over her head. High art rears its lovely head in ads for the Marmon Big 8 racer, powered by a 125-horsepower engine and a lightninglike look derived from Futurist art. Most ads range in a safer esthetic region bounded by retro-Currier & Ives, zesty art deco, and the funny papers. Fear is a great motivator: hunky Marvin loses the girls to halitosis; classy dames subtly judge each other on the quality of the ScotTissue in the bathroom: "Women sense it immediately!" The ads featuring black people fascinatingly demonstrate that even the era's most talented artists couldn't draw blacks because they literally could not see them when they looked at them. This book is a must for any serious student of pop culture—or anybody out for a graphic good time. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

The dawn of American consumerism

Prohibition made liquor illegal and all the more fun to drink. Speakeasies, luxury cars, women's liberation, bathtub gin and a booming economy kept the country's mood on the up-and-up. Women sheared off their locks and taped their chests, donning flapper dresses and dancing the Charleston until their legs gave out. Gangsters flourished in big cities and gangster movies flourished in Hollywood. It was the roaring twenties in America: a singular time in history, a lull between two world wars and the last gas before the nation's descent into the Great Depression. Forging the way into the future like a modern streamliner in a sea of antiquity, advertising in the 20s sought to bring avant-garde into the mainstream—which it did with great success.

Customer Reviews:

All American Ads - 20s.......2007-07-03

Very typical of this series, plenty of fascinating glossy magazine ads that capture the period as well as anything can. A really impressive series; I've got just about all of them. This one is more foreign than the others since it's period is now bordering on history, rather than just nostalgia.

Back to the past.......2007-05-15

At that time photography was not used in commercials. Beautifully ilustrated and full in text this book a real back to American Life Style in the 20's, throught products that made that age.

Best of series, typographically speaking..........2005-10-11

Lots of hand drawn type. The pictures are happier and more whimsical than the 30's or 40's.

If you're into copying type, don't bother with the 60's -- the type is really boring. The 20's has one has everything from campy to elegant type... I'm looking forward to the release of the 00's-10's (turn of the century).

Good for stealing from.......2005-07-29

As an illustrator and graphic designer I have found this book to be an excellent resource for stealing and pilfering. When I need a typeface, a logo, a color combination or even the layout of the page, Ads of the 20's can't be beat. What was so great about that decade in design? Who knows. But one thing is for sure: it's heck better than the trash on the pages of magazines and catalogues these days.

I just couldn't resist this one..........2005-05-01

I finally caved in and bought this volume in the _All-American Ads_ series, and now I'm going to have to buy the others. I'm doomed.

I'm in love with this book, and there's a lot to love about it. The production values are outstanding--the colors are brilliant, the images as crisp as they can be, and the selection of ads is wonderfully varied. It's a visual treat--Taschen has done it again.

If I do have one complaint, it is that the emphasis is on full-page, full-color ads. While I am a painter and find this book a visual delight (the colors! Oh, joy!), I'm also a geeky cultural historian. I've looked at a lot of magazines from the period--enough to know that some of the most telling ads about the anxieties, attitudes and preoccupations of the time aren't the largest, most sophisticated, or visually striking ones. But since this book has been produced primarily as a showcase for graphic design of the period, and not by hopeless history nerds, I have no trouble giving it five stars.

Faces of Time: 75 Years of Time Magazine Cover Portraits

Average customer rating:

Wow!
Summary

Faces of Time: 75 Years of Time Magazine Cover Portraits
National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution)
Manufacturer: Bulfinch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0821224980

Customer Reviews:

Wow!.......2003-09-17

I bought this book for my classroom and wondered later why I picked it up. When I really looked through the book, I found some really great art focusing on important personas from the 20th Century. It is a really nice book to have. A keepsake.

Summary.......1999-12-12

'Celebrating Time's 75th anniversary, this book presents work commissioned for the magazine's cover by some of the century's best-known artists, ranging from Andrew Wyeth's portrait of Dwight Eisenhower to Andy Warhol's Michael Jackson.This book presents seventy-five artworks commissioned for the magazine's covers by some of the century's best-known artists, from Dwight Eisenhower by Andrew Wyeth to Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol. Faces of TIME accompanied an exhibition organized by the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D. C. Among the outstanding covers reproduced are Roy Lichtenstein's dynamic 1968 image of Bobby Kennedy, Ben Shahn's Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gerald Scarfe's papier-mache caricatures of the Beatles. Jay Leno relates his feelings - and his mother's reaction - to being pictured on the cover of TIME. Frederick S. Voss provides a visual history of the magazine and shows how making it onto the cover of TIME has come to be the ultimate accolade.' - From The Publisher

Covering the New Yorker: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution

Average customer rating:

the most important one is missing...
A family heirloom
A fitting supplement to The Complete Book of Covers of NYer
"Magazines Are All About Aspirations." -- Francoise Mouly

Covering the New Yorker: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution
Francoise Mouly , and Lawrence Weschler
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Complete Book Of Covers From The New Yorker: 1925-1989

ASIN: 0789206579

Book Description

For seventy-five years The New Yorker has been entertaining and enlightening its loyal readers (two-thirds of whom live outside the city). Its peerless covers--created by a large stable of extraordinarliy talented artists and cartoonists--have mirrored the magazine's feisty spirit from the beginning, becoming even more pungently topical in recent years. No noteworthy subject or scandal has escaped their scrutiny, from Broadway flappers and the eternal Eustace Tilley to dishonest pols and the gigahertz speed of contemporary life. Inexhaustibly varied in mood and style, the covers are united by their visual sophistication, their imaginative wit, and their high pleasure-giving quotient.

This stylish compendium presents not only the best of The New Yorker's covers--selected by art editor Francoise Mouly and organized into such classic themes as The Big City, Arts and Music, and The Buzz-- but also a behind-the-scenes peek at the sketches that lead up to them, as well as a look at the controversy that sometimes follows in their wake. A "Conversation" between Ms. Mouly and Lawrence Weschler--a noted New Yorker writer and art critic--illuminates the history of the magazine's covers and how they have changed over the past decade. In addition, several "Sketchbooks" highlight the work of especially evocative cover artists, including Sempe, Spiegelman, and Steinberg, these portfolios are complemented by six detachable full-size covers, suitable for framing, bound into the back of the book.

Customer Reviews:

the most important one is missing..........2003-04-22

this book is really well done, apart from the fact that there are a lot of covers shown from saul steinberg, but his MOST IMPORTANT one, the view from 9th ave westwards, is missing. this is a clear draw back of this book, and hence, since it's title is "cutting-edge covers", i think it only deseverves two stars.

A family heirloom.......2001-03-24

I,m very much an avid fan and collector of New Yorker cartoon and illustrator art. Whilst this may bias my opinion it also, I think, makes me nerdishly critical. However, I have been completely won over by the beauty of this book. The quality of the reproduction is first class. It does focus on the 90s covers. However, I now have a renewed respect for Tina Brown et al for introducing a sharper commentry edge to the cover. I also like the rather individualistic choice of covers and the personal perspective of Francoise Mouly. I think we can allow her a little bias towards Art Speigelman - her partner (also he did after all produce the most profound cartoon book of all time in Maus). This is one of those books which raises a paradox - it will be thumbed through by old and young alike. There will be debates around its coffee table home about the relevant merits of this cover or that. But it is also a book which its owner (me!) wants to keep in pristine condition. A family heirloom indeed.

A fitting supplement to The Complete Book of Covers of NYer.......2001-01-21

This is a fitting supplement to the granddaddy of New Yorker cover books: The Complete Book of Covers of the New Yorker, put out by Knopf, which covers the NYer through 1989. This new volume mostly includes covers from the 90s, and many of the reproductions are big, sharp, and colorful. Covers are often grouped thematically (say, New Years covers), which lets you ponder the NYer's evolving style over the decades. There's even a section with a half dozen pull out covers, suitable for framing.

Some quibbles: editor Francoise Mouly is a bit precious in her introduction and conversation with Lawrence Weschler. Her take on the history of the NYer is a bit off in places; the book omits listing the arrival of EB White and Katherine White in its timeline(!), and she gives perhaps too much play to her husband/artist Art Spiegelman. One interesting aside, noted by others who have this volume: the old covers (mostly from the 30s) that she prints side-by-side with the work she commissioned in the 90s is almost always superior to these newer covers. A few new artists, such as Sempe and Spiegelman stand out; but most run a distant second to the likes of Arno, Thurber, and Steig from an earlier era. --robert luhn

"Magazines Are All About Aspirations." -- Francoise Mouly.......2000-11-04

This book deserves more than five stars. It's wonderful!

This beautiful volume would be rewarding simply as art. Realizing its connection to The New Yorker makes it seem both more familiar and more interesting.

Francoise Mouly, art editor since 1993, has done a remarkable job of improving the covers during her tenure and has used that same remarkable eye to select these covers from all of the New Yorker's 75 years, as well. The book is greatly enriched by her introduction, and a conversation with Lawrence Weschler, who is a New Yorker writer. You will also enjoy "sketchbook" features on the artists Sempe, Spiegelman and Steinberg. You will be further rewarded with 6 ready-to-frame prints of covers. What a great deal! I encourage you to buy a copy for yourself, and as a gift for everyone you know who loves The New Yorker.

Magazine covers have enormous impact on whether we buy or read a particular issue. Princess Diana would draw more people to the inside of a book than anyone else in history. If you are The New Yorker, what kind of covers suit best? This remarkable collection of 75 years worth of covers will undoubtedly change your mind about what a cover can and should be. To me, these covers are a more profound communication at many levels than what I see on Time, Newsweek, People or Fortune.

I have a somewhat unusual background for reviewing this book. I have often done assignments for magazines to help them determine a policy for selecting their covers. This perspective made me appreciate this book in unusual ways that I would like to share with you.

Magazine publishers want covers that sell, but they also don't want to spend much money. Editors want covers to convey their vision of the editorial content. That sets off an institutional dynamic that normally results in dramatic photography of the familiar in new settings on covers, but kept within a tiny budget.

The most expensive and difficult (and dangerous) route is to feature original art on the cover. The New Yorker started with and has maintained that approach to its identity, which makes it special -- even if the art itself was not as remarkable as it is. The fact that the covers work so well both aesthetically and commerically is a great accomplishment that we should all honor.

The cover for the book is aptly chosen. This "effete looking dandy" has graced the covers almost every February for the 75 years of the magazine's existence, beginning with the first issue. In fact, the image is so familiar that many will swear that it is always on the cover. You will enjoy the satires of this cover that are in the book. This image also sets a tone for The New Yorker that connects us both to the magazine and our reactions to it.

As Ms. Mouly points out, "You can't judge a book by its cover." A magazine's " . . . personality is defined by its cover, and the rest of the magazine has to stand behind it." If you are like me, what will impress you is how much richer, deeper, and more interesting the covers are under Ms. Mouly's editorship. One of my favorites is "Life at the Top" by Eric Drooker in 1994. This features men and women standing near the tops of skyscrapers on very thin stilts looking harried and concerned.

Perhaps no magazine's cover has ever made fun of the elite in such a consistent and effective way as has The New Yorker. There were several covers that were new to me that really made an impression in this way. One was of Monica Lewinsky as Mona Lisa. That image connects to so many levels of L'Affaire Lewsinsky that they are almost inexpressable, yet there they all are in one glance. "Putting drawings on the cover . . . keeps artists at the center of the cultural dialogue . . . where they should be."

You will also see many controversial covers such as the famous one from 1993 which had a Jewish Hassidic male kissing a black woman.

The covers are loosely organized into sections: The Big City, Catching the Moment, A Year at The New Yorker, The Arts, Sports, and The Timeless Moment. Most of my favorite covers were in the sections on The Big City, Mother's Day, Taxes, Christmas, and Sports. One of my other favorites has a lone cyclist in the Tour de France trailing the pack by a wide margin in he beautiful French countryside while everyone else is bunched together. How wonderful!

After you have finished enjoying these wonderful images and the commentaries on them, I suggest that you think about where else art would make a more profound part of our dialogue. How about Presidential debates about the candidates' favorite artists and paintings or sculptures? Or having fine art on packages of the products we buy and use to help indicate their quality and contents? Or stand-up comedians doing routines about art displayed on easels?

Let art lead your mind everywhere!

Book Description

Comic strips and comic books were among the most popular and influential forms of mass media in 20thcentury America. This fascinating book focuses on fifteen pioneering cartoonists—ranging from Winsor McCay to Chris Ware—who brought this genre to the highest level of artistic expression and who had the greatest impact on the development of the form.

Organized chronologically, Masters of American Comics explores the rise of newspaper comic strips and comic books and considers their artistic development throughout the century. Presenting a wide selection of original drawings as well as progressive proofs, vintage printed Sunday pages, and comic books themselves, the authors also look at how the art of comics was transformed by artistic innovation as well as by changes in popular taste, economics, and printing conventions.

First appearing in newspaper Sunday supplements, the comic strip became immediately successful and created the largest audience of any medium of its time. The comic book first began as a way to print existing newspaper comics, then subsequently established the mass popularity of superheroes in the 1940s and 1950s before it matured as a vehicle for independent personal expression in the underground comic books and graphic novels of the 1960s.

Included in the book are insightful and entertaining essays on individual artists written by major figures in the fields of comics, narrative illustration, literature, popular culture, and art history. Masters of American Comics convincingly positions the genre of comics into the history of art and is destined to become a classic text for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Off The Wall Popular Culture Definitive Volume-A Must Have........2007-03-15

As a Lender to the Exhibition this book covers in its voluminous pages, the actual chance to see the exhibitions in LA, Milwaukee and New Jersey Museums was only aided by this graceful tome. Four Stars ****!

Damaged cover on a great book.......2007-02-08

I purchased this book for a Christmas gift, the cover was damaged and it should have been protected in shipping.
The box it was shipped in was in perfect condition the inner protection, well there was none!

I purchased this book as a gift for the person who viewed the exhibit with me, it's an excellent book, a great retrospect.

Masters all.......2007-01-02

I recently purchased The Monster of Frankenstein, Dick Briefer's Horror Comic Epic" and was so enthralled by this golden age comic that I had to have more.

"Masters of Comic Art", a reexamination of pop culture comics morphed in to fine art, is a useful overview of a "who's who" in the comic world.

Beautifully reproduced in full color and loaded with great art and interesting information about the creators makes this book a must have.

Comic retrospective.......2006-11-07

This book works well with the museum exhibit, if you get the chance to see it. If you don't, the book itself is a good overview of comic history, and the pictures are great.

Herriman's line.......2006-08-03

There are precious few draughtsmen that can put line to paper in all of low/high art than he. he is a master. Take a look at "Archie and Mahitabel"; authored by the great Don Marquise.It simply does't get any better than his exquisite line

Average customer rating:

1950's American History As Seen Through Advertising
The Golden Age of Advertising
All-American Ads of the 50s
Nostalgia City
You are what you eat - or wear - or buy .....

All-American Ads of the 50s
Jim Heimann
Manufacturer: Taschen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3822811580

Amazon.com

Second in a series of books featuring advertising by era, All-American Ads of the 50s offers page after page of products that made up the happy-days decade. The start of the cold war spurred a buying frenzy and a craze for new technology that required ad campaigns to match. The nuclear age left its mark all over the advertisements, with a spotlight on planes, rockets, and even mushroom clouds. Shiny, big, beautiful cars abound, styled to keep up with the space age. Editor Jim Heimann, in his essay "From Poodles to Presley, Americans Enter the Atomic Age," explains: "Car designers came up with exaggerated tail fins for automobiles to express this new accelerated speed." Modernist home interiors look slick and shiny with their molded plastic furniture and linoleum floors. While clothing and furniture styles look strangely contemporary--a testament to our current obsession with vintage--some things have definitely changed. A baby sells Marlboro cigarettes! Also included are chapters on movies, food, and travel. --J.P. Cohen

Book Description

TRAVEL BACK TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF MID-CENTURY ADVERTISING IN AMERICA

Discover America through this incredible collection of ads from the 1940s and 50s. Packaged foods, cars, travel, technology, liquor, cigarettes, movies, appliances, furniture, toothpaste; products and services the American consumer needed, even if they sometimes didn't know it until Madison Avenue told them. Viewed together in the first two volumes of a projected series that will cover the entire 20th century, these ads portray the spirited capitalism that dominated America in the 40s and post-war 50s. It almost seemed one's patriotic duty to consume, and consume we did, with unprecedented dedication.

Many of these ads would not fly by today's standards of political correctness. Idealizing the squeaky-clean persona of the all-American, nuclear WASP family, these ads portray the sexist and racist status quo that was also an element of mid-century American culture. Also featured are cigarette ads with medical spokesmen, and travel ads touting nearby atomic bomb testing as an added draw for the Las Vegas tourist.

All American Ads of the 40s

World War II was the dominating presence in the first half of the 1940s, no less in advertising than in any other part of American culture. Overnight, car manufacturers retooled to produce tanks and jeeps. Women streamed into factories when their husbands and sweethearts left the assembly line for the battlefield, and the public was exhorted to do their part by obeying blackout restrictions and investing in war bonds. Thrift and rationing were made palatable, even downright rousing, by the most inspiring advertising ever produced. Bold and graphic, this was the work of an industry that fueled - and was fueled by - American patriotism.

For example, to convey the necessity of gas rationing to protect the supply at the front, the Ethyl Corporation shows fires burning on the globe wherever the war was “hot,” the Pennsylvania Railroad shows soldiers being transported in a train with drawn blackout shades, and the War Department ran the chilling image of a sinking battleship accompanied by the now-classic “Loose Lips Sink Ships.”

Not all 1940s advertising was war-related, but if a company could find a way to capitalize on this collective American experience, the opportunity was taken. The iconic character of Rosie the Riveter makes an appearance for Monsanto Chemicals on behalf of coolant - during the war to keep her rivets at the optimum temperature, and for her benefit after the war, when she returned to the kitchen; and Baby Ruth candy claimed that “Food is Fuel for Victory.” On the other hand, imagery which we now find offensive was considered harmless and humorous. Just look for the couple racing off to purchase an Electrolux refrigerator because their black maid, driven mad by the noisy old model, declares “I'se quittin'!”

Starting in 1947, television began to dominate home entertainment, and Madison Avenue leapt to harness the infinite potential of this powerful new medium. After the war, America rushed to make up for lost time, and ads at the end of the decade joyously pitched the big cars, gleaming appliances, and luxurious vacations that people once again could dream about.

All American Ads of the 50s

World War II may have ended with the chilling dawn of the Atomic Age, but the Cold War took its place. If war dominated the 40s, the space age now ruled and “newer, faster, and better” became the watchwords of the new era. In an ad for Lincolns, Ford Motors asked “Why be tied down to yesterday?” as autos became the most visible symbol of personal wealth and accomplishment. Cars in the 50s grew, sprouting huge chrome-trimmed fins, and starting a trend of automotive one-upsmanship that, though more subtle today, has never abated. In response to the terrifying specter of nuclear annihilation, America also got a little silly, and fads were perpetuated by advertising - the cult of pink: phones, lipsticks, toilet paper, appliances, and poodles; Tiki-themed everything; hula hoops, coonskin hats and six shooters; and of course, a television was a must in every home. Through its bland, glass face America was transfixed by an impossibly idealized version of itself, and advertisers wer! e quick to capitalize on this captive, and captivated audience.

Customer Reviews:

1950's American History As Seen Through Advertising .......2007-09-14

Massive, beautifully produced, and very insightful in it's appraisal of 1950's American consumerism, this tome is perhaps the best collection of 1950's advertising ever assembled. Tons of beautiful illustrations and (in some cases) graphic design that are now relics of the past. In my opinion, this book should only have been published in harcover, due to its weight and number of pages. Sadly the hardcover is impossible or nearly impossible to find, unless you go for the abridged version issued as "The Golden Age of Advertising- the 1950s." This whole series of books which now span most of the 20th century are a great reference, and an important documentation of American history in visual form.

The Golden Age of Advertising.......2006-11-15

We were recent house guests of a couple who have decorated some areas of their beautiful home with a 50's theme. We gave them this book as a thank you for hosting our family. It was a unique gift, and one they will enjoy for years.

All-American Ads of the 50s.......2006-02-22

Probably the best ad book I've ever seen! Worth every penny it costs and believe me, it doesn't cost THAT much - not for a book like this! I was born in the 50s (in Russia) and Russians wouldn't even dream (or didn't even hear!) of products which are in this book - advertised in the US in the 50s. I'm now waiting for my All-American Ads of the 60s to arrive from Amazon - I spent my childhood in the US in the 60s and I can't wait to meet my "good old friends" - the American products - as advertised in the 60s. I'm hoping to collect the whole series of these fabulous books. Thank you very much, Jim Heimann and Benedikt Taschen -the guys who made this wonderfull series possible. Alexander Romanov, Moscow, Russia.

Nostalgia City.......2005-08-10

I loved this book! As a child born in the mid-50's, many of these ads fortunately carried over to the 60's when I was both better able to comprehend as well as recall them. It was also nice showing the book to our children, as it gave them a glimpse into some of what our own childhood's were like. If anyone reading this wants to take a trip back to a simpler, safer, saner era, this book is your "Time Machine". All for around $25 bucks too!

You are what you eat - or wear - or buy ............2002-10-29

There are many reasons to look backwards. For one, it may help to figure out where one is by looking at where one has been. For another, one might rethink where one is going by looking at the ideals and goals of the past. One might assess societies as a whole in some grand way, such as its military budget or the outcome of elections, but for us common folk, there is no way to tell what is on our minds better than a look at what we are buying. This book is an absolutely fascinating compendium of the culture of the 50's - of our desires, our habits, our values, as told in its advertisements. On one level it is an amusing recollection of what we once thought was cool. On another it is a profound study of the sociology of America in a time of idealism and innocence. I saw many, if not most of these ads myself when they were originally published.

Book Description

From the Jolly Green Giant to bumbling Cap'n Crunch, advertising characters are as much a part of twentieth-century America as the familiar products they symbolize. Culled from one of the world's most extensive collections of promotional product icons, What a Character! presents a nostalgic assortment of advertising figures, including some of the most popular characters ever created. Lively, full-color photographs and an informative text offer an entertaining look at the remarkable history and enduring design of these pop culture icons, with their timeless appeal for consumers of all ages.

Customer Reviews:

Small folk, big sellers.......2002-01-20

This delightful book of at least three hundred photos of advertising characters shows the public face of commercial America. Companies realised that a three-dimensional figure built brand awareness. Look through the photos and you have to admit they do look cute and so very collectable too.

This book is the author's second attempt at the same subject, he wrote an earlier book called 'Advertising Character Collectibles', more or less the same items in each book but the earlier copy had perhaps a bit more historical detail about the companies. I prefer 'What a Character', the photography and design are so much better and I think these count for a lot in a strongly visual book.

Both books have a photo of the character I would love to have, the Kraft Cameraman from Kraft Television Theatre. Yours for fifty cents and the end flap from a Velveeta carton in 1954, yours now for at least $100 without the end flap!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

BTW The author has produced another super book along the same lines: 'Meet Mr. Product' (ISBN 0811835898) and published by Chronicle, too.

Great gift for the bright and quirky.......2001-06-11

I ran across this book in a offbeat-stuff boutique and couldn't put it down. An amazingly comprehensive view of all kinds of advertising characters over a century. This can't help bring back childhood memories, whether you're 20 or 85. And the writing is quite interesting as well. This one quickly made my gift list for some hard-to-choose person's birthday or christmas.

Super Snappy!.......2000-05-24

I love this book and love giving it as a gift as well. The thick colored photographs glorify these quirky, spooky, adorable, impish, goofy figures. This is not just another boomer collector on my kitchy 50's coffee table book. Oh no! The writing is musical, provocative and sociologically insightful. I'll never look at an advertising character again in the same way. Chronicle does tasteful stuff but this book with it's tribe of characters is a yummier feast for those who long for magic from our breakfast cereal and motor oil and in moments once spent between the twilight zone and Mr. Clean . Bye bye kittie!

MAD - Cover to Cover: 48 Years, 6 Months, & 3 Days of MAD Magazine Covers

Average customer rating:

Five Stars Plus
Best sight gags ever, although some background needed
a must have book for mad readers
How the 'usual gang of idiots' spent forty-eight years.
BEST BOOK EVER

MAD - Cover to Cover: 48 Years, 6 Months, & 3 Days of MAD Magazine Covers

Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Cartooning | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0823016846

Book Description

Collected here for the first time in one easy-to-dispose-of volume is an inside look at the outside of Mad. Launched in 1952 as a ten-cent comic book, Mad was transformed three years later into a twenty-five cent (cheap!) magazine. Over the years one thing remained constant: Every issue had a cover. And here they are, complete with running commentary by Mad's poet laureate, Frank Jacobs. Join idiot cover boy Alfred E. Neuman as he's depicted by the magazine's greatest cover artists, including Norman Mingo, Kelly Freas, Richard Williams, Mort Drucker, chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs, and Leonardo da Vinci. Including rare, never-before-seen art, photos, and sketches, Mad: Cover to Cover is a fifty-year roundup of Mad humor from its humble inception right up to the present as it celebrates its 400th issue as the world's foremost satire magazine. Hoohah!

Customer Reviews:

Five Stars Plus.......2006-07-23

Among the most enjoyable books of my experience. Just the high quality reproduction of the covers would make this a great book. Add to that a fantastic presentation! Amazingly done.
A richly savory festival of imagination, creativity, insight(cultural, sociological, philosophical, etc.) and, of course, delightful humor and splendiferous transcendental artwork. Lots of charming tidbits including photos, extra art reproductions, etc.
Thanks Frank and The Usual Gang for this inundation of funshine and good cheer!

Best sight gags ever, although some background needed.......2005-03-26

If there are better sight gags than those on the cover of Mad magazine, then I have yet to see them. This book is a collection of the first 400 covers and some of them had me hysterical with laughter. My favorite was the one where Alfred is holding a hard taco shell behind a Mexican dog that is straining mightily. Others were just as funny, although some did require explanation. The producers of the magazine were not above applying a little duplicity when creating the covers.
The only drawback for younger readers will be that knowledge of the current events of the time is a precondition if you are to get the joke. For example, some covers feature political figures, and if you don't know anything about them, the joke is lost. Other covers are spoofs of hit movies of the time, so the explanatory captions are a welcome addition. Having lived through those times, I understood most of them, but there were a few times when I didn't understand the joke until I read the caption.
This book is very funny and you cannot help but be impressed by the quality of the artwork and the zany intelligence that went into the covers of Mad. The producers of Mad constantly lampooned themselves as idiots, but they were without question geniuses.

a must have book for mad readers.......2004-10-13

this book is well designd and gives all the information about the covers over the years, including notes about the spacial covers.
i highly recomand this book to any mad reader.

How the 'usual gang of idiots' spent forty-eight years........2002-11-24

The first copy of Mad I saw was issue 29 in September 1956 (still got it too) and I was hooked. How could a magazine be so funny and be so spot-on with its satire? Easy, just employ the `usual gang of idiots' that's how. I kind of grew out of it when I discovered the National Lampoon, how could a magazine be so funny etc, etc. But I have always had a soft spot for Mad and this book of covers is a super addition to my back issues and other Mad books.

All 399 (up to November 2000) covers are in this well designed and printed book Mostly one or two covers to a page sometimes with Frank Jacobs' commentary and with a lot of the latter covers you get to see the preliminary cover roughs. As the years go by you can see how the covers changed from simple visual gags into ones that are much more graphic and busy because they have to work harder on the newsstand. The ideas are still very funny after all these years though. My favorite is issue 35 (October 1957) a wraparound that celebrated the fifth anniversary with a great painting from Norman Mingo showing a few dozen very famous American merchandising characters seated round a dining table, Alfred's at one end grinning. I would love this as a poster.

I think it is worth mentioning for Mad fans the seven CD-ROM `Totally Mad' set, every page from the issue one thru to December 1998, the interface is very user friendly and the discs have a lot of additional aural and visual surprises.

BTW, Robert Silver's photmosaic book cover, made up from the magazines covers, is stunning.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

BEST BOOK EVER.......2001-08-17

I loved this book , mostly because Im a mad magazine FAN!!! BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!! GREAT BOOK

Indian Maidens (Artist Archives) (Artist Archieves)

Average customer rating:

Indian Maidens (Artist Archives) (Artist Archieves)

Manufacturer: Collectors Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1888054468

Book Description

One in a stunning series of beautiful art books celebrating the golden age of illustration. Each volume showcases fourteen faithfully reproduced artworks from the Collectors Press archives, each selected with attention to historical significance and artistic merit. A lively introduction discusses the artists and times. Through the 1920s Indian maidens glamorized the passing of the Old West. They adorned the walls of saloons and tobacco shops, and were important precursors to the pin-up girl.

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