Robert O. Reid, Shooting Star Illustrator

For a very brief time -- about three years -- amusing, cartoonish illustrations by Robert O. Reid appeared on Collier's magazine covers and internal story illustrations as well as some advertisements.

Before and after that blaze of professional glory, little of Reid can be readily found on the Internet. There are images aplenty on Google, but those are the sort of items just mentioned. As for reliable biographical information -- there seems to be none. My go-to hardcopy reference, Walt Reed's "The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000" has nothing on Reid. One of The Norman Rockwell Museum's recent emails mentioned a "Robert O'Reid," but illustration credits for some of the Reid images I downloaded have it "O." and not "O'". One Web site suggested that Reid was more interested in theatre than illustration, so he abandoned art. Another had his years as 1921-2009, but this implies that his work was appearing in a major publication when he was about 17 years old; possible, but not likely.

As for Collier's, it was probably the number two general-interest magazine in America in the 1930s, 40s and in the 50s until its 1957 demise. For illustrators, appearing in Collier's was the next-best professional thing short of having work published in the Saturday Evening Post. So Reid came out of nowhere, was published a lot in Collier's, especially 1938-1940, and then disappeared.

Gallery

Collier's cover - 1 October 1938

Collier's cover - 17 December 1938

Collier's cover - 4 March 1939

Collier's cover - 29 July 1939

Collier's cover - 25 March 1940

Collier's cover - 1 June 1940

Collier's story illustration - 6 May 1939

Collier's story illustration - 17 June 1939

Collier's story illustration

Collier's story illustration

General Tire advertisement illustration ca. 1941

Pre-posting update:

Aha! While researching content for another post, I stumbled across this 27 October 1934 Collier's cover by Reid. So he was nibbling at the Big Time at least four years before his 1938-40 surge. And for sure he wasn't born in 1921. Any solid biographical information on him would be greatly appreciated. Please post as a comment.

James Tissot: Painting the Elegant Life

Jacques Joseph (James) Tissot (1836-1902) was an anglophile French painter whose best-known works were done while living in England from 1871 to 1882 or shortly thereafter. Biographical information on him can be found here.

Before leaving for England, Tissot was a painter of Paris society, a practice he continued with English society until the death of his beloved Irish mistress who was the mother of his son. During the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War and its Paris Commune aftermath, he was in Paris and helped fight in its defense. The Wikipedia biography linked above is unclear as to why he left France. One explanation is that it was because he fought on the Communard side, and the Commune was, of course, violently crushed by French forces. The entry offers the suggestion that Tissot joined the Commune side as a means of protecting his assets. This makes some sense because he almost universally featured well-to-do people and their haunts in his paintings, something unlikely for a committed revolutionary. Plus, towards the end of his career, he switched to making watercolors of religious subjects, something favored by conservative and Royalist groups in late 19th century France.

Tissot's mature oil painting style can be described as generally hard-edged so far as his subjects are concerned; background objects were often treated less distinctly. Perhaps because of his sharp rendering, his London-era paintings are a useful resource regarding aspects of England in the 1870s and early 80s.

Gallery

The Thames - 1867
Tissot visited London years before he moved there.

Too Early - 1873

The Gallery of HMS Calcutta (Portsmouth) - 1877
According to its Wikipedia entry, the Calcutta was an 84-gun second rate (in terms of broadside) Royal Navy vessel. Being thoroughly obsolete years earlier, it became a gunnery training ship at Devonport in 1865. Devonport is a ways west of Portsmouth, so either the painting's caption is wrong or it's Wikipedia at fault. Regardless, it seems that the stern of the ship was still serving as a site for social functions when Tissot depicted it.

Mavourneen - 1877
The word is from the Irish, and means "my darling." The women pictured is Kathleen Newton, Tissot's mistress.

Croquet - c. 1878

On the Thames - 1882

Le bal - 1880

The Reception - 1885
Note the similarity of the subjects in these two paintings.

The Traveler - 1882-85

Vernon Grant: Cartoonist-Illustrator of the 1930s and 40s

Vernon Simeon Plemion Grant (1902-1990), or simply Vernon Grant, as he signed his works, had a long, active career illustrating magazines, books and advertising. Here is his Wikipedia entry and here is a website dedicated to him.

Grant featured a cartoon-like style in his work that was lively and attractive. It was also highly in tune with the times. Yes, there was a Depression and then a war going on during his peak years. But many Americans were happy to seek relief from unpleasant times by viewing escapist movies and gentle cartoon humor, so Grant did well in difficult times.

As for me, I have no problem with his artistic style, given his objectives and assignments. My problem is, ... well, let's take a look.

Gallery

Judge magazine cover - 19 March 1932
Grant had a sense of humor that must have appealed to some magazine editors and readers, but it largely eludes me. For most of the images in this post including this one, I can think of possible situational jokes; however, none is smashingly obvious.

Judge magazine cover - December 1935

Rice Krispies breakfast cereal characters - c. 1939
Snap, Crackle and Pop grew out of Grant's frequent usage of gnomes in his other illustration work, as in the Judge cover above.

Collier's magazine cover - 21 September 1940
The cowgirl is carrying a tennis racket and shoes. I have no definite notion what that signifies here.

Collier's magazine cover - 4 October 1941
Okay, I think I get the humor here. It contrasts traditional, dress-up type dancing with the Jitterbug dancing whose popularity was peaking around the time Grant painted this cover. His twist, of course, is cross-pairing the dancing couples -- perhaps parents and teen-age children.

Collier's magazine cover - 10 January 1942
The illustration was surely completed before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. It shows a sailor returning from duty in a warm climate. Not exactly war-related, but Collier's editors must have decided that the cover wasn't worth pulling at the last minute, production times being what they were.

Collier's magazine cover - 19 December 1942
Another sailor, another somewhat opaque joke. For once, it's the girl who has to wait for the date. But why is the sailor sleeping? It would be better if Grant provided a reason.

Collier's magazine cover - 5 August 1944
Grant often used sailors in his wartime illustrations. Here he deigns to feature a couple of Army corporals. But the humor? Are they writing each other? Someone else? Who besides Grant and his editor knows.

Collier's magazine cover - 9 June 1945
I have no clear idea who the head in the crystal ball might be.

Grant in his Rock Hill, South Carolina studio

Some Liberty Magazine Covers

According to its Wikipedia entry, Liberty magazine in its original form was published 1924-1950, apparently under three ownerships.

Despite what Wikipedia claims, Liberty was seldom (never?) a serious rival to the Saturday Evening Post in the realm of American general-interest magazines. That is indirectly indicated by the fact that Liberty's cover artists, while entirely competent, were seldom in the absolute front rank of their day. Below are some Liberty covers in chronological order.

Gallery

By Ruth Eastman - 7 February 1925

By Walter Beach Humphrey - 14 March 1925
The title of this cover is "Back from Palm Beach" (tee hee, that's a pun, folks).

By Leslie Thrasher - 2 March 1929
Havana was a popular place to visit in winter for affluent Americans.  Cuba Libre is also an alcoholic drink.

By Georgia Warren - 19 November 1932
I didn't find any useful biographical information on Warren, who was active in the 1930s.  This illustration is surprisingly era-free; it almost could have been painted yesterday.  That might have been because 1932 was during a transition from short to longer hair styles for women.  Another factor is that the clothing is hardly shown, so can't be pinned to a fashion era.

By Lumen Winter - 7 September 1935
There was a Lumen Winter who was best known (according to Wikipedia) as a muralist.  His signature was different than that on this cover.  But it's likely that we're dealing with the same Lumen Winter.

By unknown illustrator - 31 October 1936
Snazzy Hallowe'en witch we have here.  I wonder who the illustrator was.

By Walter Baumhofer - 4 April 1936
Here Baumhofer was beginning his transition from "pulp" to "slick" magazines.

By Scott Evans - 21 November 1936
Zippy car, attractive gal.  Unfortunately, I have no information about Scott Evans, a common name.

By Herbert Paus - 15 April 1944
I suppose Paus set this scene in a war-damaged Italian church, because Italy was where American troops were in action a few months before the D-Day invasion of France.

Julius LeBlanc Stewart: Society Painter

Julius LeBlanc Stewart (1855-1919) was born to wealth, which made the artistic life easier than most others found it. Wealth also provided social connections leading to the subject matter for many of his paintings. He was whisked off to Paris with his family at about age 10, and spent the rest of his life in Europe, as best I can tell.

A big problem for me is that I can find little regarding Stewart on the Internet or in my library of art-related books. His skimpy Wikipedia entry seems to have the most information.

Stewart can perhaps best be compared artistically to James Tissot, who also favored high society scenes for much of his career. Tissot was born 19 years earlier, but both died in their mid-60s. As best I can tell from small, Web-based images, Stewart's paintings seem more pleasing than those by Tissot, which generally have a brittle, hard-edged character.

Gallery

After the Ball - 1877

Lady on a Pink Divan - 1877
Stewart was just getting started when these two images were painted. He seems to have used the same model and costume for both.

The Letter - 1882
Women reading or reacting to letters was a popular late-19th century subject for many artists.

A Hunt Ball - 1885
One of Stewart's better-known paintings.

On the Yacht "Namouna," Venice - 1890
The yacht was owned by James Gordon Bennett. And that's Lillie Langtry towards the right.

Rédemption - 1895

A Supper Party - 1903

Rio della Maddalena - 1908
Stewart made cityscapes in the Venice area over the years.

Un nu sur la pelouse
He painted quite a few scenes of nude nymphs in grassy and woodsy settings.