More Treasures from Sheilah Beckett

Sheilah Beckett's son Sean Smith writes, "Dave Smart, the editor of Esquire, was a big fan of my mother and father's work and thought - as my mother was doing children's book work - she would be a natural for a holiday cover."


(You can see the name of Sheilah's husband, J. Frederick Smith, listed in the cover's sidebar among that issue's art contributors)

I asked Sean if this cover was an important one in Sheilah's career and he replied, "Yes it was an important piece at the time. She also had my brother over her left shoulder as she worked on the piece (him then being only a few months old)."

It struck me that such a high-profile assignment must have impressed potential clients and perhaps resulted in Sheilah getting more advertising projects (which was, of course the proven successful strategy at the Charles E. Cooper studio, where Sheilah was represented).



Sean wrote back, "my mother was getting work on a weekly basis through Cooper's. She feels she was getting a lot of the work because the men were off in service and not available."




Of course Sheilah's true passion was for story book illustration, which she was doing all the while as well. Below, three originals from Grosset & Dunlap's, "The Big Picture Mother Goose Book" which Sheilah illustrated in 1957.






Sean wrote, "We went through a trunk and came up with some even earlier work - some my mother didn't even remember doing, I will get them scanned and send them along too."


I know I won't be alone in saying we're really looking forward to that - many thanks to Sean and Sheilah!

* If you're a fan of Sheilah Beckett's artwork, why not join the Sheilah Beckett Facebook Fan page? There you'll see many other examples of Sheilah's work and have the opportunity to correspond with her directly.

* My Sheilah Beckett Flickr set.

Buried Treasure from Sheilah Beckett

Last week a note arrived from Sean Smith:

"My mother and I were going through some files and came up with some more original work, and I thought you might like to see it." Enclosed were nearly two dozen jpegs of gorgeous illustration originals and tearsheets by Sheilah Beckett.








The grouping I'm sharing with you are from two 1950s books Sheilah Beckett illustrated. Above are some drawings from the "Ribald Reader"...


... and below are three pieces from the 1959 book, "Green Mansions."







Tomorrow we'll look at several more of the scans Sean sent. Meanwhile, a reminder that Sean has created a Sheilah Beckett Facebook Fan page, which I'm sure many readers would like to join.

* My Sheilah Beckett Flickr set.

A Little More Richard O. Rose

Here are few more of Richard O. Rose's charming illustrations, courtesy of frequent Today's Inspiration guest author, David Roach.










* Be sure to click that last image to see the details in the much larger version

We're very hopeful that someone will be able to help us with the details of Richard O. Rose's career. In the mean time, many thanks to David for bring these mid-century treasures to light!

* My Richard O. Rose Flickr set.

Richard O. Rose: A Mid-Century Mystery

Last week frequent Today's Inspiration contributor David Roach did it again; he sprung a bunch of scans on me by another wonderful mid-century British illustrator: Richard O. Rose.



David writes, "Another illo from John Bull – with a use of perspective which reminds me of a great shot by Noel Sickles in the recent book of his art."






He continues, "... ultra clean lines and subtle pastel colours , a great artist I’ve actually seen very little by."




"I suspect that underneath it all Rose was probably inspired by Ronald Searle but he’s one of those artists it’s hard to pin down..."


"... is he a cartoonist doing straight stuff, or a straight man doing cartoons?"


David concludes, "A friend of mine thinks [Rose] might have done a few ads – which wouldn’t be a great revelation – but as for any personal details – zilch."

David and I are hoping that, as has happened so often before, by presenting Richard O. Rose on Today's Inspiration, someone from the community will step forward with additional information.

* More of Richard O. Rose's terrific illustrations - again with thanks to David Roach - tomorrow!

* Addendum to the Arnold Friberg post: Greg Newbold has done a follow-up post on Friberg, visit Greg's blog for more!

Arnold Friberg (1913-2010)

A few people have sent me notes in the last week to let me know that Arnold Friberg had passed away. Among those who wrote was illustrator Greg Newbold. Greg actually met Friberg a couple of years ago and wrote about that encounter on his blog.

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Greg wrote, "As a member of the Mormon faith, I certainly feel the loss of his great talent. As I mentioned in my post, I first saw his paintings reproduced in the Book of Mormon long before I could read the words it contained. His images defined the visual look of those scripture stories."


To be honest, until the news of Friberg's passing began to arrive, I was not familiar with this artist, so my thanks to all those who contacted me. And thanks especially to Greg, who generously provided the scans for today's post.


Be sure to visit Greg's blog to see more examples of Arnold Friberg's beautiful artwork, see some wonderful photos of the artist, and read Greg's very interesting and informative post!

Robert Weaver: "It was the ponytail period in American culture."

Remembering his student days, Robert Weaver said, "The prevailing art of the time, the gallery art of the United States, did not interest me. This was the period of almost universal infatuation with abstract art. And there I was, painting real people and pigeons and boats and things. I could, sort of, intellectually see [abstract art's] importance. But it bored me! I thought art required skill, and I had the skill."



Sounds rather like the thinking of the traditionalist, Doesn't it? But, Weaver continues, "Mine was no longer the era of Norman Rockwell, where everything was easy, obvious, and on the surface.The kinds of stories I illustrated back in those days were rather complicated. I had to find ways to draw and paint that would match the abstract complexities of the writing. Magazines like Psychology Today were publishing articles about complex ideas; they needed conceptual artwork."

"I don't even remember ever reading anything in the Saturday Evening Post - I'd just look at the pictures - but I doubt the articles were very taxing on the brain. In their prime were the Cooper Studio people, the Joe Bowlers and the Coby Whitmores and the Jon Whitcombs. I remember liking Al Parker more than the others, although he certainly did that type of cutesy stuff. It was the ponytail period in American culture."

In the 1959 New York Art Director's Annual, Austin Briggs wrote this message to his fellow graphic arts professionals:

"It is common to blame the low visual quality of most advertising on either clients or the public, but the art director must ultimately accept the responsibility for the job which passes his desk. The art directors who are represented in this book are esthetically and commercially successful because they gave their artists freedom and managed to work in freedom themselves."

"They were willing to experiment and take risks."

Robert Weaver's earliest accepted submission (below) to the NYAD Annual is included in the section directly behind Brigg's message.


The discussion this week around Weaver's art and philosophy have been passionate and polarized. His remarks have infuriated some readers and his work has been heavily criticized by others. Credit has been given almost grudgingly - and in a qualified manner. Weaver may be adored by one camp of artists - but he is nearly dismissed by another.

But dismiss him as you might as an elitist, a no-talent, a contributor to the "uglification of a great period in American art," as one person wrote, by the time Weaver was showcased in the September 1959 issue of American Artist, his influence on the look of then-contemporary illustration was becoming pronounced. Even established illustrators (including some of the industry's hottest young talents) were being influenced and attempting to incorporate a "Weaver look" in their work.


Consider the following examples (and I could easily show you many more):

Bob Peak, 1962.


Bernie Fuchs, 1962.


Bernie D'Andrea, 1962.



Mitchell Hooks, 1962.


Of course I'm not saying Weaver was the only avant-garde reshaping the look of illustration. Some others who were rising to prominence around the same time:

Phil Hays



Tom Allen



Jack Potter



Cliff Condak.


There were, of course, many others.

Clever, open-minded illustrators willing to grow and experiment took what they saw as intriguing or appealing from this younger set and incorporated it into their own ever-evolving styles.

Al Parker, 1964.


The real genius of someone like Al Parker is that he understood the need for personal growth - but also the requirements of the marketplace.

The hurdle avante-garde illustrators face is the audience, the client and in many cases the graphic arts community itself is resistant to change. One commenter this week wrote, "was the public really looking for a wave of innovative "progressive" illustration approaches to seduce them into reading the magazines, or was it driven more by the Art/Creative Directors and illustrators like Weaver... illustrators that hated illustration as it was?"

According to Austin Briggs, what the public was looking for should not be the guiding principle of the graphic arts community. Briggs said its imperative that the art director be willing to take risks and experiment, to seek out and nurture the new and unusual - in spite of what the public may be comfortable with. It is to the benefit of the truly creative graphic arts professional to keep an open mind when confronted with the results of that risk-taking.

Robert Weaver, 1957.


Because it is the truly enlightened illustrator who sees the potential in what most others might dismiss - and considers how it might be incorporated into his own journey of artistic growth.

Austin Briggs, 1965.



* My Robert Weaver Flickr set.

Robert Weaver: "I saw illustration as a real calling"

Much of this week's imagery has been from my collection of old Cosmopolitan magazines, and today I'd like to share with you my favourite Robert Weaver illustrations; from the February 1962 issue of Cosmo.


In an interview published years later, Weaver said, "I liked working for Cosmo, before Helen Gurley Brown took it over and ruined it. I did... a lot of detective stories, which I enjoyed doing, but even that kind of fictional illustration grew out of the real. I used real data."


"First, I had some kind of image in my mind. I sort of knew what I wanted to get. But you see, I based my Cosmo work on a lot of sketches of real situations. I was telling a fictional story, but using real life people in the interest of credibility."

"I always had two pages, sometimes three. That was the nice thing about working for them. The magazine was filled with illustrations. Sequences allowed me to share more information with the viewer, rather than reducing a complex notion to a simplistic symbol."


"In the early days... I saw illustration as a real calling. I felt that everything I needed to say could be said in illustrations. In other words, I would find within a manuscript some way of putting myself into an illustration - there was plenty of room to roam around. Now illustration has become very constricting."


"Illustration assignments provided an outlet. I saw illustration as an end in itself. I began to see it as a real calling and not just a way to make money. I was certainly lucky. There were some very good art directors around who would let me do it my way."

"But... I have grown up, and illustration is a young man's art form. I think one eventually gets tired of that kind of illustration where you have to make up solutions that are essentially simplistic. If you really do have an interest in art or in ideas, you need some way of letting that come out, and you can't do it in illustration alone, unless you're given a lot of paper and a lot of time and freedom."

* My Robert Weaver Flickr set.

* Many thanks to Daniel Zalkus, who passed along the interview from which I quoted today's passages. Unfortunately the date and publication were unavailable to Daniel - who had only photocopies, not the original magazine in which the interview appeared. We can only determine that this interview took place after 1976 since Weaver mentions it in one of his comments.