More from the Air Force Art Program

T. I. list members and blog readers have shared so much fabulous information I never knew about the U.S. Air Force art program. Earlier this week my friend Ken Steacy sent an email on the subject. As we look at many more examples from the May 1960 issue of National Geographic, here's Ken's take on the topic...



"I'm really enjoying these posts," writes Ken, "I actually have the original NatGeo article, which I had bound along with numerous others on the subject of aviation. The USAF art program is indeed vast, and examples are scattered throughout bases and museums across the country, notably at the USAF museum in Dayton, Ohio and the Air & Space Museum in Washington."



"About twenty years ago, the Smithsonian released a series of laserdisks with their aviation photo archives, including shots of everything in the USAF art collection to date. Each disk had 60-100 thousand images at low to medium resolution, which I laboriously transferred to DVDs during my most recent downsizing effort!"




"NASA also has an art program (of which I was a part, tho I never got an assignment) but they suspended operations for a few years after the Challenger disaster."



"Much of their collection is on display at the visitor's centre in Cape Canaveral, which I got to see after the Star Wars convention this past summer."



"It's a must-do-before-you-die for anyone interested in the space program - just standing under the business end of a Saturn V is worth the price of admission!"



And for those who didn't read the comments on the last post, Chuck Pyle shared some additional info regarding the program. Chuck wrote, "Leif, each chapter or subset of the Society has its regional Air Force Artists Program. Google it as the Air Force has a decent online record of the collection."



"I have had the great pleasure of being on a few of these trips, including being on the flight line as the first Space Shuttle landed. Wow!"



"Other programs include the US Forest Service, and the other service arms of the military."



"One of the great things about the AF Program is that there is NO pressure put on the artists on the events that they cover."



Many thanks to Ken and Chuck for sharing their personal anecdotes about this fabulous program. I'm so impressed that it's been going on for more than half a century!



* Once again, here's a link to the Air Force Art Program's Collection

The S.I and the Air Force

Continuing this week's look at an interesting mid-century collaboration between the Society of Illustrators and the U.S. Air Force. Let's begin with a piece by the great Robert Fawcett.



After posting yesterday, some new information about the Air Force Art Program came to light: Melanie Reim commented that the program was still very much alive - and that she had participated in it. You can see some wonderful Air Force sketches done by Melanie here.



As well, Daniel Zalkus shared a link to the Air Force art experience of illustrator Victor Juhasz



My own research turned up a page devoted to the program on the Society of Illustrators website. You can view a slideshow of many Air Force art pieces that were part of a recent show at the Society in New York.



And via Twitter, a note from Ray Ortensie that the "Art Program is setting up a display at Baltimore Airport this week."
If you happen to live in the Baltimore area, this is your chance to see some of the originals from the Air Force Art collection.



Finally, here's a link to the Air Force Art Program's Collection

Art and the U.S. Air Force

An article in the June 1955 issue of American Artist magazine documents an interesting collaboration that took place during the mid-century between the U.S. Air Force and the Society of Illustrators...



Groups of artists associated with the S.I. were invited to visit various Air Force bases around the world and create a pictorial documentation of what they saw and experienced. One of those who participated and was most prominently featured in the AA article was Alex Ross.

Not only did the editors of American Artist chose one of his paintings for the privilege of being the only image reproduced in colour...



... but he was further featured with an extensive presentation of his sketches and rough drawings for another painting he did on this trip.



I'm a huge fan of Alex Ross' work. Below, I've provided close-ups of all the images from that particular spread so that you can get a better look at these marvelous sensitive drawings and painting sketches.













Now here's were things get really interesting:

Fast forward five years - to 1960 - and National Geographic does an extensive story on the S.I./ U.S. Air Force trips. The article features 24 illustrations by various artists in full colour. The painting chosen to open the article... Alex Ross' piece from the American Artist spread, five years earlier.



All of that would be interesting enough - but wait - there's more... the images we'll be looking at this week from that May 1960 issue of National Geographic come from an unlikely source: my 12 year old nephew, Will.

One day last year in Will's Grade 6 English class, the teacher brought out stacks of magazines for a 'cut-and-paste' project. Among all the magazines presented for scissoring were some that Will noticed looked pretty old... the sort of magazines he knew his uncle Leif enjoyed looking through. With the permission of his teacher Will rescued those magazines from the knife. The following Sunday, at our regular family dinner, young Will brought me a gift. Its from one of those issues rescued by Will that I scanned the image above and its thanks to Will that we will be able to enjoy the remaining 23 images, painted more than half a century ago by the likes of Robert Fawcett, Stan Galli, John Pike, James Bama, Louis Glanzman and many others.

Its with genuine gratitude and tremendous affection that I say thanks to my thoughtful young nephew, Will!

Ben Stahl: Original Artist

Although Ben Stahl never really had a formal art education, he did manage to attend at least some art classes. In the seventh grade Stahl received a part-time scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute. For the next several years he spent his Saturday mornings attending art lectures and the afternoons doing animal drawings at the Lincoln Park Zoo. His studious determination and commitment to those Saturday sessions earned him a teaching position at the Institute (where he must surely have been the youngest instructor ever).



At age 17 Stahl was lucky enough to land an apprenticeship job at the Young, Timmins & Smith Studio in Chicago. There he spent the next five years running errands, cutting mats, pasting type on art boards and wrapping packages. In this 'school of hard knocks' Stahl also was allowed to execute the occasional small illustration under the watchful and indulgent guidance of the older experienced professionals who recognized his potential and eagerness to learn.

While working at YT&S, Stahl sought out more time in the classroom. Aron Gagliardo of the American Academy of Art in Chicago sent me a note saying, "Ben Stahl attended night classes at the Academy Jan-March(Life Drawing) & September-November(Illustration) 1929."



In 1932 Stahl felt ready to take the next step forward in his career. Armed with his first professional portfolio he headed out determined to land a position in one of Chicago's biggest and best art studios. Despite it being a depression year - and all the competition among job-hunting young illustrators that went hand-in-hand with those desperate times - Stahl succeeded in securing a spot at Stevens, Sundblom and Stults. Yes, young Ben Stahl was now working for (and learning from) one of the greatest illustrators of the 20th century - Haddon Sundblom.

Several years and several studios (and several cities) later, Ben Stahl was living in New York and appearing in the pages of The Saturday Evening Post.

Stahl understood that there is no better instructor than experience, so for those who would benefit from its voice, here are some words of wisdom for students from Ben Stahl:

"Go at your picture with consistent emotional fervor throughout. One cannot paint one part with spirit and another with cold academic exactitude and expect the result to be consistent."

"I have noticed one thing that nearly all students do when painting that is dishearteningly wrong. They are constantly trying to 'finish' a painting or part of it when they should be forever 'beginning.' They try to obtain a finished look by fussing with details, worrying about edges, high lights, etc. And they do this at the beginning and all the way through to completion. This is an approach that is not only wrong but very harmful."



"One should go through the entire process of painting a picture from start to finish employing the same method and maintaining the same attitude that was employed at the start. A small detail or section of the picture should not be haggled over at the expense of the whole picture. at the very end of the job we may refine and 'polish up' - but only at the very end."



In the article Henry Pitz wrote about Ben Stahl for the September 1950 issue of American Artist, he emphasizes that Stahl practiced what he preached. "[Stahl] doesn't allow a captivating passage of paint to remain if it refuses to move with the rest of the picture," wrote Pitz. "A 'frozen' passage is anathema to him. Form, color and rhythms are kept in a plastic state, ready to be altered at will, until a happy conclusion is reached. At the end, the "polishing up" is a minor matter."

I can't help but think that this is a lesson Stahl must have learned while watching his old boss, Haddon Sundblom, work at his easel back in the early Chicago days. Sundblom's masterful painting technique is without parallel and must surely have influenced the countless younger illustrators who passed through the infamous "Sundblom Circle."

While Ben Stahl was working as an illustrator at Sundblom's studio, Pitz tells us, "young Coby Whitmore was there also, running errands." I knew these two men had been friends, but not that there relationship went back that far.

Let's finish this series of posts with a wonderful treat. The following arrived in my Inbox about a year ago from Coby Whitmore's son, Buzz:

"I enjoyed your post on Ben Stahl in Todays Inspiration. He and my father were good friends and I am fortunate to have a couple of his paintings which you may wish to share with your followers. One is a portrait of my father inscribed "To my good friend Coby, Ben Stahl."



"The second is an oil done in 1970, one of my very favorite paintings. The photo quality doesn't do justice to the lovely coloring, but his great drawing shines thru. Regards, Buzz Whitmore"



Many thanks to Buzz for sharing these treasures with us!

Thanks also to Heritage Auctions for allowing me to use the scan at the top of today's post of a Ben Stahl original from their archives.

* My Ben Stahl Flickr set

Ben Stahl: "... injecting life - or spirit - into a picture"

In our last post, guest author Tom Watson astutely described one of the key characteristics of Ben Stahl's approach to illustration. Tom wrote that Stahl, "leaned, tilted and even distorted some of his figures to convey high energy and action."

Henry C. Pitz wrote about Ben Stahl in the September 1950 issue of American Artist and made a point of reinforcing this aspect of Stahl's work by providing a step-by-step demonstration of an illustration assignment Stahl had recently completed for Today's Woman magazine.

"[Ben Stahl] uses models infrequently," wrote Pitz. "He draws with great ease from his imagination and usually his pictures grow from a series of quickly executed sketches. When the experimental sketches result in an exciting solution, he enlarges the sketch freely onto the board or canvas and begins to paint directly."



Stahl said, "I keep a picture flexible all the way to its completion. This permits changes and additions during the progressive stages of painting that, to me, result in better pictures. The problem of injecting life or spirit into a picture is difficult. But by keeping yourself free to change and modify the physical forms in a picture you will find the spiritual values and the life of the creation entering subtly, almost subconsciously into your composition."


Of course Ben Stahl understood that photo reference of models had its merits. As we can see, he had models pose for this particular assignment. But to qualify his intentions he wrote, "The photo shown here is one of a number used in this illustration. They were not much help through no fault but my own. I took these photos knowing full well what I wanted and no model could possibly get into the preconceived poses I had in mind. I did use small parts, such as a hand here, a fold there."



This next exploratory sketch speaks volumes about Ben Stahl's problem solving process when making a picture. The art director had asked Stahl to emphasize the girl's frustration in attempting to hold the man back. Stahl said that "this sketch was made to more clearly demonstrate that it is the abstract forms of the illustration which project drama and mood, with a minor helping hand from diagrammatic action and the reportorial aspects. The sketch could be even more abstract and still carry the story."



Stahl was intently interested in creating mood through strong composition, form and lighting and the sketch above was key to his analysis of the problem. He added, "I wish to point out how form serves two purposes: the creation of strong architectural structure and at the same time the creation of a mood."



"The mood," wrote Stahl, "is the result of certain structures and arrangements of form as is aesthetic spirit."

Unfortunately I don't have a full colour scan of the piece presented in the demonstration, but below is another Ben Stahl illustration that might serve as a relative example of the conclusion of Stahl's illustrative process.



* My Ben Stahl Flickr set.

Ben Stahl's Ben-Hur

By Guest Author Tom Watson

When the movie Ben-Hur premiered in S.F. in 1960, my wife and I had dinner and went to see the movie opening night.



That was a big deal for us in those days, for a young couple with little money. We must have saved quite a while for that one extravagant evening, and I probably sacrificed more than a little when purchasing art supplies, for a while.



Enough nostalgia... the result was not only a special evening, but a very nice hard bound book that featured photos and a total of six reproductions of the Ben Stahl illustrations for the movie.



This was after Stahl evolved into his more fine arts technique. I am only guessing, but I think perhaps those that are critical of Stahl's work are referring to paintings like these that are less refined or slick, like many of the '40s and '50s illustrations tended to be.



Stahl was more interested in mood and subjectivity than objective accuracy and slick literal renderings.



He obviously leaned, tilted and even distorted some of his figures to convey high energy and action.



I would bet he was not a fan of Bob Peak's avant-garde color combinations or probably wasn't that impressed with the 60's innovative directions that illustration took. Interestingly, I could find no mention of him in the 1959 Illustrator's Annual show, which is when he did the illustrations for Ben-Hur.

From what I have read, he was a salty, opinionated character that was well liked by some who saw his abundant talent and appreciated his sense of humor and his bluntness, but also fostered those that were critical of his work. I think some of his illos are very powerful. I personally prefer a brighter pallet, but I do like his willingness to allow his brush strokes to be aggressive and very prominent. His style was very personal and transcended photography, which might be why he didn't fade away completely during the 50's, like so many very competent illustrators did.



* Many thanks to Tom Watson for sharing his personal recollections and insightful analysis on the today's subject.

* the scan of the Ben-Hur movie poster is courtesy of Heritage Auctions, all the other scans today are courtesy of Tom Watson.

* My Ben Stahl Flickr set

Ben Stahl's Women

Looking through all the many Ben Stahl illustrations in my old magazine collection, one thing quickly becomes apparent:



Ben Stahl loved women.



That is to say, like so many other artists throughout the history of picture making, Stahl was endlessly enamoured of the female form.

There's a great little anecdote in Ashley Halsey Jr.'s "Illustrating for the Saturday Evening Post" about an incident in 1945, when Stahl submitted a rough sketch that made the Post's editorial board go, "Hmmmm, no!"



The problem arose when it became clear to the Post's editors that, based on Stahl's pencil sketch, the artist intended to paint a completely nude model in the scene. Although it would be entirely appropriate to the story content...



... and despite Stahl's margin note to Post AD Frank Kilker, which he included with his second sketch ("This interior is based on actual photos of the Julian art school") the Post's editors felt some drapery would need to be included.



Along with his third sketch, Ben Stahl included a note that read, "Please don't make me cover the gal up any more than this. I've seen 'em more nude than this in magazines." Whether the note or the sketch or a combination of the two, Stahl at last got the editors' go-ahead.



Maybe as a small demonstration of artistic rebellion, notice that Stahl, in his finished full colour painting, included in the background a painting that had been represented as just an indefinite shape in his approved sketch. A painting of a female nude.

Whether he was painting them nude...



... semi-clothed...



... or fully dressed, the Stahl girl had a distinct look.



I'm of the opinion her look is based more on Stahl's personal fancy than any 'real' type. This may be because, as a young man working as a junior illustrator in a Chicago art studio, Stahl's superior, Earl Gross, encouraged Stahl to resist the temptation to follow the path of the slick, realistic 'technicians' of the day, who relied heavily on photo reference. That advice stayed with him. Years later he wrote, "Photographs are like booze - an intelligent occasional use of the stuff, great. Overuse, pure poison!"



Instead Stahl looked to Delacroix, Manet, Ingres, Rembrant, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and El Greco for inspiration and guidance. The influence in his work is undeniable, whether his subject is 'period'...



... or contemporary. Stahl's abilities and appreciation for the female form did not escape the notice of Esquire magazine's editors. But instead of asking the artist to render a typical Esquire pin-up girl, the magazine sent Stahl to Europe. For six months he travelled the continent seeking out a dozen lovely young ladies who typified the 'look' of their country. Below, Ben Stahl's take on "Miss France."



Another thing I noticed in preparing this post: During a time when most of his contemporaries were finding every possible way of composing tightly cropped pictures of couples in "the clinch", Stahl typically placed his men and women at a distance from each other, often with the male subject playing the role of observer rather than participant.



This reveals, I think, Stahl almost reverential adoration for feminine beauty.



By placing the woman at the center of the viewer's attention and making her male partner so clearly subordinate...



... was Stahl suggesting that any woman of such physical beauty is so divine as to be almost... unattainable?



* My Ben Stahl Flickr set.

* Thanks to Tom Watson for sharing the Ben Stahl interview from which I pulled some information and quotes today, as well as for locating the finished colour painting that accompanies Stahl's 1945 Post sketches.

* The final image in today's post is from Ben Stahl's biographical listing in Walt Reed's book, "The Illustrator in America, 1880-2000"