This series should be required viewing by all students of illustration. I want to cry that it was not available for me when I went to art college in 1966!
Hello and welcome to the channel. Thanks a lot for your enthusisatic responses so far ( I can take any number of positive comments). As a student in the later 60s myself I remember that I was taught by professional designers and illustrators who were passing on their own experience and knowledge. When I stopped lecturing 6 years ago I was the only member of staff who worked as an illustrator or cared at all about illustration and the greats who made it what it is. I'm now of the firm opinion that young aspiring illustrators would do well to avoid university altogether and learn online - for free.
Stumbled onto these ten minutes ago. WOW!!. I've been collecting the books of Golden Age illustrators most of my life, and am thrilled beyond words to have made this discovery! Thank you, thank you, Mr. Beard!
@@petebeard This is easily the best thing I've ever found on youtube. I'm going to watch every single video in the series! And I wonder, (she said, shyly) whether, if I described a Golden Age illustration to you, and told you what I know about it, you'd take a stab at identifying the artist? I'll completely understand it if you just don't do that sort of thing. Thank you again, so very much, for these wonderful videos.
Hello again and thanks so much for your glowing endorsement of the channel. And feel free to send me what information you can about this illustration. I'll give it my best shot but trying to do it blind so to speak may well defeat me. Still, nothing ventured...
@@petebeard Oh! THANK YOU so much! It was a black and white picture of a rat in a sewer pipe, from the perspective of further down the pipe. The image was circular (representing the pipe opening) and behind the rat, which is sitting up, gnawing something) you can see what looks to be a lovely summer day on the river, with clouds in the sky and a sailboat going past. It's probably pen and ink, but I keep thinking it might have been torn paper, because I recall being astonished that such intricate work was even possible. The artist was Scottish, I believe, and the image might have been from around 1890 - 1910. It appeared in a book about children's illustrators, published in the 1980s or 1990s. This is immensely kind, and I will be be happy to compensate you for your time and trouble.
@@pamelachristie5570 Hello again, and I'm sorry to say I've racked what's left of my brain but my searches have been unsuccessful, despite your excellent description. You mention a book about children's illustration and I find myself wondering if it was called something like 'When We Were Very Young'. It was published in that time frame but sadly I lost my copy to a dishonest student some time ago. But I have no memory of it in that book either.
I agree and I think I'm going to make a longer video just about him - eventually. So much to do, so little time. And sorry about the music volume in the other video. I'm fairly deaf so I've struggled to get a balance. If it's any consolation the later videos are better in that regard I'm told.
Great contrast in styles with three different master illustrators. The combination and contrast of styles make for a successful learning experience while being extremely engaging. Thank you for another wonderful illustration day out. I am so looking forward to watching all the series. Brilliant.
Hello again and I'm very pleased you continue to find the channel content interesting and educational. It's good to know I'm getting through to viewers such as yourself.
Maxfield Parrish was such an exceptional artist, from whimsical and funny figures to beautiful women in astonished landscapes and eventually to pastoral landscapes. He was demanding that his artwork for Edison Mazda, made for Edison Mazda lamps, had to have the highest possible accuracy of color and fidelity in printing.
Hello and I absolutely agree with you about Parrish. I now regret that I featured him so briefly in this series and to make amends I'm in the proces of making another video devoted entirely to his work.
@@petebeard Thank you Pete, that would be excellent to see your video which exclusively features Parrish. Your videos are so well done, informative and engaging, to let you know, they are much appreciated.
In February 2024, I found the original art for the five face pharmaceutical ad by Artzybasheff in a second hand store. It’s a very detailed drawing in what I suppose colored pencil. The original has no printing of course, just the artist’s signature. Nice that someone preserved this for so many years when it could have been tossed out. We appreciate people who have real interest, research and preservation of various art forms.
Thank you for presenting these illustrators/artists. I'm completely blown away by each of them and was not even aware of Nerman or Artzybasheff. All so amazing in their own ways!
Thank you for all the videos you made. Deeply impressed by your outstanding knowledge about the subjekt and which opens my eyes and gives the feeling of discovering a new planet in the universe of art.
Thank you, Pete Beard, for these three marvelous artists - Maxfield Parrish I of course recognize immediately - the works of the other two are fascinating - I of course am drawn to the charming Swedish illustrations - but Artzybasheff's sci-fi/Escher-ish pieces are too strong for my taste/interesting that mainstream corporations used him for their public face ~ thank you always for the gift of your choice and insight ~
Hi again, and I've done Parrish a disservice by including him in this series. He should have - and soon will - a video devoted entirely to him and his work, just like the Mucha one. And it's always interesting to hear who resonates and who doesnt with different viewers.
Thank you for all the effort. There are so many talented illustrators out there which I did not know about. And thanks to you their immens contribution to the history of illustration has been brought to my attention. I always get a boost of inspiration after watching one of your videos !
WOW! Bedazzling! One of the Best and happiest of your labors! Most impressive, dear Professor and Impresario (sp?). respectfully yours Gregg Oreo Long Beach CA etats unis
Hello and welcome to the channel. I'm very grateful to have acquired a new viewer, especially one who is so enthusiastic about the channel content. I'm sorry that quite a few of the earlier videos (music and illustration) are fairly low definition, but hopefully the later HD videos will do better on your widescreen. Either way a pleasure to hear from you.
@@petebeard The earlier ones are just fine on my TV. I meant to ask. Are you aware of the Mayan “animations”? They are not literally animations but paintings on cups that were designed to impart motion… I can’t really explain it myself but I happened across a website called “The Maya Gods of Time”. I think you would find the site interesting, in the context of story-telling. I also came across something on CBC radio about a discovery that proposes that early man created “animations” that, in flickering firelight appear to move… animals “running”, etc. It is a fascinating idea.
Oh. There was something I heard on CBC Radio which was proposing the notion that cabe paintings in Lascaux may have been intended to appear animated in flickering firelight. I can’t post links on UA-cam for some reason but if you Google “Was a 32,000-Year-Old Cave Painting the Earliest Form of Cinema?“ you should find an article on the subject.
Hello and thanks for the comment. If memory serves it was when I discovered the wonderful work of Einar Nerman that I realised that maybe I didn't know as much about illustration as I'd previously thought.
Hello and many thanks for both your recent comments and appreciation. There is now a video devoted entirely to Szyk's work on the channel - in case you haven't seen it.
Thanks so much for the not-that-unsung Maxfield Parrish! My husband worked at the Pied Piper Bar in the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco; the bar took its name from the Parrish painting that hung on the wall! (You see it here at 1:11.) It may still be there, the hotel wanted to sell it a while back!
Hello and thanks for your appreciation. I was in San Franciso in the 80s and I wish I'd known that mural was there at the time. And regarding Parrish I'm currently working on a video devoted entirely to his life and work - the 3 minutes I gave him earlier was a big mistake. Watch this space.
Hi and thanks for liking. It would be possible but each illustrator has a title page with their name and dates of birth and death. So it would be redundant-all you have to do is scroll through to find who's who.
Now I'm in the right groove. Watched the first one now this no. 2. Artsybacheff (still can't spell it) was a wonderful surprise. Gotta figure a way to thank you for this Herculean effort
Hello and thanks for the comment. It was when I stumbled across the work of Artzybasheff that I realised I knew far less about illustration than I thought I did. And the only thanks I require is positive comments and as many subscriptions as I can get. Many more to come.
This one from long ago popped up this afternoon. Interesting in that it fills biographical details but the choice of subjects is even more so. Already well aware of sugary Parrish I particularly like Nemann's approach. I wondered why I hadn't found your videos earlier but in 2017 was resident in a remote corner of Spain with painfully occasional internet or even telephone access and a busier outdoor life on and over mountains.
Hello again and I'm sorry to inform you I'm currently working on a video devoted exclusively to Mr. Parrish and his work. Although I have to admire the skill I'm actually not a fan, but I try to be even-handed in my coverage. You might want to sit that one out...
@@petebeard I look forward very much to that Pete. Sugary wasn't meant in any particularly derogatory sense! And the beauty of his landscape imagery is undeniable. I think it resembles in some ways the the romantic 19th century American lithographs of the Rockies with their groups of American Indians that were so much a part of my childhood. I think some of my grandparents' families emigrated and brought them as souvenir gifts. I find Parrish rather in that atmosphere. That was a rapid reply from you!
Many thanks for your appreciation, and especially for acting as an ambassador for the channel. I really need the views and subscriptions, and I value every one.
@@petebeard These illustrators had a huge impact on my early life, fueling my imagination, and leading me into the study of art. I am always grateful to learn more about them, and being introduced to new ones as well. Thank you.
Hello and many thanks for your comments about the channel content. I'm aware (with hindsight) that some of the featured illustrators in this series aren't as unsung as others, but the title came from my abiding belief that virtually all illustrators are relatively unsung compared to fine artists. And I have also featured some of them again in videos devoted exclusively to them as individuals. If you search the channel Parrish is among them, and I hope you will check it and others out.
Hello again and thanks for your comment and observation about Parrish's work. I realised later that he was rather wasted in an unsung heroes instalment so there's a video devoted entirely to his wotk on the channel, if you are interested.
John Jacob Astor who commissioned Maxfield Parrish for the mural wanted his face put in for Old King Cole. Parrish painted in the attendants laughing and smirking because the king just let one rip. Parrish was a member of the Cornish Colony, New Hampshire, a group of artists, actors and writers. As was the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens who was also a member of the architect Stanford White's 'Sewer Club' in NYC during the Gilden Age. The illustrator Dana Gibson creator of the 'Gibson Girl' was familiar with that group. Newspaper illustrators turned painters were George Bellows and John Sloan of the Ash Can Group during that time. They helped create the New York City 1913 Amory Show that changed things visually. *Thanks* for the video. ... tho' Parrish with the other two didn't mesh, imo. Disclaimer: As I am *enjoying* viewing this series from the beginning I may be repeating something already done. One word, Typography. The other half of graphics. Will there a video(s) on it?
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment and insight. I'm particularly amused by the mural story. I realised some time after making the brief and necessarily superficial spot about Parrish that I'd rather squandered the opportunity to deal with him at greater length. So I intend (providing I don't fall off my perch in the meantime) to re-visit him and others such as the Leyendeckers as stand-alone videos as I have done with other dominant figures such as Rackham and Dulac. And regarding typography I actually trained as a graphic designer and have always had an abiding interest in type, but these days it's really not my thing, and as the channel is devoted exclusively to illustration it only features peripherally and occasionally. I'll leave that topic for someone else to cover.
@@petebeard *Thank you* for your reply. Look forward to if and when a Maxfield Parrish video is made. richardrabel. com has a short article on the mural painting, "tarting up the old king cole mural of st. regis hotel new york". Supposedly it was a challenge by other illustrators. George "Star Wars" Lucas said Parrish's artwork "directly inspired the look and feel of his "Star Wars "" movies. At least one influence. Rumored his model Susan Lewin inspired Princess Leia? My favorite illustrator *Jean Henri Gaston Giraud", aka Moebius, Gir. And his work on "The Fifth Element" and "Alien" movies. Illustrators' storyboards for movies, another video? Agree, typography is separate.. ... although, Rich Griffen's Fillmore posters incorporated typeface as design. Enjoyed that video. Best
Not that I'd confuse the two, but I imagine Al Hirshfeld occupies the same strand as Einar Nerman, whom I had never heard of. I never heard of Artzybasheff, but I have definitely seen some of his art. I have heard of Maxfield Parrish.
Hello again and my continued thanks for your ongoing interest in the channel. And thanks for watching one of my cover versions (not my most popular feature). You're spot-on about Hirschfield - it's that graceful minimalist line that gives the work its appeal. If you haven't seen it he features in another video called between the lines, so you might find that interesting
@@petebeard Hi Pete, thank you for your attention to your audience. I love Hirshfeld's minimalist line. There's another great artist (comics) with a clear line that I've been exposed to from very early on, and your Dulac video at 5:54 reminded me of one of his panels. I'll leave it as a quiz for you and any others who come to this post as to who it is and what I'm referring to specifically. You've mentioned him a few times in the videos I've watched so far. At any rate, I appreciate the work you do and it takes some effort not to binge-watch: I don't want to develop road blindness!
@@jrbleau Hi again, and I've puzzled over the Dulac connection and come up with no bright ideas. You did mean the Persian horsemen didn't you? Please put me out of my misery and give me (and no doubt others) the connection.
@@petebeard Yes, the Persian horsemen. King Ottokar's Sceptre (Tintin), page 20. Unlike the rest of North America (north of the Rio Grande, anyway), the Tintin series is revered here in Quebec.
@@jrbleau Well blow me down. I would never have got that , but now I've googled it the connection is glaringly obvious. I must admit, although I'm a great admirer of Hergé (and there's a great comic museum in Brussels with a lot of his work - I've been twice) I have no recollection of this image or even the book. But now I can sleep easy in my bed. Thanks.
Hello and thanks a lot for the recent batch of comments. It's very gratifying to know some viewers such as yourself roam freely about the channel. And I didnt know about the Artzybasheff illustrations for Dr. Lau. I'll see if I can dig them out.
Back in the 70s I had a chance to pick up -- from a junk pile -- a print of undressed barely (if that) pubescent girls disporting themselves in dreamy sunlit mountain scenery. "This is verging on kiddie porn," I said to myself, and left it there. Found out later, of course, that it was Maxfield Parrish (known to the 'counterculture' if only from his "It's a Beautiful Day" album cover), and could have been sold for a not inconsiderable sum. Oh well. But I stand by my initial valuation. I remember Artzybasheff's work from my boyhood very well! (and much more favorably) Thanks for this and the whole series!
Hello, and from the sound of it you won't be too impressed to learn I'm in the middle of making a video devoted entirely to Parrish and his work. With hindsight I realised that like him or not (and my jury is out) he's too imortant a figure to consign to unsung status. But like you, Boris is much more my kind of thing.
I hope you don´t mind me pointing out that the cover artwork for It´s a Beautiful Day is by George Hunter, though the sleeve notes credit : front cover Globe Propaganda. He was also a member of The Charlatans. Artwork by (or inspired by) Maxfield Parrish does appear on several other album covers.
@@projektor4 Why would I mind? Unloke some, I believe in accuracy even if it doesn't back me up -- and in free speech! The Charlatan's? Had a mono-master class with their bassist once, long ago in the Haight. Perhaps some might insinuate that's why my memory was off (though it certainly LOOKS like Parrish) but like Mark Twain said, when I was young I could remember everything, whether it had happened or not!
Hello and thanks for your appreciation. And yes for my sins I ran an illustration and animation course. Once I left they staffed the course with professional educators who had never worked in the business and like other universities it's now a complete con. People would be far better learning online.
@@petebeard I would agree. I find that a fairly small circle of artists have been academically and critically canonized, but the internet has introduced me to large numbers of unknowns who impress me just as much. Also, my father had an advertising agency that exposed me to an enormous amount of outstanding commercial art.
Agree with learning online. Continued to take Community College courses* after college and found the best instructors were the ones who worked in the field. They taught to pass on what they learned. Unfortunately, new curriculums are a hodge-podge of some classes from two different departments, i.e. computers and art, just to appear the school is keeping up with the times. The instructors are clueless and make-up the course work as they go along at the students expense. Regret now of not having gone to a vocational high school. * Community College is regarded as 'Redemial', a back water shed to teach what wasn't taught previously. Strange to see someone struggling with basic math in college. Basic as in arithmetic.
@@petebeard I teach 'Introduction to Computer Art' in the Art Dept of the Community College system here in Arizona. The great thing to me is that the Art Departments in the colleges I'm in are taught primarily by 'Adjunct Professors', like me, who are hired based on their experience in the field -in my case over 30 years as a freelance illustrator. The department has huge respect for design and animation, both of which have segued seamlessly into the computer, and that is a big part of what I teach.
@@kenjacobsen1 Hello and I'm very pleased to hear that you are keeping the flag flying for those who do rather than those who teach. The university iI taught at rebuked me officially for being too hands-on. Sigh...
Hello to you, and here's the unfortunate truth. With the exception of a small handful, most of them were simply making up numbers to keep the university in profit, and had been duped into thinking a bright future awaited them. They had little interest in visual matters other than an enthusiasm for manga and anime. The day I resigned from 'teaching' was a very happy one for me.
Hello and yes you're right. I think I got confused because of the Pied Pipe rbeing in San Franciso. I have since corrected the assertion in the later video I made exclusively about his work.
Like a lot of definitions the harder you look into them the more they confound you. But the Cambridge dictionary defines illustration as follows... a picture in a book, magazine, etc. or the process of illustrating something: a full-page illustration colour/black and white illustrations And this is my own not entirely foolproof acid test.. If it was made to hang on a wall it is art, if it has some other commercial purpose then it is illustration. I also think that the concept of mass reproduction plays an important part. With art there's either only the one image or if a print they are limited editions. Equally I'm well aware that in America in particular it's common to refer to fantasy art, concept art, background art etcetera. But as far as I'm concerned it is still illustration. That's all I've got.
Hello and I hope the knowledge is useful to you. In my own case I never used anything other than watercolour and gouache so anything to do with oils always seemed mysterious and vaguely magical to me.
This series should be required viewing by all students of illustration. I want to cry that it was not available for me when I went to art college in 1966!
Hello and welcome to the channel. Thanks a lot for your enthusisatic responses so far ( I can take any number of positive comments). As a student in the later 60s myself I remember that I was taught by professional designers and illustrators who were passing on their own experience and knowledge. When I stopped lecturing 6 years ago I was the only member of staff who worked as an illustrator or cared at all about illustration and the greats who made it what it is. I'm now of the firm opinion that young aspiring illustrators would do well to avoid university altogether and learn online - for free.
@@petebeard So many times, I have wished we'd had the internet as a resource when I went to art college in the mid-seventies.
@@petebeard Ha! I was going to comment and then realized I already had! But what brilliant choices for a video.
Re-watching the entire series from the beginning. Fabulous work.
Hello and thanks a lot. If only everyone was as keen...
Mr Beard - your loving, intelligent and amazingly informative presentations are a work of art as well.
Agreed
Thank you so much for these offerings. They are startlingly rich and monumental.
Many thanks for your appreciation of my efforts with the channel content.
Stumbled onto these ten minutes ago. WOW!!. I've been collecting the books of Golden Age illustrators most of my life, and am thrilled beyond words to have made this discovery! Thank you, thank you, Mr. Beard!
Hello and many thanks to you for your generous praise for the channel. It's really pleasing to know viewers are enjoying the videos.
@@petebeard This is easily the best thing I've ever found on youtube. I'm going to watch every single video in the series! And I wonder, (she said, shyly) whether, if I described a Golden Age illustration to you, and told you what I know about it, you'd take a stab at identifying the artist? I'll completely understand it if you just don't do that sort of thing. Thank you again, so very much, for these wonderful videos.
Hello again and thanks so much for your glowing endorsement of the channel. And feel free to send me what information you can about this illustration. I'll give it my best shot but trying to do it blind so to speak may well defeat me. Still, nothing ventured...
@@petebeard Oh! THANK YOU so much! It was a black and white picture of a rat in a sewer pipe, from the perspective of further down the pipe. The image was circular (representing the pipe opening) and behind the rat, which is sitting up, gnawing something) you can see what looks to be a lovely summer day on the river, with clouds in the sky and a sailboat going past. It's probably pen and ink, but I keep thinking it might have been torn paper, because I recall being astonished that such intricate work was even possible. The artist was Scottish, I believe, and the image might have been from around 1890 - 1910. It appeared in a book about children's illustrators, published in the 1980s or 1990s. This is immensely kind, and I will be be happy to compensate you for your time and trouble.
@@pamelachristie5570 Hello again, and I'm sorry to say I've racked what's left of my brain but my searches have been unsuccessful, despite your excellent description. You mention a book about children's illustration and I find myself wondering if it was called something like 'When We Were Very Young'. It was published in that time frame but sadly I lost my copy to a dishonest student some time ago. But I have no memory of it in that book either.
Thank you for all these videos. i have spent countless hours watching them.
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation - and dedication!
Pete! This is AMAZING! This is how I became an artist. Since 13. 67 years ago.
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation. I really value positive comments about the channel content.
I just love Maxfield Parrish! I discovered him as a teenager
I agree and I think I'm going to make a longer video just about him - eventually. So much to do, so little time. And sorry about the music volume in the other video. I'm fairly deaf so I've struggled to get a balance. If it's any consolation the later videos are better in that regard I'm told.
Wow! thank you!!! These videos are amazing. So glad I found you!
Hello and I'm glad you found the channel. I hope you continue to find more illustrators you maybe didn't know about.
Great contrast in styles with three different master illustrators. The combination and contrast of styles make for a successful learning experience while being extremely engaging. Thank you for another wonderful illustration day out. I am so looking forward to watching all the series. Brilliant.
Hello again and I'm very pleased you continue to find the channel content interesting and educational. It's good to know I'm getting through to viewers such as yourself.
Maxfield Parrish was such an exceptional artist, from whimsical and funny figures to beautiful women in astonished landscapes and eventually to pastoral landscapes. He was demanding that his artwork for Edison Mazda, made for Edison Mazda lamps, had to have the highest possible accuracy of color and fidelity in printing.
Hello and I absolutely agree with you about Parrish. I now regret that I featured him so briefly in this series and to make amends I'm in the proces of making another video devoted entirely to his work.
@@petebeard Thank you Pete, that would be excellent to see your video which exclusively features Parrish. Your videos are so well done, informative and engaging, to let you know, they are much appreciated.
Superb video as always! Thanks
Artzybasheff is one hell of an artist !
I agree wholeheartedly. How I managed to get this old without knowledge of him I'll never know.
In February 2024, I found the original art for the five face pharmaceutical ad by Artzybasheff in a second hand store. It’s a very detailed drawing in what I suppose colored pencil. The original has no printing of course, just the artist’s signature. Nice that someone preserved this for so many years when it could have been tossed out. We appreciate people who have real interest, research and preservation of various art forms.
Thanks for the comment, and that's a piece of work I'd really like to see. In fact I'd settle for sight of any of his original artwork.
Thank you for presenting these illustrators/artists. I'm completely blown away by each of them and was not even aware of Nerman or Artzybasheff. All so amazing in their own ways!
Hello again and you picked out two of my real favourites from this instalment. Both criminally overlooked.
Thanks so much for sharing the deep knowledge and great appreciation you demonstrate in all your work here.
Hello and thanks a lot. The appreciation of viewers such as yourself is always welcome.
Thank you very much. Great work!
Thank you for all the videos you made. Deeply impressed by your outstanding knowledge about the subjekt and which opens my eyes and gives the feeling of discovering a new planet in the universe of art.
Hello and that's a particularly welcome comment. Thanks a lot.
Thank you thank you for these ... 🥰
Thank you, Pete Beard, for these three marvelous artists - Maxfield Parrish I of course recognize immediately - the works of the other two are fascinating - I of course am drawn to the charming Swedish illustrations - but Artzybasheff's sci-fi/Escher-ish pieces are too strong for my taste/interesting that mainstream corporations used him for their public face ~ thank you always for the gift of your choice and insight ~
Hi again, and I've done Parrish a disservice by including him in this series. He should have - and soon will - a video devoted entirely to him and his work, just like the Mucha one. And it's always interesting to hear who resonates and who doesnt with different viewers.
This is good. Thanks for taking the time to gather and present this. I know the time it takes. Great subject.
Hello and thanks. It's good to be appreciated.
Wow! This is the first time I'd seen the work of Boris Artzybasheff. That Machinalia series is just incredible!
Huge thanks!
Hello and thanks for the comment. His work was totally new to me when I made the video and I reacted just as you have.
Thank you for all the effort. There are so many talented illustrators out there which I did not know about. And thanks to you their immens contribution to the history of illustration has been brought to my attention.
I always get a boost of inspiration after watching one of your videos !
Hello again and it's really good to know that you - and others - continue to find material of interest on the channel. Its much appreciated.
WOW! Bedazzling! One of the Best and happiest of your labors! Most impressive, dear Professor and Impresario (sp?). respectfully yours Gregg Oreo Long Beach CA etats unis
Hello again and once more your recent comments have been music to my ears, and a tonic for the troops.
I would add my kudos and thanks to feed the algorithm, with hope this series will brighten the days of others as it has mine.
I am absolutely smitten with your Illustration videos. I’m not streaming them to my widescreen TV. Stunning choices.
“…NOW streaming them to my TV…”
Hello and welcome to the channel. I'm very grateful to have acquired a new viewer, especially one who is so enthusiastic about the channel content. I'm sorry that quite a few of the earlier videos (music and illustration) are fairly low definition, but hopefully the later HD videos will do better on your widescreen. Either way a pleasure to hear from you.
@@petebeard The earlier ones are just fine on my TV.
I meant to ask. Are you aware of the Mayan “animations”? They are not literally animations but paintings on cups that were designed to impart motion… I can’t really explain it myself but I happened across a website called “The Maya Gods of Time”. I think you would find the site interesting, in the context of story-telling.
I also came across something on CBC radio about a discovery that proposes that early man created “animations” that, in flickering firelight appear to move… animals “running”, etc. It is a fascinating idea.
Oh. There was something I heard on CBC Radio which was proposing the notion that cabe paintings in Lascaux may have been intended to appear animated in flickering firelight. I can’t post links on UA-cam for some reason but if you Google “Was a 32,000-Year-Old Cave Painting the Earliest Form of Cinema?“ you should find an article on the subject.
Sigh… “…cave paintings”… not cabe paintings.
Absolutely GORGEOUS work here. I’d heard of and seen Maxfield Parrish’s work but nothing of the other two but both amazing artists! Thank you Pete.
Hello again, and I can't let your continued appreciation go unremarked so thanks again.
@@petebeard thank you! But don’t worry, I’ll probably going through ALL your stuff, a few a day!
This is one of my favourite episodes Peter ...thank you Sir xxx
Hello and thanks for the comment. If memory serves it was when I discovered the wonderful work of Einar Nerman that I realised that maybe I didn't know as much about illustration as I'd previously thought.
Lovely stuff! Thank you so much!
Hello and many thanks for both your recent comments and appreciation. There is now a video devoted entirely to Szyk's work on the channel - in case you haven't seen it.
Wow, love this one
I love this one in particular, great work Pete
Thanks a lot. I'm glad you like it
Pete
Thanks so much for the not-that-unsung Maxfield Parrish! My husband worked at the Pied Piper Bar in the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco; the bar took its name from the Parrish painting that hung on the wall! (You see it here at 1:11.) It may still be there, the hotel wanted to sell it a while back!
Hello and thanks for your appreciation. I was in San Franciso in the 80s and I wish I'd known that mural was there at the time. And regarding Parrish I'm currently working on a video devoted entirely to his life and work - the 3 minutes I gave him earlier was a big mistake. Watch this space.
@@petebeard Sounds good! Google the painting; it may or may not still be in the hotel!
Love the videos. Would it be possible to add a list of the artists in the description for even further research?
Hi and thanks for liking. It would be possible but each illustrator has a title page with their name and dates of birth and death. So it would be redundant-all you have to do is scroll through to find who's who.
4:32 Einar Nerman
8:48 Boris Artzybasheff
Excelent! Gracias
Great video thanks
Now I'm in the right groove. Watched the first one now this no. 2. Artsybacheff (still can't spell it) was a wonderful surprise. Gotta figure a way to thank you for this Herculean effort
Hello and thanks for the comment. It was when I stumbled across the work of Artzybasheff that I realised I knew far less about illustration than I thought I did. And the only thanks I require is positive comments and as many subscriptions as I can get. Many more to come.
I you videos are such joy.
Hello and thanks a lot.
This one from long ago popped up this afternoon. Interesting in that it fills biographical details but the choice of subjects is even more so. Already well aware of sugary Parrish I particularly like Nemann's approach. I wondered why I hadn't found your videos earlier but in 2017 was resident in a remote corner of Spain with painfully occasional internet or even telephone access and a busier outdoor life on and over mountains.
Hello again and I'm sorry to inform you I'm currently working on a video devoted exclusively to Mr. Parrish and his work. Although I have to admire the skill I'm actually not a fan, but I try to be even-handed in my coverage. You might want to sit that one out...
@@petebeard I look forward very much to that Pete. Sugary wasn't meant in any particularly derogatory sense! And the beauty of his landscape imagery is undeniable. I think it resembles in some ways the the romantic 19th century American lithographs of the Rockies with their groups of American Indians that were so much a part of my childhood. I think some of my grandparents' families emigrated and brought them as souvenir gifts. I find Parrish rather in that atmosphere.
That was a rapid reply from you!
I have been introducing your engaging and compact art history courses to friends, family, and associates.
Many thanks for your appreciation, and especially for acting as an ambassador for the channel. I really need the views and subscriptions, and I value every one.
@@petebeard These illustrators had a huge impact on my early life, fueling my imagination, and leading me into the study of art. I am always grateful to learn more about them, and being introduced to new ones as well.
Thank you.
Yes, I know of some of Parrish’s work and wonderful work it is!
Hello and many thanks for your comments about the channel content. I'm aware (with hindsight) that some of the featured illustrators in this series aren't as unsung as others, but the title came from my abiding belief that virtually all illustrators are relatively unsung compared to fine artists. And I have also featured some of them again in videos devoted exclusively to them as individuals. If you search the channel Parrish is among them, and I hope you will check it and others out.
I haven't seen this chapter!! Great, as the others who followed it!
Hello Gabriel. I hope you are well. As usual my gratitude for your positive comment.
Parrish's illustrations are sensual, but also somehow also innocent.
Hello again and thanks for your comment and observation about Parrish's work. I realised later that he was rather wasted in an unsung heroes instalment so there's a video devoted entirely to his wotk on the channel, if you are interested.
0:46 Maxfield Parrish
Merci beaucoup d'avoir regardé mes vidéos.
John Jacob Astor who commissioned Maxfield Parrish for the mural wanted his face put in for Old King Cole. Parrish painted in the attendants laughing and smirking because the king just let one rip.
Parrish was a member of the Cornish Colony, New Hampshire, a group of artists, actors and writers.
As was the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens who was also a member of the architect Stanford White's 'Sewer Club' in NYC during the Gilden Age.
The illustrator Dana Gibson creator of the 'Gibson Girl' was familiar with that group.
Newspaper illustrators turned painters were George Bellows and John Sloan of the Ash Can Group during that time. They helped create the New York City 1913 Amory Show that changed things visually.
*Thanks* for the video.
... tho' Parrish with the other two didn't mesh, imo.
Disclaimer: As I am *enjoying* viewing this series from the beginning I may be repeating something already done.
One word, Typography.
The other half of graphics.
Will there a video(s) on it?
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment and insight. I'm particularly amused by the mural story. I realised some time after making the brief and necessarily superficial spot about Parrish that I'd rather squandered the opportunity to deal with him at greater length. So I intend (providing I don't fall off my perch in the meantime) to re-visit him and others such as the Leyendeckers as stand-alone videos as I have done with other dominant figures such as Rackham and Dulac. And regarding typography I actually trained as a graphic designer and have always had an abiding interest in type, but these days it's really not my thing, and as the channel is devoted exclusively to illustration it only features peripherally and occasionally. I'll leave that topic for someone else to cover.
@@petebeard
*Thank you* for your reply.
Look forward to if and when a Maxfield Parrish video is made.
richardrabel. com has a short article on the mural painting, "tarting up the old king cole mural of st. regis hotel new york". Supposedly it was a challenge by other illustrators.
George "Star Wars" Lucas said Parrish's artwork "directly inspired the look and feel of his "Star Wars "" movies. At least one influence. Rumored his model Susan Lewin inspired Princess Leia?
My favorite illustrator *Jean Henri Gaston Giraud", aka Moebius, Gir. And his work on "The Fifth Element" and "Alien" movies.
Illustrators' storyboards for movies, another video?
Agree, typography is separate..
... although, Rich Griffen's Fillmore posters incorporated typeface as design. Enjoyed that video.
Best
Heart felt hairyness , meant in the top notch of ways.
Hello and many thanks for your various recent comments. I'm delighted that you are enjoying the content and hope you'll stick around for more.
Not that I'd confuse the two, but I imagine Al Hirshfeld occupies the same strand as Einar Nerman, whom I had never heard of. I never heard of Artzybasheff, but I have definitely seen some of his art. I have heard of Maxfield Parrish.
Hello again and my continued thanks for your ongoing interest in the channel. And thanks for watching one of my cover versions (not my most popular feature). You're spot-on about Hirschfield - it's that graceful minimalist line that gives the work its appeal. If you haven't seen it he features in another video called between the lines, so you might find that interesting
@@petebeard Hi Pete, thank you for your attention to your audience. I love Hirshfeld's minimalist line.
There's another great artist (comics) with a clear line that I've been exposed to from very early on, and your Dulac video at 5:54 reminded me of one of his panels. I'll leave it as a quiz for you and any others who come to this post as to who it is and what I'm referring to specifically. You've mentioned him a few times in the videos I've watched so far.
At any rate, I appreciate the work you do and it takes some effort not to binge-watch: I don't want to develop road blindness!
@@jrbleau Hi again, and I've puzzled over the Dulac connection and come up with no bright ideas. You did mean the Persian horsemen didn't you? Please put me out of my misery and give me (and no doubt others) the connection.
@@petebeard Yes, the Persian horsemen. King Ottokar's Sceptre (Tintin), page 20. Unlike the rest of North America (north of the Rio Grande, anyway), the Tintin series is revered here in Quebec.
@@jrbleau Well blow me down. I would never have got that , but now I've googled it the connection is glaringly obvious. I must admit, although I'm a great admirer of Hergé (and there's a great comic museum in Brussels with a lot of his work - I've been twice) I have no recollection of this image or even the book. But now I can sleep easy in my bed. Thanks.
There are some great Artzybasheff illustrations for Charles G. Finney's _The Circus of Dr. Lao_ , of which I have a copy.
Hello and thanks a lot for the recent batch of comments. It's very gratifying to know some viewers such as yourself roam freely about the channel. And I didnt know about the Artzybasheff illustrations for Dr. Lau. I'll see if I can dig them out.
Maxfield Parrish's influence on Frank Frazetta's work is clearly evident.
Excellent!
Hello and thanks a lot for your favourable comment. I hope you'll continue to watch.
Back in the 70s I had a chance to pick up -- from a junk pile -- a print of undressed barely (if that) pubescent girls disporting themselves in dreamy sunlit mountain scenery. "This is verging on kiddie porn," I said to myself, and left it there. Found out later, of course, that it was Maxfield Parrish (known to the 'counterculture' if only from his "It's a Beautiful Day" album cover), and could have been sold for a not inconsiderable sum. Oh well. But I stand by my initial valuation. I remember Artzybasheff's work from my boyhood very well! (and much more favorably) Thanks for this and the whole series!
Hello, and from the sound of it you won't be too impressed to learn I'm in the middle of making a video devoted entirely to Parrish and his work. With hindsight I realised that like him or not (and my jury is out) he's too imortant a figure to consign to unsung status. But like you, Boris is much more my kind of thing.
I hope you don´t mind me pointing out that the cover artwork for It´s a Beautiful Day is by George Hunter, though the sleeve notes credit : front cover Globe Propaganda. He was also a member of The Charlatans. Artwork by (or inspired by) Maxfield Parrish does appear on several other album covers.
@@projektor4 Why would I mind? Unloke some, I believe in accuracy even if it doesn't back me up -- and in free speech! The Charlatan's? Had a mono-master class with their bassist once, long ago in the Haight. Perhaps some might insinuate that's why my memory was off (though it certainly LOOKS like Parrish) but like Mark Twain said, when I was young I could remember everything, whether it had happened or not!
Thank-you 😀
And thanks to you for your positive responses and subscription.
So you taught this in University? Oh how I wish I had had such a Professor &/or course offering in my college days 🤗🌈🥰
Hello and thanks for your appreciation. And yes for my sins I ran an illustration and animation course. Once I left they staffed the course with professional educators who had never worked in the business and like other universities it's now a complete con. People would be far better learning online.
@@petebeard I would agree. I find that a fairly small circle of artists have been academically and critically canonized, but the internet has introduced me to large numbers of unknowns who impress me just as much. Also, my father had an advertising agency that exposed me to an enormous amount of outstanding commercial art.
Agree with learning online.
Continued to take Community College courses* after college and found the best instructors were the ones who worked in the field. They taught to pass on what they learned.
Unfortunately, new curriculums are a hodge-podge of some classes from two different departments, i.e. computers and art, just to appear the school is keeping up with the times. The instructors are clueless and make-up the course work as they go along at the students expense.
Regret now of not having gone to a vocational high school.
* Community College is regarded as 'Redemial', a back water shed to teach what wasn't taught previously. Strange to see someone struggling with basic math in college. Basic as in arithmetic.
@@petebeard I teach 'Introduction to Computer Art' in the Art Dept of the Community College system here in Arizona.
The great thing to me is that the Art Departments in the colleges I'm in are taught primarily by 'Adjunct Professors', like me, who are hired based on their experience in the field -in my case over 30 years as a freelance illustrator. The department has huge respect for design and animation, both of which have segued seamlessly into the computer, and that is a big part of what I teach.
@@kenjacobsen1 Hello and I'm very pleased to hear that you are keeping the flag flying for those who do rather than those who teach. The university iI taught at rebuked me officially for being too hands-on. Sigh...
I am enjoying these. How do you spell the name of the last guy? The Time magazine cover artist.
Hi and thanks. There are more in the pipeline. And its Boris Artzybasheff
Wonderful
Thanks again.It's a genuine pleasure to know I'm not the only one who loves this stuff.
It blows me away a bunch of art students never heard of Max. How?
Hello to you, and here's the unfortunate truth. With the exception of a small handful, most of them were simply making up numbers to keep the university in profit, and had been duped into thinking a bright future awaited them. They had little interest in visual matters other than an enthusiasm for manga and anime. The day I resigned from 'teaching' was a very happy one for me.
Great videos. But Parish's King Cole Bar mural IS in NYC not SF.
Hello and yes you're right. I think I got confused because of the Pied Pipe rbeing in San Franciso. I have since corrected the assertion in the later video I made exclusively about his work.
What is the difference between art and illustration?
Like a lot of definitions the harder you look into them the more they confound you. But the Cambridge dictionary defines illustration as follows...
a picture in a book, magazine, etc. or the process of illustrating something:
a full-page illustration
colour/black and white illustrations
And this is my own not entirely foolproof acid test..
If it was made to hang on a wall it is art, if it has some other commercial purpose then it is illustration.
I also think that the concept of mass reproduction plays an important part. With art there's either only the one image or if a print they are limited editions.
Equally I'm well aware that in America in particular it's common to refer to fantasy art, concept art, background art etcetera. But as far as I'm concerned it is still illustration.
That's all I've got.
Wow glazing now i know
Hello and I hope the knowledge is useful to you. In my own case I never used anything other than watercolour and gouache so anything to do with oils always seemed mysterious and vaguely magical to me.
F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S!!!
Hi and thanks a lot.
@@petebeard Oh, absolutely -- I'm ECSTATIC to have found these videos, what took me so long??? An incomparable gift!!
Now that's what I call an enthusiastic response. I'm very grateful for the comment.
Maxfield Parrish is hardly "unsung." Or forgotten or unknown.
Let me guess... you're American and over 40. Most of the world isn't.