1955 American Legion Cover: The Statue of Liberty

     A great advantage of working for an art conglomerate like the Charles E. Cooper Studio in mid-twentieth century New York City is that it can bring exposure, recognition, and prestige to an artist.  For decades, the CEC Studio attracted, developed and promoted an astounding number talented artists such as James Bama, Sheila Beckett, Bernie D'Andrea, Stevan Dohanos, George Hughes, Al Parker, Coby Whitmore, and Jon Whitcomb.  

Pages 2-3 of  "Facts & Figures About Charles E. Cooper, Inc."

     You'll find their commercial art throughout all of the most recognized magazines of America's past.  And on their covers.  Many of them are in the Illustrator Hall of Fame today.  They also represented brands that we consider today icons of American industry and commerce such as Ford, Cambell, General Electric and General Motors.  

     So it was quite a stroke of luck and fortune that Walter D. Richards came to work there starting in the late 1930s.  He was pulled into the studio in large part because of his friend and fellow artist Stevan Dohanos.   They had met in Cleveland and had studied together under the tutelage of the lithographer and print artist Rockwell Kent.  

   One productive relationship that stemmed from Walter's time at the CEC was with the American Legion Magazine.  Walter DuBois Richards illustrated no less than fifteen covers for the American Legion Magazine over the better part of a decade.  His first cover for this magazine (that I know of) is an animated scene of two men bowling, published in February of 1949.  His final cover was published in June of 1957.  Over the next three decades Wally would produce covers for Argosy Magazine, The Coronet, Men True Adventure, Male, Outdoor Life, Medical Times and more.  

     This particular blog post focuses on his August 1955 cover.  It is a scene of tourists on a ferry heading out to visit the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.   

The American Legion Magazine August 1955 edition.  Cover by Walter DuBois Richards.

   This is a particularly fun post because I've found some provenance for the August cover in the form of  field research photography.  It was buried and undeveloped in the mass of negatives Wally or Glenny had preserved over the decades. 

I highlighted areas of the photograph that Wally used in his cover for American Legion Magazine.

If you look carefully at these pictures you can find the subjects he used for the illustration.



You can find the complete roll Walter took in my Flickr account for this blog by clicking on any of the photographs or scans in this post. 

Daniel Boone Never Heard Of Logistics: the AAR in 1950

     Walter Richards made this illustration of Daniel Boone for the Association of American Railroads in 1950.

     The exact date for the publication is unknown.  On the following side of this illustration the date 1950 can be seen.

     My father found two of these illustration magazine clippings that either Wally or his wife had set aside as an illustration Wally had done.

     

     

Budweiser in 1952: The Beer Of Your Lifetime

     

      This illustration Walter DuBois Richards produced for Budweiser in 1952 celebrates 100 years of brewing history of that famous Anheuser-Busch lager beer. 

     

     The illustration is well-composed, depicting a rural 19th-century baseball game behind what appears to be a finely dressed lady tending to a beer keg.  I wonder what Budweiser from an oak barrel would taste like.

     It's not Walter Richards's first illustration for Budweiser, but certainly one of his more interesting ones, tying together two of our countries great traditions: baseball and beer.

     Wally often used photographs of models to help define the positions or composure of a body as well as for the expressions on their faces.   

     One of my challenges is to try to find any photographs or 'provenance' for illustrations like these.  A very difficult challenge, but a potentially gratifying one.

A 1955 Sports Illustrated Illustration

     This Sports Illustrated ad drawn by Walter Richards was published in late April, 1955.   According to an article on the Dodgers found on the backside of this page (and at the bottom of this post), about one week earlier the Brooklyn team had broken Major League Baseball's record for most wins (10) to start a season.  Opening day for the Dodgers in 1955 was April 13.



     When he drew this lithograph, Wally was probably still working for the Steven Lions Studio in New York City.  

     Glenora always told me that one of Wally's strengths as an illustrator was his ability to show a variety of emotions in his subjects.  

     I think this illustration is a good example of what she was talking about.   

     The article below revealed several important clues narrowing the date of Wally's illustration to late April of 1955.   

The 1955 Ford Fairlane Sunliner, Custom Ranch Wagon and Fairlane Victoria

   My father and I have come across literally hundreds of magazine clippings that either Wally or his wife, Glenny had saved for posterity.  In some cases my father had scribbled down information on accompanying yellow sticky-notes offering up interesting insights about that particular illustration.  Turns out Walter was a work horse within his industry, publishing sometimes a dozen illustrations in a month, year round, for decades.  

Walter DuBois Richards did quite a bit of work for many classic automobile manufacturers over the years: Packard, Mercury, Cadillac and Ford, to name a few.

Several 55 Fords are illustrated in this one page commercial, the red Custom Ranch Wagon in the background, the stunning yellow and black Fairlane Sunliner with the pretty Blondie in front, and the Fairlane Victoria below.  

   The yellow note explains that Glenora had saved this particular Ford commercial because she had helped Wally mix the colors for it (and did this often for Wally's illustrations.)  This could sound surprising, until you learn that Glenora Case Richards was a celebrated artist herself, who made a name for herself in Miniature art, and also produced some commercial art.