Some random examples as they pop into my head: Alex Raymond, Buster Keaton, The Andy Griffith Show, Pinninfarina, John Barry, Westerns, Jack Kirby, Big Bands, Frank Frazetta, Bill Cosby, Ray Harreyhausen, Chuck Jones, Motown, Frank Capra, Bernard Herrmann, Gil Kane, Supermarionation, Columbo, C S Lewis, Mort Drucker, P J O'Rourke, Walt Disney, Earle Hagen, Jay Ward, Rod Serling, MGM Musicals, Alfred Hitchcock, Steve Martin, Jerry Goldsmith, Stephen Ambrose, and of course, The Simpsons, to name a few. I was raised on popular art and embrace it for its greatness as much as Mozart or Monet. I have a bias for GOOD art whether it's at an auction house or in a comic strip. And it says a lot that the Los Angeles Times would send a reviewer to cover something he clearly despised.Įveryone is biased. I do blame him for taking the assignment when he was 100% biased against it. I don't blame the reviewer for not liking these artists. The point is that this reviewer's opinion is both tediously common among the elites and at odds with what you and I think. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that Russell and Remington could out-paint, out-sketch, and out-sculpt this reviewer in crushingly superior manner. The reviewer, who shall remain nameless, went out of his way to:ġ) Disparage Russell’s and Remington’s artĢ) Disparage the museum for showing this art (not to mention how they showed it)ģ) Disparage anyone who went to this show and actually liked this artĤ) Disparage anyone so jejune as to emulate this art, especially amateur weekend painters!įrederic Remington, Kodak, "The Correspondent" (1904) If not, not.Ī 2001 review in the Los Angeles Times of an exhibit on Charles Russell and Frederic Remington gave the "elites" their say.
On the other hand, Illustration Art is something that is almost universally rejected by today's art elites, the people who think that if it's obtuse, ugly, or out there, it's art. Illustration art is also something which has been readily embraced by Joe and Jane America who ordered the illustrator's calendars, asked the magazines for prints, and made scrapbooks of a favorite artist's work. The best of the best commanded top dollar and were as famous as their Hollywood and Broadway pals. They might be required - in a few days - to provide artwork for a battle scene, a love story, a historical drama, a glimpse of the future, and a beautiful American girl. Illustrators in the Golden Age were required to draw and paint expertly and fast. It can range from a simple black-and-white cartoon to a full-color billboard and beyond. Illustration art, aka "commercial" art is used to embellish, clarify, or decorate something.