Bill Peckmann &Books &Illustration 29 Oct 2010 07:44 am
Will Rogers & Grim
- Here’s a book Bill Peckmann owns. It’s a book by Will Rogers (who was the greatest star of his time) that was illustrated by Grim Natwick and published in 1929.
I’ve decided to leave the text on the stills since you might be interested in reading it (as I was) even though it seems to cover every other double-page spread. I’ve also blown up a couple of the stills so you can get a better look. I love this period stuff.
(Click any image to enlarge)
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on 29 Oct 2010 at 7:34 pm 1.The Gee said …
Well, even if no one else has commented, I hope that people had a chance to read the excerpts.
I have yet to do so but I will.
The very fact that Rogers existed and wrote, post Mark Twain, is a testament to early American satire. Both of them helped establish, at least in writing, how satire in this country isn’t a warmed over version of what existed in Europe or elsewhere.
This isn’t to say that there was not still satirists and humorists who had one foot in the Old World; there were plenty, like say jewish comedians and Milt Gross and a lot of comic strip artists, and others, too.
Anyhow….Rogers was not only good at what he did, he was a star. I believe he was in at least one movie. And, he was well-known by the people who were in the know.
As for that Grim Natwick guy…I hope he had a chance to work on other things this special.
heh. just kidding. I love seeing the spot illustrations he did. He was of a very fortunate generation who had a chance to influence a lot of uses for cartoons. The spots are expressive as all get-out. Fun stuff.
on 30 Oct 2010 at 3:50 am 2.Steven Hartley said …
Originally, before Grim Natwick went into animation: he wanted to be an illustrator in Europe, and maybe that shows why he wanted to become one.
on 30 Oct 2010 at 2:07 pm 3.Joel Brinkerhoff said …
I always find it interesting to see certain styles become synonymous to certain time periods. These Grim drawings are as generic to the 20′s-40′s book illustration as character design became in the 30′s animation, and what we see today with the flat vector art.
on 30 Oct 2010 at 3:03 pm 4.The Gee said …
That’s a very good point.
You know, I thought the vast amount of online publishing would bring back this sort of illustration. Obviously, The New Yorker still has it, in print and online, and maybe McSweeny’s has one per article/piece. But, it is not probably a look/approach which shows up in books, is it?
That’s too bad.
Oh yeah, the one on page 50 is a great one. I love the motion within the design.
on 30 Oct 2010 at 10:49 pm 5.The Gee said …
speaking of Natwick:
http://www.animationarchive.org/?p=1383
The archive is offering up christmas cards he designed. If anything check out the two examples.
It’s always nice to see good cartooning and how good cartoonist’s can evolve over the years.
on 01 Nov 2010 at 9:51 am 6.David said …
Some of the illustrations in this book were sold by Steven Worth many years ago. He handled a lot of art to come out of Grim’s estate.