Attempted Bloggery: Calendar Art

Showing posts with label Calendar Art. Show all posts

Sunday, December 29, 2019

The Sultan of Sweet: 1945 Pepsi-Cola Calendar by Otto Soglow

Seventy-five years ago, New Yorker cartoonist Otto Soglow (1900-1975) illustrated Pepsi-Cola's calendar for the year 1945. In that year, like 2020, New Year's Day fell on a Wednesday. Unlike 2020, 1945 was not a leap year. So you can use this calendar in 2020, but only until February 29. After that, all the 2020 calendars should be deeply discounted.

Otto Soglow
1945 Pepsi-Cola calendar

https://picclick.com/Pepsi-Cola-Ad-1945-Calendar-Otto-Soglow-143194608824.html#&gid=1&pid=1

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Saturday, December 28, 2019

Mystery Fan: 1943 Pepsi-Cola Calendar by Whitney Darrow, Jr.

Who doesn't love a good mystery? New Yorker cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr. (1909-1999), illustrates Pepsi-Cola's promotional calendar for 1943 with a cola-loving Mystery Fan. The image was reused as late as 1945 in newspaper advertising. A little escapist reading during wartime never hurt.

Mystery Fan
Whitney Darrow, Jr.
1943 Pepsi-Cola calendar

https://picclick.com/1943-Pepsi-Cola-Calendar-Mystery-Fan-202669723411.html#&gid=1&pid=1

Mystery Fan
Whitney Darrow, Jr.
1945 Pepsi-Cola newspaper ad

https://picclick.com/1945-Newspaper-Pg-lj7459-Pepsi-Cola-Mystery-Fan-352665567696.html

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Friday, May 1, 2015

May

Welcome to the merry, merry month of May!

Eugène Grasset, Mai, 1894, reprinted 1895

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=2349++++++88+&refno=++684683&image=0

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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Eugène Grasset: October

Happy October! Has three-quarters of this year gone by already?

Eugène Grasset's Les Douze Mois de 1889 is an art nouveau calendar published in Paris. It presents the twelve months in book format. The days of the month in list form are separated by week, with the corresponding Saints day alongside them. The calendar is decorated with fruits and flowers as well as signs of the zodiac, although here Scorpio doesn't begin until the 23rd of October. The inclusion of the astrological signs along with the Saints days is a pretty strong hint that a primary function of this calendar is decoration.

This copy of the calendar will be auctioned today at Swann Galleries in New York.

Eugène Grasset, Octobre
Les Douze Mois de 1889, calendar

Swann Galleries, Art, Press & Illustrated Books, Sale 2358, Lot 141, October 1, 2014

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=2358+++++141+&refno=++694247

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Another Reason to Go to Medical School

Pin-up art isn't really my thing. Neither is medical humor, at least that's what I keep telling everyone here. But put the two together, and I find myself unexpectedly delighted.

Gil Elvgren's "Doctor, Are All Those Fellow Interns?" from 1946 was published in the 1952 Brown & Bigelow wall calendar. It is an unashamedly adolescent view of medical practice, including a disrobed young woman not-too-effectively covering herself with a bedsheet, while sporting the fancy hairdo, makeup, jewelry, and high heels that were supposedly a part of every young man's fantasies. Despite their profession, the unseen team of leering interns is essentially no different from the calendar's devotees in their appreciation of cheesecake. Today, it all seems kind of innocent and even amusing, at least until you read the facile rhyme that was appended to the published calendar.

I like the fact that this comes from a doctor's estate and I salute the memory of Alfred W. Wagner, M.D. After this purchase, his medical rounds must have seemed quite commonplace.

This illustration will be sold on April 11-12 at Heritage. No estimate has been published yet, but I'd guess this should fetch $80,000 to $120,000 at least.