Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Joe De Mers, American Illustrator

Joe De Mers (1910-1984) was a style setter in the mid-20th century illustrated magazines.


He painted glamorous women in romantic situations, in a style reminiscent of Coby Whitmore, Tom Lovell, or Harry Anderson

He typically combined abstract areas of flat colors with carefully rendered faces and hands. Large heads in illustrations were an exciting innovation borrowed from the closeup in movies.


He painted often in gouache. Note the crop marks at the corners, the registration marks on the left, and the brown stain of rubber cement around the outside edges. The rubber cement probably held a presentation mat board on the front.


Illustrator Joe De Mers is the featured artist of the new Illustration Magazine #64. In over 38 color illustrations, some full page, the article chronicles his development from Hollywood concept artist to a star in the Charles Cooper Studios in New York, where top illustrators created advertising art for all the leading accounts.
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"Illustration Art" blog posts: Joe De Mers and the "Big Head" School of Illustration
"Art Contrarion" Joe De Mers: Mainstream 1950s Illustrator

5 comments:

  1. Such masterful drawing and design skills, really inspiring work.

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  2. Great designs and first rate skills: Thanks for bringing this up.

    The man in the first picture seems to take his bedsheets along with him.
    Wonder what's the story behind...

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  3. Looks like he took a blanket to go sleep on the sofa!

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  4. Looks like he took a blanket to go sleep on the sofa!

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  5. Yes he took that blanket, and the missus looks so (almost disdainfully) pensive.
    Not an outright thing; perhaps some form of misunderstanding?

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