Mid-Century Modern Paintings 1952 by Adele Manson Art Exercises in Color

Mid-Century Modern Paintings 1952 by Adele Manson Art Exercises in Color.  Poster paint on board Collection Jim Linderman.  Thanks to Box Lot on Facebook.

Mid-Century Colors in Viinyl Masland Duran Yearling Duraleather

Mid-Century Colors in Viinyl  Masland Duran Yearling Duraleather circa 1960?  No date shown.  Salesman Sample Sheet collection Jim Linderman

Design Art of the Pamphlet A Tribute and Essay by Jim Linderman

Waiting rooms. The domain of the pamphlet. Public Service or propaganda, these graphic little printed booklets are probably the most common art form never really appreciated. They are seen but neglected. A million artists have worked on them without credit. Your doctor will tell you about smoking. Your Secretary of State will tell you about driving safety. Your employer will tell you rules, give advice and describe the procedures. Each will be printed in stapled form, some eight pages or so, and they will always be free. Sometimes the cost is born by the government, sometimes by a corporation hoping to score points. But the common theme to all is a lack of artistic credit. As the purpose is to spread the news like wildfire, they often carry no copyright. No library holds them. Once the rack is empty, a new one will come along to fill the space.

Everyone of these splendid and striking little works of art come from one of the millions and millions of pamphlets sitting in racks now waiting to be left in the car, then weeks later taken in and forced into an overfilled kitchen trash can. They'll help you push down the coffee grounds without getting your hands wet.

The artist is unidentified. He worked in the orange color used in traffic signs as that has been determined to be the brightest shade to attract the eye. His or her graphics are simple, easy to understand but accomplished. There is room for creative expansion but little abstraction to confuse.


Images from "Do You Have Mile-A-Minute Eyes?" Employee Rack Service of Western Electric Company 1959. Pamphlet Collection Jim Linderman

Color if you like Draw if you like

Crayola comes from the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleaginous) which were joined in1903 by Alice Stead Binney, wife of industrialist J.W. Binney. Binney's company was responsible for RED BARNS... how iconic is that? His company created the first red paint containing red oxide. Binney's boys had also invented a carbon stick which was used to mark barrels but it was toxic, they later came up with a product safe enough for children to eat, stick in their nose or mark any surface they could reach.

Pages from Child's commercial drawing and coloring book c. 1920 collection Jim Linderman