Sunday Safari - All the Pretty Horses

Romuald Socha, 1974

Waldemar Swierzy, 1969

Eileen Mayo, The children's circus book, thanks to The Visual Telling of Stories 

Witold Janowski

Erté

Brian Wildsmith, illustration from Circus, thanks to Tiny Tim

Art Seiden, Circus Animals, 1958

Vladimir Lebedev

Celestino Piatti, The Nok family circus, thanks to Vintage kids' Books My Kid Loves

Kira Kotliar

Otto Dix, Kinderalbum

Tadeusz Jodlowski

Marek Mosinski, 1968

Jan Mloddozeniec 

Herbert Leupin

Lesley Barnes


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Mad Men & Crazy Critters - The Cat's Pajamas

 Ted Bethune, 1963, thanks to Bob Caruthers

Cats are such good looking, funny and familiar animals.

So it's no wonder that most, if not all, the best commercial artists

have used cats to promote anything from shoes and fabrics

to home appliances and spark plugs!

Herbert Leupin, Enkalon

Donald Brun, Zwicky, 1953

Lucian Zabel, ca.1912

Tadeusz Gronowski, Radion, 1926

Two Puss in Boots posters, thanks to the Picasa Vintage Poster album by Pignouf

René Gruau, 1961

Dutch poster for Philips Tv, 1951, thanks to paul.malon

Hanns Lohrer, 1955, thanks to Mid–Centuria

Jacques Auriac

Jean Colin, 1950s

Two posters by Walter Grieder and a 1960 cover illustration of a mailing piece for Sanforized products

 by Irving Miller/Bernard Vincent, thanks to mid-century collector extraordinaire Sandi Vincent

Sunday Safari - Crocodiles' Smiles

Roger Duvoisin cover for The Crocodile in the Tree, thanks to Emma's blog

André François cover for Crocodile tears

 thanks to Moonflygirl's huge Vintage Children's Book Illustrations flickr set

 Robert Barry, illustration from Just Pepper, 1958,

 thanks to Rilla Alexander's beautiful Books I love flickr collection

Viktor Pivoravov, thanks to A Journey Round my Skull

 

Lane Smith

Herbert Leupin

Simona Mulazzani

 Meg Hunt

Marcello Minale, illustration from Creatures great and small 

thanks to Hazel Terry's great Classics of Childrens Illustration flickr set

John Alcorn,,illustration from La petite famille 

thanks to art.crazed's lovely Badly behaved flickr set

Sebastiano Ranchetti, Black Croc

Pablo Amargo, spread from El rIo que se secaba los jueves 

Pierre Pinsard, illustration from Petites contes negres pour les enfants des blancs, 1929

Mad Men and Crazy Critters, 2nd episode - Sweetly Swiss

Dalang egg noodles, 1952, Suchard Milka chocolate, 1949

Herbert Leupin (1916-1999), one of the greatest and most prolific Swiss poster artists,

 studied in Basel and in the Paris school of Art Deco poster artist Paul Colin. After his

 return to Switzerland in 1937 he started working as a graphic artist. At first his work 

was hyperrealistic and influenced by Object Poster aesthetics. During the fifties, 

his most productive years, he developed a more humorous and whimsical personal style. 

Leupin's cheerful and brightly colored posters had a stunning visual impact, and 

the new approach became enormously successful in commercial art. This advertising

 genius can be compared to Leonetto Cappiello in his ability to express the essence of 

a product through visual metaphors, although his images also possess a gentle childlike

 appeal lacking in Cappiello's work. Many of the pictures featured in this post come from

 the large collection at the International poster gallery, where they are available for sale.

Pelikan pen, 1952

Eptinger sparkling water and Pepita grapefruit soda, 1949-52

Pepita grapefruit soda, 1951-5

Rössli cigars, 1954

Knie circus and Kolynos toothpaste, 1959-60

Bell grocery store chain, 1968-9

Lion lithograph, 1980s