Ads by Fine Artists (Historic)

     At the beginning of the twentieth century, illustrated print advertisements were a new way for fine artists working at the time to earn money in order to further their creative endeavors (as the majority of artists cannot live merely off the earnings of their work). Advertising agencies were happy to provide employment for artists and to put their talents to good use selling products. Dave Saunders explains in his book 20th Century Advertising that “In many cases advertising has played patron of the arts, encouraging new artists and providing lucrative outlets for established painters…The benefits are reciprocated when the product gains credibility and respectability from the unstated endorsement of the artist” (Saunders, 1999, p. 188).

     The most well-known artist working in the first half of the twentieth century who lent his hand to the creation of ads was Norman Rockwell. His distinctive style and depictions of the American public were used in the below Massachusetts Mutual, Sears and Kellogg’s brand ads. Each ad shows a young, white individual, either as part of an entire family, such as in the print ad for insurance or the Sear’s catalog, or as an individual to represent all who eat the brand, such as the brunette girl with a large blue bow in her hair eating Grape Nuts, and the well-tailored young man eating his Shredded Wheat. Although these advertisements from the 1920s precede Rockwell’s fame, merely seeing an artist’s name signed at the bottom of an ad lent credibility to the company by association, as Saunders states above. Similarly, after Rockwell’s career took off and his fame increased, each company was able to own the rights to a piece of fine art and could reproduce the ads in a new context.

Saunders, Dave. (1999). 20th Century Advertising. London: Carlton Books Limited.