Blog Archives
Advertising – Cigarettes
Instead of a cigarette, enjoy a small sampling from our chronological assortment of 1000’s cigarette ads, from the 1920’s till today, currently on display on the top shelf of the picture collection.
1920-1929
1930-1939
1940-1949
1950-1959
1960-1969
1970-1979
1980-1989
1990-1999
2000-2009
2010-2019
Sheet Music
Clefs and lattices of lines, notes and rests, presence and absence, signatures and articulations, the graphic art of musical notation serves as both rigid explanation and expressive abstraction. Below find samples illuminated and otherwise unadorned from our Picture Collection, ranging from the Italian Renaissance to 2006.
Medieval Sheet Music
Following is a selection of sheet music from the 1879 book The Baby’s Boutique, Illustrated by Walter Crane, an influential, prolific illustrator that you can learn more about in our book stacks:
Sheet Music from a 2006 Video Art piece by Cory Arcangel.
The Etude Magazine, April 1946.
The Etude Magazine, March 1946.
The Etude Magazine, March 1946.
The Etude Magazine, February 1933.
The Etude magazine, January 1933
American Fabrics and Fashion
American Fabrics and Fashion (also called American Fabrics) was a commercial textile magazine created as a guide for manufacturers in the fabrics industry. In every issue there are dozens of physical fabric samples glued in, so in case you were wondering, “What did the 50’s feel like?”, here is the most literal answer to your question. Accompanying the samples are textile advertisements and sometimes the samples are even incorporated into the ads themselves. For anyone interested in fashion, textiles or all that is tactile, American Fabrics is a publication of great cultural and historical value.
We have 105 Issues of American Fabrics, 1946-1975.
American Fabrics, Number 72. 1966.
American Fabrics, Number 69. Fall 1965.
Cover Art by W Lully.
American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.
Cover Art by W Lully.
American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.
Cover Art by W Lully.
American Fabrics, Number 72. Summer 1966.
Cover Art by W Lully.
American Fabrics, Number 2. 1947.
American Fabrics, Number 88. Fall 1970.
American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.
American Fabrics, Number 85. Winter 1969.
American Fabrics, Number 103. Spring 1975.
American Fabrics, Number 50. Summer 1960.
American Fabrics, Number 49. Spring 1960.
American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.
American Fabrics, Number 52. Spring 1961.
(Not a picture of Supima seeds but a real packet of seeds!)
American Fabrics, Number 31. Winter 1954.
American Fabrics, Number 105. Fall 1975.
American Fabrics, Number 88. Fall 1970.
American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.
American Fabrics, Number 01.1946.
American Fabrics, Number 102.1974.
American Fabrics, Number 69. 1965.
American Fabrics, Number 30. Fall 1954.
American Fabrics, Number 86. Spring 1970.
American Fabrics, Number 87. Summer 1970.
American Fabrics, Number 104. Winter 1975.
American Fabrics, Number 02. 1947.
American Fabrics, Number 71. Spring/Summer 1966.
American Fabrics, 1980.
Toys – Dolls
Toys has 9 subcategories, 8 of which are chronological distinctions (pre-1950, and then by decade through the partially futuristic 2010-2019) and one of which is Dolls. Toys – Dolls contains 126 items. Here are just a few:
Kewpie Dolls, first manufactured in 1912.
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo: Angelo Hornak
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo: Angelo Hornak
1855 & 1875 Wax Dolls
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo: Angelo Hornak
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo: Angelo Hornak
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo: Angelo Hornak
November 1943
December 1967
A doll with a doll:
All Color Book of Dolls, 1974 by Kay Desmonde.
Photo by Angelo Hornak.
November 1955
December 15, 1997.
Photo by Richard Mitchell.
The doll that encourages bullying: (“It’s easy to make her cry.”)
The dolls that are gluttons for punishment:
1990
Advertising – Paper & Printing
Currently at a modest 50 items, Advertising – Paper & Printing deserves to be cultivated more (and the depths of my hermit-packed, cave like office could certainly provide the materials). Illustration Westvaco (1927-1954), which has been around far longer than this infantile subject, are essentially printing advertisements in booklet form. These are single-page ads culled from publications such as Communication Arts, Fortune Magazine, and Graphis, ranging from the late 1940’s to the early 1980’s.
We have a number of chivalrous Champion Paper ads, some of which are variations on the below but with a different background saturation color.
Fortune Magazine, August 1949. Champion Papers.
The Automation of the Gaze:
Fortune Magazine, July 1949. UPLS (The United States Printing and Lithograph Company).
If it is an ad placed in a late 1940’s or early 1950’s Fortune Magazine, there is a one in three chance that a hand will feature prominently.
Fortune Magazine, September 1949. Levelcoat Printing Papers by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Consolidated boasts about landing the coveted American Airlines Account.
Fortune Magazine, March 1950. Consolidated Enamel Papers.
Prepared in the public interest by Beloit Iron Works.
Fortune, July 1951. Beloit Iron Works.
Fortune Magazine, July 1951. Beloit Iron Works.
Graphis, v. 9, n. 49 (1953)
Communication Arts, v. 13, n. 1 (1971). Kimberly-Clark.
Seymour Chwast illustrated this, equal parts regal and far-out, irrational fear of mushrooms.
Communication Arts, v. 13, n. 1 (1971). Strathmore.
And finally…
Geo, December 1980. Champion. Painting By David Wilcox.
SVA Library Picture & Periodicals Collections 
