Tag: 50s

Artist Research: David Klein: Future

Artist Research: David Klein: Future

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

David Klein is an artist that worked from the 1930s through his life to the end of the 20th Century. He was an illustrator that worked widely and across multiple media, but his hallmark work was for TWA travel agency in the 50’s and 60’s.

His abstract, brightly coloured representations of places and landmarks set the tone for a lot of poster art at the time. I’ve included a couple of my favourite images here.

Here’s a sneak peek at my thought process: after a long Christmas of thought, I’ve slowly gravitated towards the idea of futuristic advertisements – and more specifically, products from the future and adverts for them. These products, I want them to be mental and fun. I’ve been brainstorming with some boys in my life who play a lot of video games set in alternate futures, or like sci-fi.

This came from reading a book I got for Christmas about Pop Art and the history of Pop Art. I really like the kind of enthusiastic, hyperbolic and miracle-selling tone that 50’s and 60’s advertisements get across. I want to apply those conventions and feelings in my futuristic art.

Thus, I’ve started taking a lazy look at some of the famous advertisement artists of that time, to get inspiration for colours, compositions and feelings. David Klein’s work appeals to me a lot! The pieces make me feel good.

The reds, oranges and yellows in this piece are really vibrant. I like the repeated image of the birds and the triangles that create the sun. The way the bells are drawn is also quite freehand, like my own style. I might use the simple triangle and diamond shapes in my own work.
The brightness of the colours here is lovely. Using squares and rectangles to create perspective and a sense of depth is very clever, and something I might use in a background of a piece.
I can’t resist art of pretty ladies. Her long legs make me happy! I want to be including pretty women in my product ads, to emanate that “50’s housewife glam” feeling of vintage ads.
This is one of Klein’s other illustrations. I like the bright colours and textures; almost feels like crayon or wax resist. Bright colours and bright, simple shapes.
I’ve been thinking about some kind of instant food – a powder, probably, that has “just add water” to make it a full and complete meal! So maybe I’ll use this composition as inspiration for that. These look like lino cuts. I never considered lino cutting for this project…. interesting….

Source: David Klein, Illustrator, viewed 05/01/2020, http://www.davidkleinart.com/Home.html