Andrew Loomis

I first came upon the name Andrew Loomis when I was delving into the world of vintage romance comics.  I have a deep appreciation for the fine arts and illustration.   So, when the name Andrew Loomis made it's way into my path, I quickly found his artwork mesmerizing. He is a mid-century artist best known for his how to draw books.   He is an excellent example of an artist able to capture the beauty and glamour of mid-century ideals.

Andrew Loomis was an American illustrator who was famous for his books on drawing, composition, and illustration.   He taught at the American Academy of Art but is most famous for his "how to" drawing books.  You can certainly see that he understood the human form.  His perspective and light and shadow contrast studies are just amazing. He is a great reference tool for the study of composition in general.  You could (can) even learn a lot about placement of subject matter within compositions by looking at some of his "how to" books.

I thought these quotes by Andrew Loomis were quite interesting:

"Every good picture should show a main focal point and all lines should draw toward that spot."

"There should be a planned easy and natural path for the eye to travel in every good picture."

"The eyes should enter at the bottom and emerge at the top-never at the sides, since corners are "Eyetraps" because of their junction to lead the eye away from or around them."


There is so much psychology in the study of composition.  It's a fascinating topic.  He also discusses which times of lines and forms can elicit emotional responses such as peace, patriotism, stability, power, security, attention, love, etc.

A favorite quote from Loomis:

"Imagination is contagious, mood is contagious, and the spirit behind a picture is ninety per cent of the picture."


I'd like to share with you a few of his illustrations.  You can find his books in vintage form and also reprints.   Figure Drawing For All It's Worth published first in 1943 seems to be the most popular.   Loomis died in 1959.


Here is a link to many of his books.

Isn't this quote fascinating?  How "Every artist should subscribe to fashion magazines.  They are the best possible source for practice material."

  

Source here.

Image Source

Andrew Loomis certainly knew how to capture the flow and print composition of fabric.  Just lovely!

Image Source

Vintage Shopping

This summer has been quite jam packed and I'm glad to be finally home.  I spent the last few weeks in Michigan with a short stop in Chicago.  One of the highlights was visiting Royal Oak where there are two main vintage shops called Paris and Lost and Found.   Paris has to be my favorite vintage shop.

I haven't had a chance to photograph my purchases but I bought an incredible hat, a 40's dress, and a nifty variety of jewlery.  When I first went into the shop I fell in love with a princess coat in velvet but I left it behind with the thinking "Is it really practical?".  After a couple of days of thinking about it, I went back in a bought it.  I decided that 50s glamour topped practicality.

Here I am outside of the shop:

Views of the amazing and vast selection of vintage joy.  I can't rave about this store enough and things are very reasonably priced.  It's hard to see from this front view but there are quite a few racks of clothing in the back of the shop.

Incredible selection of hats!

Here I am trying on this green hat ( I didn't buy this one but opted for a red new look hat to be featured in a future post.)  I thought this hat had an interesting side profile view.

Bakelite dreams:

I thought this suit was really interesting with all the buttons.

Here it is another couple pictures of the velvet princess coat.  It is difficult to make out the details since it is black and I hope to take some more detailed photographs as the lighting isn't easy in a shop.

What? Even more vintage in the basement level?  Shop away!

A lot of beading on this dress!

A couple of stores down Lost and Found 

A great selection of vintage as well, at a reasonable price but more modern.

They did have a small selection of 40's and the rayon dress in the middle below was just lovely and I would have snapped it up if it would have been my size.  It was in awesome condition.

Date Night - Playbills Vintage Style

A few months ago, I was in an antique shop and noticed a bunch of playbills.   You can quite imagine lovely ladies dressed up in flowing gowns and matching gloves with their arms wrapped around their handsomely dressed partner.   

Within this stack of playbills, were plays with Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and many other great stars of the day!  I have subsequently sold these playbills but did keep the Katherine Hepburn 1939 Philadelphia Story playbill.  These playbills spanned the time of the late 30's to the early 50's.  I thought I might share some of the ads from within some of these playbills.

This ad was very interesting to me.  I just love the idea of wearing a "fresh" flower and gardenia's have an elegant ebb and flow about them.  I was very much taken with this ad when I first saw it and then I proceeded to Etsy to see if I might find a present day substitute.

Here is a gardenia I bought from Etsy from FlowerSculptures.   I am sure you will see it in an upcoming post.  It is so well done and beautiful in person.

Source: Etsy Seller FlowerSculptures

Isn't this an interesting Fashion ad?  I thought it was interesting how some of the playbills talked about the latest fashion.  After reading about this ad, I wanted to know more about Queen Elizabeth's parasol and how it stirred up a flurry of copies.  I looked to see if I could find a photograph of her with her parasol.

Ceil Beaton was commissioned to take these photographs of the Queen in July 1939.

Image source:  Opera gloves

The only current image I could locate of the umbrella.  I believe it is apart of "The Royal Collection".  This umbrella appears to be around today, isn't this interesting?   You can really check out the details with the "magnify" icon.  This parasol was set in diamonds and sapphires.

Here is a link to the dress and parasol from 1938.  

A Bette Davis playbill.

Lovely sketches

Fancy a trip to the Cotton Club to see Duke Ellington after the play?

Look at all the action happening at the Stock Club..

Or maybe a trip to "old Hawaii"?

I'd love to have "tea" with these well dressed ladies.  Look at those hats!

Some more lovely ladies to have an afternoon luncheon with: