Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture HC

by Jack Davis, Gary Groth (Text)

Jack Davis arrived on the illustration scene in the euphoric post-war America of the late 1940s when consumer society was booming and the work force identified with commercial images that reflected this underlying sense of confidence and American bravado. Advertising agencies were looking for new ways to tap a rich and expanding market, and there was a vast array of media that needed illustrations. Davis animated and exuberant images possessed a sense of spontaneous energy that proved to have universal appeal in every medium he worked in. Beginning with his masterful pen and ink cartooning at EC Comics, he quickly forged a reputation as one of the most versatile artists in comics, drawing humor, horror, and war stories. In Harvey kurtzman 's MAD, especially, Davis made a mark as a master of caricature, composition, and wild, anarchic crowd scenes, practically vibrating with energy. After stints at MAD, Trump, and Humbug three humor magazines that defined the satirical zeitgeist of the 50s Davis went on to become the most successful commercial illustrator of his generation, illustrating movie posters, magazine articles, magazine fiction, LP jackets, and more. Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is a gigantic, unparalleled career-spanning retrospective, between whose hard covers resides the greatest collection in terms of both quantity and quality of Jack Davis work ever assembled It includes work from every stage of his long and varied career, such as: excerpts of satirical drawings from his college humor zine, The Bull Sheet; examples of his comics work from EC, MAD, Humbug, Trump, and obscure work he did for other companies in the 1950s such as Dell; movie posters including It 's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Bad News Bears, Woody Allen 's Bananas, The Party, and others; LP jacket art for such musicians and bands as Hans Conreid and the Creature Orchestra 's Monster Rally, Spike Jones and Ben Cooler; cartoons and illustrations from Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Time, TV Guide, Esquire, and many others; unpublished illustrations and drawings Davis did as self-promotional pieces, proposed comic strips that never sold (such as his Civil War epic Beaureagard ), finished drawings for unrealized magazine projects and even illustrations unearthed in the Davis archives that the artist himself can t identify Much of the material will be scanned directly from original art, showing the painterly brush strokes and black and white pen work with far greater fidelity than any previous reproduction ever has. Many paintings and illustrations are accompanied by preliminary drawings that demonstrate the evolution of Davis drawing process.

Genres: Comics, Art, Humor

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 2011

About the author

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Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legendary EC, Mad, and movie poster artist Jack Davis finally gets his due in this gorgeous oversized career retrospective. After a forward/career overview by William Stout, the book reproduces Davis works in six sections: Early Years, Comics, Record Covers & Movie Posters, Gags & Illustrations, Time & TV Guide, and Advertising. Each promises a host of riches including numerous sketches, original art from several comics, and beautifully-crafted, forgotten, and fondly remembered art. The book concludes with a lengthy biography by Gary Groth and endnotes. Disappointedly, the endnotes do not include dates and publications for all the included art. Additionally, while one of the great cartoonists of the 20th century, the interesting aspects of Davis' fairly mundane life rest with his work. The book would have been better served with more reproductions and less biography. Still the extraordinary Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture successfully reaffirms the artist's place within the upper echelon of pop culture craftsman.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, I skipped the biography at the end in favor of the introduction, but this kind of book is more about the looking, anyway. And I still learned a couple of interesting facts, specifically that Davis' speed was a big part of his marketability, and also that he was, apparently, Episcopalian.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

So great to read about this master who's art was ubiquitous when I was young.

[Sergio Eisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente

Excelente versión en kindle de un libro que cuesta casi 100 dólares . Las imágenes se pueden ampliar en excelente definición y así apreciar cada detalle de los dibujos de Jack Davis

[Bixmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine biography. Wish there was more article or more artwork. It’s really just a snapshot of his work and there should be more.

[Adam Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing artist

The digital version on my iPad looked better than the print version. I’m blown away by the resolution. I may buy digital art books from now on.

[George Seminara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Davis rules! Read it and see why. He is one of the most important illustrators of Post War America and this book shows you why.