Colour.

New processes were being constantly developed and it is no surprise that one appears to give us colour images. This is achieved by using the halftone process but by using several grids each offset a little from the other. Each grid prints one colour and because of the semi-transparency of ink, we get the view of full colour as a result. In the archive, we have an example of this process from the Penrose Annual 1897 which is used to illustrate an article on three-colour work by Harry W. Pope. Although not an advert, it is an early example of colour work (see Figs. 28 to 31).

For colour advertising, we jump first to France and the cover of the magazine Les Sports Modernes for June 1898 (Fig 32) and to the UK in 1907 to show the front and rear covers of the Motor Season Supplement of The Observer newspaper (Figs, 33 and 34). It is clear that at this stage the cost of producing colour is a big limiting factor for its use in both editorials and advertising, therefore limited to prominent positions (covers) or events.

The rise and rise of the commercial artist.

We have to jump to the 1920s to see the start of regular use of colour in magazines. One of the highlights of the archive collection is a run of the motoring magazine, Motor Owner, this prestigious publication, printed on high-quality paper, and aimed at the most discerning automotive audience featured large numbers of colour adverts in its early years.

With the advent of halftone printing and the consequent demise of the engraver, coupled with the fact that photography was still a niche art form at the start of the twentieth century, we see the increasing use of the commercial artist in advertising across all fields. The advent of colour only increased this demand and the heyday of the commercial artist had arrived. It is only in the 1960s that photography starts to become a direct competitor to the commercial artist.

Examples of colour printing in advertising can be seen in Figs 35 and 36 (Motor Owner 1920), Figs 37 and 38 (Braemar Gathering 1927), Figs 39 and 40 (Braemar Gathering 1938), Figs 41 and 42 (Braemar Gathering 1949).

To close the talk and finish on an unusual highlight I had chosen an American trade publication called Automatic Machining from October 1963. This magazine features the very unusual use of the “pop-up” advert. The use of the pop-up advert is rare because of the cost of its production – an artist, a 3d designer, special printing, better quality paper and then insertion into the magazine. The advertiser thought the cost was worth the effort as this is the only use of the pop-up in 192 copies of this publication in the archive. Fig 43 shows the cover of the magazine, Fig 44 the facing cover of the pop-up which you then fold out to reveal the 3d picture underneath and Fig 45 the actual pop-up in all its glory.

You can read my blog posts on Laurence Fellows and William Meade Prince, two of my favourite commercial advertising artists, by clicking the images below.

Thank you for joining me for this blog series exploring the changing face of art in advertising. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Don’t forget, if you are involved in community and special interest groups or clubs and would be interested in having this as a talk, please do get in touch.

Richard Roberts