Fencing Champions

Artzybasheff�s career as an illustrator began in the 1920s. Throughout his career he illustrated over 50 books, including the Newberry Medal... more

by Boris Artzybasheff

Title

Fencing Champions

Artist

Boris Artzybasheff

Medium

Drawing - Black And White Drawing

Description

Artzybasheff�s career as an illustrator began in the 1920s. Throughout his career he illustrated over 50 books, including the Newberry Medal winner Dhan Gopal Mukerji�s Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. His worked appeared in many magazines, including Life, Fortune and Time. He illustrated over 200 Time magazine covers between 1941 and 1965.

Artzybasheff focused primarily on commercial art after 1940, including work for Xerox, Shell Oil, Casco Power Tools, Alcoa Steamship Line, Parke Davis, Avco Manufacturing, Scotch Tape, Wickwire Spencer Steel, Vultee Aircraft, World Airways and Parker Pens.

In 1942, Wickwire Spencer Steel advertising executives wanted to show the company�s �all out participation in the war effort.� Artzybasheff was commissioned to produce a series of 29 illustrations depicting Axis leaders being defeated by steel products. They were an immediate success and over 15,000 posters were given to war and salvage groups throughout the country. The original artwork was auctioned for war bonds in 1945, raising over a quarter million dollars.

Uploaded

January 5th, 2016