Albert Hampson

Cotillion, Saturday Evening Post Cover

1936

Signature: Signed Lower Left Original cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 2, 1950 The Post described, “One night Art Editor Stuart was having a party. His three boys came downstairs four times and were conducted back up by their mother. The next time they came down, Papa Stuart waxed excited, firmly conveyed them aloft himself, and they did not show up again. Stuart was warmly congratulated on his success as a father. When the party broke up, the youngest lad was found asleep on the stairs. Stuart claims that the older ones never did come down again, but this was probably because they merely went to sleep in their beds from natural causes. George Hugehes has painted some other people’s offspring, to get over the idea that children all over America are eager to improve their minds by listening to sophisticated conversation.” (The Saturday Evening Post, December 2, 1950, p. 3) Exhibited: Norman Rockwell Museum...

Medium: Oil on Canvas The oil on canvas illustration is bearing a Saturday Evening Post label verso, used to illustrate the short story There Is No Love, in the October 18th, 1941 i...

"High School Dance" WPA Mid-20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism Heusing (20th Century) "High School Dance" 27 x 32 inches Oil on canvas Signed and dated '47 Lower Righ...

“Graduation Day” is emblematic of mid-century American Illustration. But the real story of this storytelling work is that it embodies the lost art of portrait painting and graphic design. Alex Ross borrows on the classical tradition and flaunts his skills as a narrative painter. In “Graduation Day”, he paints a complex composition involving at least thirteen portraits. The subjects are beautifully rendered and lit. They are set against a dark grey background and jump off the surface at the viewer. The composition is complexly designed. The future graduate in the red jacket engaging with a girl photographer is a compositional device that leads the viewer's eye to the main subject - a father congratulating his son on graduating from medical school. Creating art that relies on facial expressions and body gestures is a talent absent in contemporary art. Why? It’s very hard to do and takes years and training and practice to get it right. Despite Alex Ross's folksy subject matter, this work is a high example of naturalism and representation by an important member of the Golden Age of American Illustration. Signed lower right Born in the town of Dunfermline, Scotland, Alexander Sharpe Ross (1908-1990) moved with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1911. After attending Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), Ross moved to New York and joined the Charles E. Cooper Studio, where he worked among such notable illustrators as Ward Brackett, Stevan Dohanos, J. Frederick Smith...