Art

Pulp art and mid-century art are two consecutive art movements that may have even overlapped sometime between 1945 to 1950. This paper examines the qualities of each genre and in the process, identifies its differences and similarities. The main differences of both are the materials used the themes are somewhat similar but one can observe that pulp art has a wider range of themes than mid-century art due to the influence of the sentiments of its consumers. As a graphic illustrator, it is important to learn how art genres evolve to be able to cater to the needs of the consumers better.

Pulp Art
Pulp Art refers to the artworks found in the pulp magazines that were very popular during the 1930s until 1945, otherwise known as the Pulp Era. Pulp magazines were first published in the 1900s, when there was scarcity in entertainment and when the cheapest form of it was reading (Robinson  Davidson, 1998, p.14).  Pulp magazines were initially intended for family reading and its emphasis was on fiction.  Pulp magazines had a wide following from women who were enthralled with happy endings to teenage boys who smuggled magazines to read about the Wild West or the mountains of Mars (p.16).  Pulp magazines grew increasingly popular in the 1920s, when the Depression hit almost all parts of the world. Its popularity slowly declined in 1945, around the end of World War II, and finally died in the 1950s (p.17).

Pulp fiction can be considered as the first industrial level of recombitant culture in American popular art (Lopes, 2009, p.6). The themes of pulp art adhered to the basic elements of popular culture and covered a wide range of genres from aristocratic costume romances, detective tales, working-girl stories, tales of the American Revolution, mysteries of the city, outlaw stories  tastes that owe much to the myths and ideologies of the western in the twentieth century (Cullen, 2001, p.87). Because pulp magazines were mass-produced for the mass consumers, artists had to take into consideration all the diversities of their market (Bogart, 1995, p.156).  The comic strip type of advertisement was popular during that time movements of the subjects were very lively, almost exaggerated and the colors normally utilized were vivid. Also, the material used was pulp, the cheapest, most disposable grade of wood-pulp paper and was very rough therefore, attention to heavy details and fine lines were normally not paid attention to (McCann, 2000, p.48). The conventions of pulp magazine art were the following sketchy penwork, matted cross-hatching, labored shading, and stiff and theatrical poses (Harvey, 1994, p.124).

One of the most prominent Pulp artists was Virgil Finlay, whose drawings were mostly printed on cheap pulp and the scratchboard, with black being the ink and white being the scratchboard (Been Publishing, Im Back, 2010). His popular works were published in the Weird Tales in 1935. They showcased his talent in stippling and the fine dots that appeared on cheap pulp paper proved to be a rare experience of artistic genius. Because of this, Finlay gained a following.  The texture and depth of his images were due to a combination of stippling, fine hatching and the pebble board (Been Publishing, Im Back, 2010).

A more well-known pulp artist is Walter Baumhofer, also known as the King of Pulp (Illustration House, 2010). He had done numerous covers for several magazines such as Adventure, Doc Savage, Ace-High and Dime Detective. He was one of the first artists to introduce color to pulp art, which is normally done in black and white. Robert Sampson explained the artists popular this way Baumhofer brought to pulp magazine covers the resources of fine art. He created covers of unified design, focused and balanced, done in a transparent richness of color and swimming with clear light (Illustration House, 2010). Versatility was the edge of Baumhofer he had painted 750 covers and illustrations on general interest magazines alone.

Mid-Century Art
Mid-century art started to develop in 1945, around the time World War 2 ended and flourished during the 1950s. Around this time, people were aspiring for the American Dream, which meant so many things to so many Americans religious freedom, college education, homeownership, etc (Cullen, 2001, p.204). But more specifically, the American Dream was usually equated to stardom and to a good life, such as the possibility of a poor girl from a small town becoming transformed into a Hollywood princess on a silver screen (p.204).  Hence, illustrations were more popular than photographs because illustrations were highly idealized compared to the latter. During this time, magazines were still very popular.

To clearly illustrate the Mid-century art, it would be notable to mention an artist who was dubbed as the Dean of Illustrators during his time because he largely influenced his contemporaries back then.  Al Parker was one of the most popular mid-century illustrators of his time. It was Al Parker who defined the progressive look of illustration from the 1940s through the 1960s (Illustration House, 2010.). Al Parker illustrated for various womens magazines and his illustrations often depicted attractive love interests, happy stay-at-home moms, mothers and daughters pursuing recreational activities, girls and women baking in matching outfits, glamorous seductresses and betrayed heroines (Plunkett, 2007).  Al Parker majorly influenced not only the styles of art his illustrations appealed to the mass-consumers, particularly the women, and helped shaped the cultural perception of what it means to be beautiful (Plunkett, 2007). Parkers illustrations were sought after for their contemporary look and feel. Al Parkers pieces were characterized by bold, flat, and vivid colors he was also known for his modernist deployment of line and patterning (Plunkett, 2007).

Pulp Art vs. Mid-Century Art
The biggest different of both genres was obviously the medium.  Pulp artists utilized paper during the 1920s because that was the time when the whole world from suffering from the Depression. That made a big difference because illustrations on pulp tend to come out grainy and rough because of the pulps coarse texture.  In addition to that, most pulp art pieces were in black and white. On the other hand, Mid-century artists took advantage of the better technology and economic conditions by utilizing bold and vivid colors and glossy paper to produce more rich and vibrant results. Mid-century pieces were clearer than pulp art pieces mainly because of the pulp.

Pulp art depicted a wider range of themes than mid-century art because pulp art mainly catered to fiction from superheroes, to the Wild West, to the sexy damsels-in-distress. Pulp artists had to take into consideration the diversity of their consumers because pulp magazines were the cheapest form of entertainment during the trying times of the Depression.  Mid-century art, on the other hand, focused on the more realistic but idealized life that Americans aspired for the ideal household and stardom were some of the favorite themes.

Conclusion
American Illustration in the 20th century has been a dynamic, perpetually evolving field.  The introduction of new technologies, the political and economic situations, and of course, the creative minds of various artists can be attributed to its constant evolution. For instance, artists had to make do with pulp because it was the cheapest material available. This all changed in the 1950s when the United States recovered from the war better materials were available and of course, the peoples aspirations had changed.  Artists depicted the kind of life the Americans wanted during that time.  As a graphic illustrator, it is important to be aware of the various technologies and peoples interests and sentiments to be able to produce artworks that can be appreciated by more people. After all, the artists mentioned became popular because they echoed the peoples sentiments.