How it all began
Like many of us have done, the book’s author, Rob Keil, grew up looking at automobile ads in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Life. This quiet activity absorbed the hours of many a young gearhead, and Keil was no exception here.
However, as Keil explains in the introduction to his book, Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman,
“AF/VK. These four initials were the only clue as to the source of the fantastic Pontiac ad illustrations I found in my dad’s old National Geographic magazines.”
Rob Keil, author. image courtesy Rob Keil.
These were pre-internet times, and Keil had yet to map out his career, yet these car ad images transfixed him. These early impressions informed Keil’s career choice as he entered college, a choice that not only led to advertising and art, but also, that set his path to track down the illustrators who had signed “AF/VK.”
AF/VK
Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman, better known as Fitz and Van, were art illustrators who met up after WWII over advertising assignments. It was there that they began a remarkable partnership that lasted 24 years and several hundred auto ads for a variety of companies. To this day their ads represent the high mark of hand-drawn automotive ad illustrations.
As a team, Fitz did the cars and Kaufman the backgrounds and people. In addition, as work piled up, the duo hired a support team who learned to specialize on drawing components, like grills, or sections, like interiors. Their assistance in completing the illustrations was paramount as they often worked on short deadlines. At times it was a grind, but it paid well.
The Companies, the Accounts
Fitz, already a known illustrator by the end of WWII, had been illustrating ads for Mercury since 1946. Fitz brought Van in to do the ad backgrounds in 1950, and they would collaborate on Merc ads until 1954.
1952 Mercury. all images courtesy Rob Keil unless otherwise noted.
Advertising accounts would often change with the seasons and the shifting philosophy of the auto companies. Fitz & Van would move on to work for the Buick ad account during 1954-1958. One can see the evolution of Kaufman’s backgrounds in these images and the details in his human models. Perhaps more subtly, Fitzpatrick had been evolving a style of painting with light and shadow, a technique that rendered his cars to appear as if they were coming out of the page.
1954 Buick Skylark.
Fitz & Van were hired to illustrate General Motors’ 50th anniversary brochure, and this of course brought new attention to the skill sets that their team of illustrators commanded. Included in the text, Keil introduces the team of specialists who worked for Fitz & Van, as well as discusses in some depth just how the artists performed their work.
1959 Cadillac. Note how the angle perfectly captures the essence of a 50’s Cadillac.
In the era that predated the personal computer and rendering software, their hand-drawn illustration methods were truly remarkable. On top of that, the complex system that the team developed to collaborate from their separate studios and bring all of the parts together under deadline— the car, the car details, the backgrounds. Simply fascinating. Keil lays it all out.
This team coordination and their continuously evolving skillsets would do them well in their later years as the team transitioned to Opel in 1972. However, the highpoint of this remarkable team were the Pontiac years, 1959-1971.
1959 Pontiac Bonneville. By this time, the figures in the drawings were becoming more distinctive.
It was during these years that Fitz perfected his creation of depth through the use of light and shadow. Car ads had been exaggerating the long and low look for years, but it was Fitz who focused on the front grills of the Pontiac, changed perspectives to see more of the front of the car, and accentuated the “wide track” look by which Pontiac became famous. Keil takes us behind the desks and shares some of the artists’ secrets as to how they accomplished what they rendered.
1963 Pontiac Grand Prix, Loire Canal.
Fitz also studied and mastered raindrops on a car hood while his design specialists added sparkle to chrome without having to resort to “skinkles.” (those little stars one sees in photos). Meanwhile, Kaufman traded on his urbane background and his travels throughout Europe to portray scenes from Europe like Monaco, the Alps, the Rivera, as backdrops for various models of Pontiac.
1970 Pontiac Tempest. Note the raindrops on the hood!
In this manner, Fitz & Van redefined what Pontiac stood for by drawing out the emotions of the potential buyers: a “you buy this car, and this is the upscale lifestyle that you will live” kind of hook. It was aspirational; it was trendy; it became the new Pontiac mantra. During the years 1959-1971, Pontiac rose from a has-been sibling in the General Motors stable to be a contender for first after Chevrolet, the flagship.
Imagination Versus Reality
The 1970s and beyond would not be kind to those who illustrated automobile ads, as it seemed that by 1970, photography became the dominant image tool in the selling of cars.
1921 Haynes Special Speedster from a Haynes sales catalog. image courtesy Ronald Sieber.
The technique of hand-drawn lifestyle ads used to draw buyers in was not a new phenomenon; it had begun in earnest in the 1920s and apparently it peaked in the 1950s. Although these types of ads were being superseded by photographic images, Fitz and Van extended and perfected drawn illustrations up to 1970. What a run it had been!
Keil sums it up in the book’s epilogue:
But beyond selling cars, Fitz and Van raised the level of sophistication and artistry in advertising. Through their work, Fitz and Van proved that an ad can be more than just a sales pitch. It can be a thing of beauty.
Rob Keil’s book, Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman: Masters of the Art of Automobile Advertising, is a thing of beauty. It can be purchased at the book’s website, FitzAndVan.com.
I highly recommend this book for those who respond to images and their stories. The first edition was sold out, but the second edition is now in stock. Order your copy before this run is sold out too!
Classic Speedsters—Book News
Thanks to all of you who purchased or received a copy in December! It was gratifying to me as an author to deliver my book to many new readers, and I hope that they are enjoying the stories and the illustrations that inform its contents. The winter season is upon us, so it’s time to park in a comfortable chair with a good book and a hot toddy. Life’s too short to not be reading something good!
Please visit my sales page if you have not yet purchased a copy. You can select the tab at the top of this website; order your copy today!