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Cover for Ballyhoo

Date1933

Illustration CitationCover for Ballyhoo, July 1933

MediumWatercolor, graphite, and gouache on illustration board

Dimensionscomposition: 11 3/4 × 8 1/2 in. (29.8 × 21.6 cm)
sheet: 17 × 11 3/4 in. (43.2 × 29.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William Radebaugh, 1978

Object number1978-630

On View

Not on view

Label TextRussell Patterson was a cartoonist, comic strip artist, illustrator and scenic designer. His Art Deco style helped popularize the image of the flapper. Born in Omaha, he moved with his family to Montreal, where he did some newspaper cartooning; he then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a commercial catalogue illustrator and interior design for department stores such as Carson Pirie Scott & Company and Marshall Field. After brief studies in Paris and three years at the Art Institute of Chicago, he created a mail-order art instruction course called "The Last Word in Humorous Illustrations."

By 1920, now in New York City, Patterson dedicated himself primarily to illustration, and eventually was in demand by magazines such as College Humor, Judge, Life and Ballyhoo (published from 1931 to 1939), as well as general interest publications. He was renowned for his version of the flapper: his "Patterson Girl" displayed the combination of coquetry and self-reliance, with her streamlined (or, as here, very abbreviated) clothes. According to the donor, who was a personal friend and model for the artist, this drawing was a cover for Ballyhoo.This on-strike entertainer parades gracefully in her stiletto heels and jauntily-worn hat, in lipstick of the same palette. The black background and blue panel emphasize her elongated elegance

Patterson was also involved in art direction for Broadway shows and Hollywood films, the design of military uniforms, and the judging of beauty pageants. Like other famous illustrators of the period, he was a celebrity endorser of products.