Cover for Ballyhoo

© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
© Artist or Artist's Estate
Cover for Ballyhoo
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.

Cover for Ballyhoo

Date1933
Artist (American illustrator, 1893–1977)
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
On view
ClassificationsDRAWING
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.
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Russell Patterson
1932
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Russell Patterson
1936
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Russell Patterson
1940
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Russell Patterson
1938 or after
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Russell Cowles
not dated
Cover for Woman's World, August 1919
Maginel Wright Barney
1919
Beatrice Anderson
1925
Study for cover of Junior Home
Beatrice Anderson
not dated