Artistes

1959 · 61258 — Pontiac MI: Pontiac Motor Division General Motors Sept. 1959. Oblong 4to. 12 x 10.5 in. 28 pp unpaginated. Colour-illustrated throughout several double-page. Colour-illustrated lithographed softcovers slight dustsoiling minor shelfwear light creasing to spine still VG bright copy w/ ownership markings of Bill Mohr 1913-1973 longtime Portland area Ford dealership sales manager. First edition of this excellent Mid-20th Century dealer’s catalogue enhanced with the lush illustrations by Fitzpatrick & Kaufman who were commissioned by GM to create some of the most iconic advertising campaigns for luxury through the 1960’s often featuring the photography by Macmanus John & Adams. The 1960 Pontiac models were a refining of Bill Mitchell’s radical 1959 Pontiac designs but many of their styling cues would return in 1961 & 1962 but the 1960 model year featured horizontal bar grilles straight full-length trim moldings and new deck lid. Fitzpatrick b. 1919 launched his career by apprenticing under John Tjaarda at the Briggs Body Co. as a designer in 1937 and later designed the Darrin Packard One-Eighty sedan before working for General Electric during World War II. After the War Fitzpatrick illustrated for Mercury Lincoln Nash & Plymouth before being recruited for the 1953 Buick portfolio and later granted exclusive contract with GM. Kaufman b. 1918 was a Disney animator who worked on Fantasia and Dumbo and later with the Army Air Corps First Motion Picture Unit and teamed up with Fitzpatrick in 1951. Their original artwork created for GM through 1970 remain some of the most desired automobile art of the 20th Century. Worldcat locates 3 copies Lib. of MI Sloan Museum Free Lib. of Phil.; See: Illustrious Duo: The Art of Fitz and Van Driven to Write 2022; Stork & Dolle Glamour Road: Colour Fashion Style and the Midcentury Automobile pp.183-185. Pontiac Motor Division, General Motors, paperback