Observatory car suspended from Zeppelin Scientific American 1916-12-23

Edgar Franklin Wittmack (1894–1956) was an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and cover artist for many of the most popular magazines of the 1920s and 1930s. His covers, just as the artwork of his contemporary,

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

, were usually created as oil paintings. Where Rockwell specialized in the humorous aspects of small-town life, Wittmack dealt mainly with male-oriented interests. He often painted heroic or action-type figures for the ''Saturday Evening Post'', ''American Boy'', ''Outdoor Life'' as well as the "quality" pulp magazines such as ''

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

'' and ''

Short Stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

''. Robinson, Frank M., and Davidson, Lawrence. ''Pulp Culture - The Art of Fiction Magazines''. Collectors Press, 2007. (p.42). However, he is probably most known for the covers he created for ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

''. His "

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipat ...

" style was used during the depression to artistically convert the ideas of inventive

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

into unique visual expressions of potential reality.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wittmack, Edgar Franklin 1894 births 1956 deaths American magazine illustrators