George Brehm

"Very Funny!" - 1934 Saturday Evening Post Original Illustration Art

George Brehm

 

Reposted from: rubylane.com, both pis and texts

This very large superb and lively story illustration was published in The Saturday Evening Post circa 1935.

George Brehm published about 100 such illustrations in the Post between 1905 and 1943 - including 9 covers. According to Walt Reed, "his most memorable pictures were done for The Saturday Evening Post for story series by Booth Tarkington, Octavius Roy Cohen, and M.G. Chute. It was a source of pride to Brehm that the Post never required him to submit preliminary sketches, although he made many of them for himself before embarking on a finished picture" (The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000. New York, NY: The Society of Illustrators, Inc., 2001, p. 137).

George Brehm (1878-1966) was a native of Anderson, Indiana: he seems to have always kept a fresh Hoosier outlook on life and folks. He made his home in Pelham, NY, at "Witherbee Court, where he also maintained his studio and from where he could cross the street to pursue his other great passion, golf, at the Pelham Country Club" (The Pelham Manor Story 1891 – 1991. Pelham Manor, NY: James B. Saunders, ed. 1991, p 19). He was the elder brother of Worth Brehm whose wonderful "Dorm Conference" was sold here a while ago. He studied at the Art Students League of New York under Frank Vincent DuMond, George Bridgman and John Henry Twachtman.

George Brehm designed covers for The Saturday Evening Post (9 between 1907 and 1935), Woman's World (Apr. 1914), Short Stories (Feb 1916), Woman's Home Companion (Sept. 1916)... His illustrations appeared in the Post and other magazines such as The American Magazine, Broadway Magazine Colliers, Cosmopolitan, Country Gentleman, The Delineator, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Monthly, Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, Metropolitan Magazine, Munsey's, Pictorial Review, The Red Book Magazine, Woman's Home Companion, Woman's World...

Brehm also designed numerous illustrations for novels, advertisements (Coca-Cola, Texaco, the American Red Cross...) According to his great-grandson, he served with Norman Rockwell as one of several judges for the very first Miss America Pageant in 1923 (AskArt profile).

George Brehm was a member of the prestigious Society of Illustrators.