more-than-a-brush-stroke - Tumblr blog

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

"Barn on Route 40, Ohio" (1936). Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969 (Photographer). Farm Security Administration Photographs.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1938).

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

"Tobacco barn. Tract number 189. Johnston County, North Carolina" (1938). Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985 (Photographer).

Farm Security Administration. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1936).

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Ornamental Roman Capitals and Modern Roman Extended, page 23 and page 24.

Kelly, A. Ashmun (Albanis Ashmun), (1922). The Expert Sign Painter. 2d ed. New York: A. A. Kelly.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

When do billboards become treasured landmarks?

When do billboards become treasured landmarks?

Barn signs like those shown here were once fairly common along the roadway. The passage of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 stipulated that these creations were blight and should be painted over. Public outcry eventually moved the government to add protections in 1974 for "landmark signs" in existence on October 22, 1965, "including signs on farm structures or natural surfaces, of historic or artistic significance."

These signs are now appreciated as folk art, but may include messages that we no longer consider palatable or appropriate. What turns these signs advertising alcohol or tobacco into works of art?

While these barn signs may no longer exist, a number of them are still around and sought out as beloved landmarks, including "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" and "See Rock City" barn paintings. The sign painters for the pictures shown here are lost to time, but we do know more about one of the most prolific barn painting teams who brought the style of signage into vogue starting in the 1920s. Maurice Zimmerman (1906-1993) and his team painted more than 12,000 barn signs over his 35 year career. Zimmerman said this about his crew and the work:

“We called ourselves barn massagers, walldogs or barn lizards. We called our big six-inch brushes mops and our overalls skins. Our skins would get stiff and crusted like suits of armor. When they got so bad we could hardly get into them, we’d throw them away buy new ones.”

“There weren’t many environmentalists around in those days to complain about road signs. Oh, once in a while we’d get some static – usually from women – not about the sign itself, but about chewing tobacco. Sometimes we’d find a lady barn owner, who liked to chew tobacco."

How do you think Zimmerman would feel about the digital billboards common on the side of roadways today?

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

"Alcan Highway under construction." African American Private First Class William Hughes of the U.S. Army Engineers painting a sign reading "Rouzan Glacier," 1942.

If you look closely you can see that Hughes is using Sherwin Williams paint, by the recognizable "Cover the Earth" logo showing the planet being drenched in dripping paint.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. (1942). Alcan Highway under construction.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Franklin Gothic and Franklin Gothic Condensed sample alphabets, page 48 and page 50. Longyear, W. Levwyn. (1935). A Dictionary of Modern Type Faces and Lettering. 1st ed. ... Pelham, N. Y.: Bridgman publishers, inc.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

1,450 Miles in 8 Months

Private Hughes was one of the 3,695 African American troops who were a large part of the Herculean effort to build the Alaska Highway (ALCAN), following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The roadway was completed in just over 8 months, covering 1,450 miles. The three regiments and 1 battalion of black Army Corp of Engineers, engaged in this project, experienced significant discrimination as they were heavily segregated from the white members of the Corps with inadequate supplies under extreme conditions. Discrimination, not withstanding, many of the soldiers remembered this project with extreme pride.

Private Hughes is working outside without a formal work space, but his smile is electric and his letters are pristine. Since the sign appears to be finished, there is a good chance that this photo was posed. However it definitely shows exceptional craft under less than ideal conditions. What would Hughes have told us about his technique if we could speak with him?

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Mock up showing blackletter instruction and guide screen for proposed interactive lettering tool.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Mock up showing blackletter introductory screen for proposed interactive lettering tool.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

“Lettering as an art — Lettering is an art…”

— Paul Carlyle, Herbert S. Richland, and Guy Oring (1943). “Foreward,” Letters and Lettering.

Signage is all around us. Like so much graphic and communication design, signs can be informative and beautiful or confusing and careless. Many might never cross our minds again as we pass them. These days, most signage is fabricated using a combination of digital, offset, or screen printing, AutoCAD or vector files, laser cutting, or computer numerical control (CNC) routers. A small number of artists still paint bespoke signs, but before the 1970s, almost all signs were crafted and painted by hand. 

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Who Were the Sign Painters?

The sign painters of the first half of the 20th century were laborers, trained through apprenticeship or self-taught. Some might have had more creative skill or drive than others, leading to a wide variety of style and quality. The workers who painted signs to identify roads, sell products and services, and advertise ideas to the public are largely forgotten. They did not sign their names or leave a recognized, lasting legacy. There is so much mystery in the work. What planning and creative energies went into their craft? What were their hopes and dreams? How did they learn to use a brush with such accuracy?

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Paul Carlyle, Herbert S. Richland, and Guy Oring (1943). “Foreward,” Letters and Lettering.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Artist Allen Hagio, working working on an unfinished sign while forced to live in the Rohwer internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII. (1943)

“Rohwer Relocation Center, McGehee, Arkansas. Allen Hagio, a former California artist, preparing a sign in the sign shop at the Rohwer Relocation Center, where former west coast residents are temporarily residing.“ Parker, Tom, Photographer. 3/9/1943. Department of the Interior. War Relocation Authority. 2/16/1944-6/30/1946. National Archives and Records Administration.

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Blackletter or Fraktur-Style Sample Lettering Alphabet

Can you finish Mr. Hagio’s sign?

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

Sign painting is a job, a craft, and an art...

but it can also mean doing work or making art for people or organizations who exert power over you. Allen Hagio, an artist trapped in a Japanese American internment or concentration camp is working on a beautifully lettered sign. It appears to be the name of the camp “Rohwer.” 

There are so many questions I have about this moment:

Why might he have chosen this ornate font? It is one that I associate with Nazi Germany, though Hitler actually banned its use for being too old-fashioned. The letter style dates back to the 16th century.

How did he feel about having his photograph taken? This picture was taken by Tom Parker for the Department of the Interior’s War Relocation Authority (WRA). Parker also made propaganda films for the WRA. 

Did he finish his sign? Where did it end up being posted? What did it look like once completed? What questions come to your mind?

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

"Enrollee Percy Halsey, Lettering and Painting," working on an unfinished sign spelling "G-R-E". (1941)

Photographs and other Graphic Materials; Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; (National Archives Identifier 57275374. Online version available through the National Archives Catalog at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/57275374; September 20, 2021).

[more-than-a-brush-stroke]

What is similar about the lettering in this sample and the lettering from Percy Halsey’s work? What is different? Is the student painting his letters with a consistent style? 

Albert’s A Handbook on Lettering describes this as a “Chinese style” lettering alphabet, but even though this book is from 1939, the alphabet has a number of qualities associated with the lyrical modernist movement of the 40s and 50s.     

Cavanagh, J. Albert. (1939). A Handbook on Lettering. New York: National process co.