Douglass Crockwell (1904-68)
These are four more examples from the Home Life in America campaign to lift the consumption of beer out of the blue collar gulag and reposition it as the first choice of the educated, materially successful middle class. It has been calculated that Douglass Crockwell was responsible for more than half of these images - taken together they offer a remarkable survey of mid-century affluence. Crockwell led a strange double life as avant-garde film maker and mainstream commercial illustrator. The fact of his personally driven cinematic activities throws an odd light on his illustrations, tempting us to look for hidden depths below the always perfectly finished surfaces. Every tilt of the head or furrowed brow, a clenched fist or tension in the shoulders, an outstretched hand, a vacancy of expression – it easily tempts us to conclude that the surface contentment is an illusion and deep unresolved emotional conflicts simmer below.
Douglass Crockwell (1904-68)
These are four more examples from the Home Life in America campaign to lift the consumption of beer out of the blue collar gulag and reposition it as the first choice of the educated, materially successful middle class. It has been calculated that Douglass Crockwell was responsible for more than half of these images - taken together they offer a remarkable survey of mid-century affluence. Crockwell led a strange double life as avant-garde film maker and mainstream commercial illustrator. The fact of his personally driven cinematic activities throws an odd light on his illustrations, tempting us to look for hidden depths below the always perfectly finished surfaces. Every tilt of the head or furrowed brow, a clenched fist or tension in the shoulders, an outstretched hand, a vacancy of expression – it easily tempts us to conclude that the surface contentment is an illusion and deep unresolved emotional conflicts simmer below.