Norman Blaine Saunders (January 1, 1907 – March 7, 1989) was a prolific 20th-century American
commercial art
Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...
ist. He is best known for paintings in
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
s, paperbacks,
men's adventure
Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...
magazines,
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s and
trading cards. On occasion, Saunders signed his work with his middle name, Blaine.
[
]
Biography
Early life and career
Saunders was born in Minot, North Dakota
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...
, but his earliest memories were from the family's homestead near Bemidji
Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, Minnesota, Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city ...
in northern Minnesota where he and his parents lived in a one-room cabin.[ He recalled moving north at age seven, to ]Roseau County
Roseau County () (pronounced row - so) is a county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, along the Canada–US border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,331. Its county seat is Roseau. Roseau County borders the C ...
on the Canada–US border, where his father was a game warden and a touring Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister. "A tribe of the Chippewa Indians
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
were there and by the time I was 12, was practically a blood brother."[
Saunders' career was launched when his contributions to '' Captain Billy's Whiz Bang'' resulted in a job with ]Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).
It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz B ...
, where he was employed from 1928 to 1934. He explained in 1983 the events that led to his arrival at Fawcett's offices in Robbinsdale, Minnesota
Robbinsdale is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota,. The population was 13,953 at the time of the 2010 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Minnesota ...
:
Pulp paintings
He left Fawcett to become a freelance pulp artist, moved to New York City and studied under Harvey Dunn
Harvey Thomas Dunn NA (March 8, 1884 – October 29, 1952) was an American painter and teacher. He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, ''The Prairie is My Garden'' (1950). In this painting, a mother and her two children ar ...
at the Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1923 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an ...
. He painted for all the major publishers and was known for his fast-action scenes, his beautiful women and his ability to meet a deadline. He worked in almost any genre—Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
, weird menace
Weird menace is a subgenre of horror fiction and detective fiction that was popular in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and early 1940s. The weird menace pulps, also known as shudder pulps, generally featured stories in which the hero was pitted a ...
, detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
, sports and the saucy pulps (sometimes signed as "Blaine"). He was able to paint very quickly, producing 100 paintings a year—two a week from 1935 through 1942—and thus lived well during the Depression era.[
During ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Saunders served with the Military Police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...
overseeing German prisoners. Transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers, he supervised the construction of a gas pipeline following the Burma Road
The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino-J ...
. During his off hours, he painted watercolors of Burmese temples.[
]
Trading cards
In 1958, Saunders obtained his first assignment from the trading cards company Topps
The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...
, painting over photographs of baseball players who had been traded, so that they would appear to be wearing the jersey of their new team . Topps soon employed Saunders to create artwork for many other cards, including the 1962 ''Mars Attacks
''Mars Attacks'' is a science fiction-themed trading card series released in 1962 by Topps. The cards feature artwork by science fiction artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The cards form a story arc, which tells of the invasion of Earth by ...
'' series and the ''Batman'' TV series in 1966.[17 collectible sets based on classic tv shows]
on MeTV.com
Product developer Len Brown, inspired by Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...
's cover for EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...
' '' Weird Science'' #16, pitched the idea to art director Woody Gelman
Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978) was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcove ...
. Wood fleshed out his and Gelman's initial sketches, and Bob Powell
Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916 did the final designs. Saunders painted the 55-card set.
The cards were test marketed by Topps through a dummy corporation
A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), but lacks the capacity ...
called Bubbles, Inc. under the name ''Attack From Space''. Sales were sufficient to expand the marketing, and the name was changed to ''Mars Attacks''. The cards sparked parental and community outrage over their graphic violence and implied sexuality. Topps responded initially by repainting 13 of the cards to reduce the gore and sexuality; then, following inquiries from a Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
, Topps agreed to halt production before the altered cards could be added.
Saunders also produced a number of less well-known trading card series, including ''Ugly Stickers'', ''Nutty Initials'', ''Make Your Own Name Stickers'' and ''Civil War News
''Civil War News'' was a set of collectible trading cards issued in the early 1960s by Topps. The set featured colorful painted artwork and was characterized by vivid colors, graphic depictions of violence, death and blood (base card #21 "Painfu ...
''.[
'']Wacky Packages
''Wacky Packages'' are a series of humorous trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by Topps beginning in 1967, first in die-cut, then in peel-and-stick sticker format. There were 16 series produced betwee ...
'' was Norman Saunders' last major art project, and also his biggest popular success. He began them in 1967 with the "Die-Cuts" and he continued to paint them until the 16th series in 1976. Although, Norm created no new art for "Wackies" after 1978, the manufacturers continued to repackage Norm's artworks in various formats, even releasing some previously unreleased artworks, but the last Topps product with Norm's art was the ''Wacky Can Labels'' in 1980.
Personal life
Saunders married Ellene Politis in 1947. Their daughter, Zina Saunders, is also an illustrator for magazines, books and trading cards. Their son, David Saunders, is a painter-sculptor who designed the "Apple Fence" at New York's LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...
.[Barbara B. Buchholz]
"Vital Images: David Saunders, `Small Wonders' And Ken Warneke"
''Chicago Tribune'' (December 13, 1996). Retrieved July 14, 2011
Books
* ''Graphic Design Time Line: A Century Of Design Milestones''. Heller, Steven; Pettit, Elinor, Allworth Publications, New York, NY, 2000.
* ''Norman Saunders''. Saunders, David, The Illustrated Press, Saint Louis, MO, 2008.
* ''Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings For The Great American Pulp Magazines''. Lesser, Robert; Reed, Roger, Gramercy Books, New York, NY, 1997.
References
External links
NormanSaunders.com
maintained by his son David Saunders – with biographical essay and chronology
WebCitation archive (webcitation.org)
* Saunders, David
American Art Archives, n.d
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Norman
1907 births
1989 deaths
20th-century American painters
American magazine illustrators
American male painters
Artists from North Dakota
Artists of the American West
People from Minot, North Dakota
Painters from Minnesota
Pulp fiction artists
Science fiction artists
Trading cards
United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel
Fawcett Publications
20th-century American male artists