The Willys-Overland Paintings, Part Two, John Howard

Continuing with part two this week of the all new Willys-Overland Paintings section, we have the illustrator, John Howard. Commissioned to produce a series of now famous ads for what Willys-Overland envisioned as a public introduction of the new civilian jeep these ads became probably the best known examples of jeep advertising. They are classic forms of the golden age of advertising before Photoshop and the computer, when many freelance artists were making a great living producing drawings and paintings for the advertising market. Howard, whom I can’t find anything about online (anyone have any info on the man?) produced works of art that deviated from what Sessions, Horndorf and Clark made. Howard instead of concentrating on realistic scenes, created allegorical and fanciful depictions of the ‘heart’ of the MB, jeeps encircling the world and what must irk Bantam enthusiasts nowadays, the insistence that Willys and the jeep were linked together as one in people’s minds on the world stage. Click on the thumbnails to view the individual ads or here to view the full albums of all the artists’ work. Come back next week when we’ll concentrate on the best known of the illustrators, James Sessions. The next week will bring part four and a treat of a direct to consumer advertising special!