Like most magazine illustrators of the early to mid 20th century, little is known about George Horace Davis. From a site dedicated to The Illustrated London News (ILN), we learn that he spent 40 years contributing to that publication, producing up to 2,500 pages of illustrations. Born in Kensington in 1881, Davis was first published… Continue reading British Artist, Illustrator G.H. Davis
Illustrator Stewart Rouse
Stewart Rouse was, for a period, a staff artist at Popular Science. The magazine bio (February 1946) described Rouse as a “lanky Lincolnesque character” of 6″ 4.5′ who attended the Chicago Art Institute. Handy with metalwork tools as well as pen and ink, Rouse once built his own airplane. Rouse was an artist of breathtaking… Continue reading Illustrator Stewart Rouse
WWII Fighter Plane Cutaway Showing Gravity Suit, 1945
A cutaway within a cutaway. Drawn by Stewart Rouse, this illustrates a generic WWII fighter plane peeled back to show the pilot within. Then the pilot’s gravity suit itself is peeled back to reveal some of its inner workings. Bladders within the suit were inflated with air from the craft, to minimize the chance of… Continue reading WWII Fighter Plane Cutaway Showing Gravity Suit, 1945
Futuristic Car Cutaway, 1940
In 1940, it was asked if we might be driving a car like this in only two years. The novel cutaway turned the notion of how to design a car on its head: streamlined to look like “a giant aerial bomb on wheels,” with the engine in back, driver in the center, and rear passengers… Continue reading Futuristic Car Cutaway, 1940
Home Nuclear Bomb Shelter, 1961
This cutaway of a home-based nuclear bomb shelter from 1961 was designed by the Office of Civil Defense to be built for less than $280 in materials. Source: Popular Mechanics December 1961