Spencer Douglass Crockwell (April 29, 1904 – November 30, 1968) was an American commercial artist and experimental filmmaker.Douglass Crockwell, Alphabet of Illustrators, Chris Mullen CollectionUnseen Cinema presentation at University of Texas Ransom CenterFullTable entry He was most famous for his illustrations and advertisements for The Saturday Evening Post and for murals and posters for the Works Progress Administration.Smithsonian American Art Museum entry
Education and career
He received a B.Sc. from the Washington University (1926) in St. Louis and studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (1927) and the St. Louis School of Fine Arts (1927–31).Crockwell entry at AskArt
Crockwell's paintings have been featured in advertisements for Friskies dog food and in a poster for the American Relief for Holland. For the latter, he was awarded a gold medal from the Art Director's Club in 1946.
Posters Crockwell created recruiting and other posters for various branches of the United States government during World War II, and many illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post.Grapefruit Moon Gallery entry
He also created poster art for the MGM film The Yearling (1946).Crockwell entry at FullTable
Murals Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1944 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department. Crockwell painted three. In 1937 he completed an oil on canvas mural, Vermont Industries, for the post office in White River Junction, Vermont. In 1938, he completed Endicott, 1901- Excavating for the Ideal Factory, also an oil on canvas, for the post office in Endicott, New York. Signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was painted in 1944 for the post office in Macon, Mississippi.
Filmmaking In 1934, Crockwell began experimenting with non-representational films while balancing his career as an illustrator. He initially wanted to create flexible, low-cost animation techniques. In 1936–1937, he collaborated with David Smith, a sculptor, to create surrealistic films.
Clients
Brown & Bigelow General Electric General Motors Welch's Lederle Laboratories Wyeth USO 18 Saturday Evening Post covers Standard Oil General Mills Kraft Foods Schrafft's Candies Kolynos Toothpaste Coca-Cola Country Gentleman covers Hiram Walker Moxie International Harvester Grace Lines 110 United States Brewers' Association ads WPA Ralston Purina McCall's magazine Avondale Mills American Tobacco Company Coronet magazine Curtis Publishing Company Esquire magazine Republic Steel United Artists Life magazine Look magazine Camel Cigarettes U.S. Marine Corps Women's Day magazine Metro-Goldwyn-MayerGrapefruit Moon Gallery entry
Filmography Glens Falls Sequence (1937–1946) Fantasmagoria #1 (1938) Fantasmagoria #2 (1939) Simple Destiny Abstractions (1939–1940) Fantasmagoria #3 (1940) The Chase (1942) The Long Bodies (1947) Mutoscope reels: Red (1949), A Long Body (1950), Random Glow (c. 1950s), Stripes (c. 1950s), Ode to David (c. 1950s), Around the Valley (c. 1950s)
Legacy Examples of his work are in the collections of the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, the Bangor Public Library, the Hennepin County Library, the George C. Marshall Library, among others.
Over the course of his career, Crockwell drew over four hundred full-page images; more than three billion prints of his works have been made.Smithsonian American Art Museum entry
See also Experimental film The Saturday Evening Post
References
Bibliography Crockwell, Spencer Douglass. Douglass Crockwell. 1977. Kettlewell, James K. The Art of Douglass Crockwell. Glens Falls, N.Y.: Hyde Collection, 1977. New York Times obituary (December 2, 1968)
External links
Facebook page on Crockwell Paper Workers (1934) at Smithsonian American Art website Glens Falls Sequence at Vimeo Douglass Crockwell at MoGraphWiki "Essential Cinema" at Anthology Film Archives Crockwell entry at WPAMurals Crockwell at AskArt with Saturday Evening Post cover (April 4, 1942) Douglass Crockwell