Who were the world’s greatest motoring artists? Arguments can be made for Gordon Crosby, Walter Gotschke, Geo Ham or Rene Vincent, and Peter Helck are the top 5
Helck's art which was not confined to motoring but included a whole range of fine art and advertising on diverse subjects. Also the motoring art was reproduced in his two excellent books, Chequered Flag, 1961 and Great Auto Races, 1976, which have acted somewhat as a standard for motoring art reference.
He also was in the right place (NYC) at the right time (stock market crash) to buy amazing old cars for nothing. $35 for a Brewster Town Car, 1904 chain-drive Mercedes with a 1915 White touring body cost $200; a 1907 Renault Town Car which had belonged to a past President of the Automobile Club of America $75.
Durinhg the depression years many amazing cars were to be had for next to nothing, a magnificent 1929 Pierce-Arrow doublecowl phaeton "For Sale $35." There was a J-Duesenberg for $100, and the 1907 American Mercedes for which the owner paid a small fee to have it removed from his estate!
Not everything went as smooth as buying cars cheap during the market crash:
While engaged with the Ford truck campaigns the weirdest sort of coincidence threatened the cordial relationship I enjoyed with Ford's advertising agency. One of the pictures had to show a Ford van unloading at a swank cleaners in a smart suburban town. While sketching suitable store fronts I encountered an old high school mate. I asked, "What ever became of that big footballer Mittell?" He told me enough for that name to stay in mind for several days. With the drawing near completion I considered adding the name of a firm on the van's polished panel, hit on the name of the footballer Mittell but discarded it as being overly Teutonic. The derivation, F. Martell, looked and sounded more like fashionable suburbia.
Two months later the ad agency phoned. Had I seen Walter Winchell's column? I replied I never read his stuff. "Well, read him this morning" was the advice from Philadelphia. "Then call me back." Winchell had written about as follows. "Perhaps the artist responsible for the Ford Truck ad in the current issue of the Saturday Evening Post had his tongue in his cheek, but it is no laughing matter for the widows and orphans of those slain in the Purple Gang warfare involving Detroit's cleaning and dying industry." He further disclosed that the Purple Gang leader was a notorious racketeer serving time; his name, F. Martell.
these prints for Esquire magazine are so much more polished than his previous work, these were from 1958
http://www.peterhelck.com/memoirs/memoirs.html
http://www.motoringart.info/motoring-artist-listings/motoring-artist-information.asp?ArtistName=Helck%20Clarence%20Peter
Helck's art which was not confined to motoring but included a whole range of fine art and advertising on diverse subjects. Also the motoring art was reproduced in his two excellent books, Chequered Flag, 1961 and Great Auto Races, 1976, which have acted somewhat as a standard for motoring art reference.
He also was in the right place (NYC) at the right time (stock market crash) to buy amazing old cars for nothing. $35 for a Brewster Town Car, 1904 chain-drive Mercedes with a 1915 White touring body cost $200; a 1907 Renault Town Car which had belonged to a past President of the Automobile Club of America $75.
Durinhg the depression years many amazing cars were to be had for next to nothing, a magnificent 1929 Pierce-Arrow doublecowl phaeton "For Sale $35." There was a J-Duesenberg for $100, and the 1907 American Mercedes for which the owner paid a small fee to have it removed from his estate!
Not everything went as smooth as buying cars cheap during the market crash:
While engaged with the Ford truck campaigns the weirdest sort of coincidence threatened the cordial relationship I enjoyed with Ford's advertising agency. One of the pictures had to show a Ford van unloading at a swank cleaners in a smart suburban town. While sketching suitable store fronts I encountered an old high school mate. I asked, "What ever became of that big footballer Mittell?" He told me enough for that name to stay in mind for several days. With the drawing near completion I considered adding the name of a firm on the van's polished panel, hit on the name of the footballer Mittell but discarded it as being overly Teutonic. The derivation, F. Martell, looked and sounded more like fashionable suburbia.
Two months later the ad agency phoned. Had I seen Walter Winchell's column? I replied I never read his stuff. "Well, read him this morning" was the advice from Philadelphia. "Then call me back." Winchell had written about as follows. "Perhaps the artist responsible for the Ford Truck ad in the current issue of the Saturday Evening Post had his tongue in his cheek, but it is no laughing matter for the widows and orphans of those slain in the Purple Gang warfare involving Detroit's cleaning and dying industry." He further disclosed that the Purple Gang leader was a notorious racketeer serving time; his name, F. Martell.
http://www.motoringart.info/motoring-artist-listings/motoring-artist-information.asp?ArtistName=Helck%20Clarence%20Peter
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