Professor Martin Salisbury of the Cambridge School of Art recently found a nice quote from the great mid-century modern illustrator, Austin Briggs. A founder of The Famous Artists School – a popular illustration correspondence school, Briggs would get inquiries from his students. In the 1961 issue of Commercial Art (now CA) he shared some thoughts on “style”.
Almost every month we have a comment from someone on the (current) “trend.” A trend is almost always a stream of imitation.
The manner should be an integral part of the message the artist delivers – and an imitation of a manner (on the plea that one is being contemporary) is a superficiality imposed upon a picture without enhancing its capacity to communicate. It is a cord around the neck with strangles the voice.
Picture It 