Radebaugh’s illustrations range from Art Deco cityscapes in the 1930s to campy cartoons in the late 1950s. From streamlined flying cars to glamorous skyscrapers, his renderings were both pragmatic and fantastical, showing possibilities unimagined, derived from the technology of the day.
Viewed together, his luminous airbrushings, vintage advertisements for clients as diverse as Coca-Cola and Chrysler, and “believe-it-or-not”-style cartoon strips represent an alternative technological, architectural and social history of the 20th century.
Radebaugh was an eccentric character in his day, an occasional star who had many close encounters with fame but was largely forgotten after his death in 1974. His work was recently rediscovered by historians Jared Rosenbaum and Todd Kimmell, who created an exhibit which opened March 2003 in Philadelphia, and will travel to Nantes, France this November. The online exhibit was created by Palace Of Culture curator Rosenbaum as a permanent tribute to Radebaugh’s forgotten genius.
Nostalgic for the future?
A new online exhibit, “The Future We Were Promised”, displays a vintage vision of the future, rediscovered from the mid-century past.
The exhibit, on the elusive futurist imagineer A. C. Radebaugh, has just opened at http://www.palaceofculture.org/radebaugh.html
Radebaugh’s illustrations range from Art Deco cityscapes in the 1930s to campy cartoons in the late 1950s. From streamlined flying cars to glamorous skyscrapers, his renderings were both pragmatic and fantastical, showing possibilities unimagined, derived from the technology of the day.
Viewed together, his luminous airbrushings, vintage advertisements for clients as diverse as Coca-Cola and Chrysler, and “believe-it-or-not”-style cartoon strips represent an alternative technological, architectural and social history of the 20th century.
Radebaugh was an eccentric character in his day, an occasional star who had many close encounters with fame but was largely forgotten after his death in 1974. His work was recently rediscovered by historians Jared Rosenbaum and Todd Kimmell, who created an exhibit which opened March 2003 in Philadelphia, and will travel to Nantes, France this November. The online exhibit was created by Palace Of Culture curator Rosenbaum as a permanent tribute to Radebaugh’s forgotten genius.
jared - October 24th, 2003 @ 11:20 pm