Commercial Art: a Mini-History Lesson

When we think of artists, we tend to think of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, O’Keeffe, Picasso … Fine artists.

  There’s another kind of art, however, done by artists who aren’t famous, but their work is ubiquitous. We see it every day, on everything from billboards to cereal boxes.

  Commercial art is used primarily for advertising. It appears in newspapers and magazines, on packages, websites, television, you name it, to promote services and products.

  Idaho, and Boise in particular, has been home to many commercial artists. Last month I received a news release about one of them, Roscoe “Duke” Reading.

  Reading died in 1990. The release was from his daughter, Kathleen Haws, who is working to make sure her late father’s artwork isn’t forgotten.

  “When people ask me why I want to make my father’s artwork available after so many years, I reply that it’s too good not to share,” she said. “Mid-century commercial art was produced from the skilled hands of the artists without any technology. Just a keen eye, a steady hand and a great sense of what makes great art.”

  Mid 20th Century commercial art, she said, “was all done by hand, well before computers. It was design-oriented, very clean and used certain styles in the actual lettering. It was very stylized. You can almost tell when you look at it whether it’s mid-century or not.”

  Boise in the 1950s was home to a profusion of commercial artists. Haws’s “keen eye and steady hand” comment could have been about my late friend John Collias. John did commercial art and was a fine artist as well. He drew and painted everything from portraits to pool halls.

  He and Reading were roughly contemporaries, working in Boise doing somewhat similar kinds of work. Both were drafted during World War II and worked as artists for the army. But while Collias leaned more toward fine art, Reading concentrated on commercial art with a fine touch. A painting he did for the 1963 Idaho Centennial of a syringa, the state flower, is an example of how good he was.

  For both longtime Idanoans and newcomers, his work constitutes a mini-history lesson. His range was impressive, and, as his daughter put it, his work is “tied into Boise history, and to a smaller extent, Idaho history.”

  He did artwork for billboards, Christmas cards, murals, movie advertisements, portraits of athletes and politicians, and, notably, the original design used for a 33-foot tall “Last Chance Joe” statue now at a museum in Sparks, Nev. 

  The statue began as a drawing Reading did for the Last Chance Cafe in Garden City. If you’re a newcomer, you may not know that Garden City use to have legalized gambling. When it was outlawed in the 1950s, its owner moved to Nevada, where Last Chance Joe became an icon at Nugget casinos. The statue stood outside the Nugget in Sparks for half a century before being moved to a museum.

  “If you’re in Sparks, Last Chance Joe is kind of your guide,” Haws said. “You can see him from the freeway. The statue is the only thing in town that’s that tall.”

  Though the artist behind it wasn’t well known to the public, Reading’s work was. Three of his paintings graced the Royal Restaurant, once the place to dine in Boise. Those paintings are now in the Owhyee County Historical Society Museum in Murphy.

  His drawings of movie stars adorned the Egyptian and Pinney theaters. (The Pinney, arguably the nicest theater in town, was torn down in 1969. In its place is a parking lot that exists to this day at Eighth and Jefferson streets.)

   His work appeared on posters at the Western Idaho Fair and the outfield signs at Braves Field, the minor league baseball park that once stood on what is now the site of the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s headquarters in East Boise. You almost couldn’t get through a day without seeing his work somewhere.

  None of his work was ever signed. It would be all but forgotten if not for Haws’s efforts to keep that from happening. She’s created a website to make it available to view or purchase. The site is https://www.midcenturyartbyduke.com/.

  “It’s not about keeping his memory alive,” she said. “His memory is alive and well with his family. It’s about what he created. He represents the wonderful commercial artists of his time.”

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  A recent column told the story behind lost-dog fliers – hundreds of them – that have been posted in East Boise, the BSU area and along the Greenbelt.

  Daisy is a beautiful white Husky mix, belonging to Steven Moore and Kristi Bronkema. I’m sorry to report that Daisy, who has been missing since Thanksgiving, still hasn’t been found. Her owners are offering a $1,000 reward for her return. Her picture is on the fliers. If you’ve seen her or know where she is, please call them at 916 534-0774 or contact the Idaho Humane Society.

Tim Woodward’s column appears every other Sunday in The Idaho Press and is posted on woodwardblog.com the following Mondays. Contact him at woodwardcolumn@gmail.com.