Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Bisquick Art of Roger Bradfield (PART ONE)

Incredibly cute artwork by Roger Bradfield highlights this Bisquick Cookbook from 1964. Apparently this collection of recipes was compiled by Betty Crocker herself in response to fan requests concerning everything from beginner's luck and old-fashioned favorites, to backyard grilling, desserts, and dishes from faraway places. As delicious as it all sounds, the real stand-out delicacies featured here (for me anyway) are the superbly stylized and rendered illustrations that always make mid century cookbook collecting so much fun! More examples from this great book coming up in our next post too-- yay!























(to be continued...)

7 comments:

  1. wow - that was a surprise!

    man those illustrations are cute! i so love the banana with the hat! but man - the kid with the plate and the lady with the tray of tube shaped items (ladyfingers???) and the kids with the sticks over the campfires - man!!!! so freaking cute!!

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  2. oh man! and the kid who's all psyched about the muffins! i love that kid!

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  3. My favorites are actually in the next batch of images-- COMING UP!!

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  4. I think the smudgy use of halftone screens is really interesting here. It's obviously some kind of judicious ink washing that was print processed, rather than zipatone spots applied by the artist. The effect is interesting, but I can only imagine that those places would all look better screened in red or something. In black, it looks like somebody left their fingerprints on all the drawings.

    My fave is the family coming in the door. I like the yellow wallpaper (and imagine this as an illustration for the short story), dad's herringbone coat, and the surprised look on the portrait. Funny stuff.

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    1. The surprised look is for the section on sudden guests popping in and how to prepare something quick and tasty from usual things you always have in your fridge or cupboard

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  5. This sort of thing is right up my alley, and I actually do use the recipes from the old cookbooks!

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  6. me too!

    high five Tempest Nightingale Le Trope!

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