Festivity, Webster Cigars advertisement 1944

Edwin Georgi made this ad for Webster Cigars, and what strikes me first is the graphic directness, it's as if the artist is making decisions as they go along. The colour palette is also interesting; it's bright without being garish. You can almost feel the grain of the paper, and the way the colours have been built up. The paint is thin, translucent, and you can see the marks. Look at the foregrounded airman, and the way the blue of his uniform bleeds into the background. It's as if the artist is playing with the tension between representation and abstraction. There's a real conversation happening here between the artist and the materials. And it reminds me a little of Milton Avery, he was equally adept at creating depth and dimension with an economy of means. Ultimately, Georgi's ad is an invitation to slow down, look closely, and embrace the many possibilities of art.