Certainly one of the main reasons why collectors are drawn to the advertising of The Coca-Cola Company is the beautiful artwork produced by some of the country's top artists working for the best advertising agencies. For the most part, these artists remain unnamed, sort of the “unsung” heroes of Coca-Cola collectors. Of course the big names like Rockwell, Sundblum, Wyeth, and Stanley have become part of the vocabulary of collectors. Most of the other artists who produced this beautiful art are unfamiliar to the majority of the collecting community.
Collectors should understand the process that went into the production of this art. One of the most common misconceptions is that The Coca-Cola Company itself produced the art in Atlanta. But the truth is that advertising agencies around the country produced the art, hired models, put complete campaigns together, contracted with printing companies for production, and in many cases actually shipped advertising material to local bottlers. The models who appear on this beautiful art were hired by, and worked for, the artist or advertising company.
The process of developing an advertising campaign and the art needed to accomplish it was straightforward. Account executives from an advertising company like Snyder & Black, who produced for many years the quality pieces that we all search for, would travel to Atlanta to meet with The Coca-Cola Company's advertising department. These meetings would result in ideas from both sides, outlining the campaign or needs for the following year's advertising. With this outline in hand, the agency would direct artists as to what was needed. Copywriters would fill in the blank spaces and create slogans, newspaper and magazine ad copy, billboards — whatever needed words. In some cases the advertising for a campaign focused on a particular piece of art or a slogan. The image of the Sprite Boy and the slogan “Refresh Yourself” are perfect examples. The art itself was not created in its finished form; rough or conceptual art was first created that could be reviewed and changes suggested to meet the requirements of the particular campaign.
With rough art and strategy complete, artists would then create composition art or “comps,” which were refined pieces of rough art, usually pencil drawings and watercolor. The composition art, along with copy, slogans, and campaign strategy, was then taken back to Atlanta for another meeting. Approvals, rejections, and changes to numerous pieces of art and copy resulted in a fine-tuning of the campaign. The approved comps were then returned to the artists to create final art. In many cases, artists were chosen for their particular specialty. The importance of the distinctive bottle and how it appeared on the final piece of art was of the utmost importance. Often the bottle or six-pack carton was added afterwards by another artist who specialized in this area.
Over the years, The Coca-Cola Company became interested in particular artists and requested their work. They included favorites like Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Fred Mizen, and Fredric Stanley, who could produce artwork that The Coca-Cola Company felt best captured the image or look that they wanted presented to the buying public.
One of these artists — probably the best known to Coca-Cola collectors — was Haddon Sundblum. His art, like the legendary image of Santa Claus, was the epitome of what The Coca-Cola Company felt their product stood for — the wholesome all-American, “just-plain-folks” look that made people feel good. Sundblum had a special relationship with the company that seemed to go way beyond the advertising agency, as letters and records between Sundblum and The Coca-Cola Company indicate. And, for good reason, Sundblum's images on the beautiful advertising that The Coca-Cola Company used not only impresses us as collectors, but in many cases was the model for advertising used throughout America during that period.
How is this artwork identified to a particular artist? Well, it is not easy, as you may already realize. Most of the art was unsigned, or the signature does not appear on the finished (printed) piece for a simple reason. Artists usually didn't consider advertising art their intended vocation. It was, however, a dependable and reliable source of income — much more reliable than painting a beautiful portrait of a woman and selling it through a gallery, for example. In simple terms, it was a paycheck, and if an artist was good, it was usually a very attractive paycheck. Most artists, however, were not thrilled with working on a schedule or painting an image that was required and not “created.” As with most of the creative community, deadlines, pre-arranged work, daily work schedules and constant changes does not fit well with an artist's lifestyle. Signing a piece of art was not that important to them, or in many cases just did not fit in with the image, and it was removed during the printing process. Normally, a signature by a well-known artist like Norman Rockwell would not be removed, but even art that Rockwell produced for Coca-Cola can be found unsigned.
Gillett (Gil) Elvgren, one of my favorite artists, produced many pieces of art for Coca-Cola. With very few exceptions, his signature does not appear on finished pieces. He is also almost unknown in the Coca-Cola collectors community, but remains one of the most well-known and accomplished pinup artists of all time, with his signature appearing on almost all the pinup art he produced. Elvgren's first love was pinup art — that slightly naughty, beautiful girl next door artwork that adorned calendars mainly seen in bars, auto supply stores, and gas stations. This was artwork that you would not associate with The Coca-Cola Company. Elvgren was actually a student of Sundblum. He admired him, worked with him, and actually copied his style — so much so, in fact that for reasons that I will not go into here, he used to complete unfinished paintings produced by Sundblum.
Elvgren's style made a complete change in the late 1940s. The style was not a subtle change, but rather a dramatic one that also included a change in his signature. Elvgren was one of the main pinup artists for the Brown & Bigelow Company and, in my opinion, with his style change became one of the greatest “pinup” artists of all time. Elvgren also worked for Snyder & Black in the 1950s doing some of his best work, with only a few pieces actually showing his signature. It has become a real challenge for me and others to distinguish an unsigned piece of Coca-Cola art as an Elvgren or a Sundblum. Gil Elvgren died in 1980, but he will live forever through the beautiful artwork he produced over the years. Unfortunately, he is among the group of unsung heroes of the wonderful world of Coca-Cola memorabilia and the history of this great company.
Original artwork, including sketches, comps, rough art, and original oil paintings are among the most desirable and prestigious of all Coca-Cola memorabilia — as well as being the most valuable — with paintings by Rockwell, Sundblum, Wyeth, and others going for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But those are the exceptions, not the rule. Quality original art has changed hands for hundreds of dollars and in the thousands for original paintings.
Values on original art are based on the individual piece, but I can give you some guidelines regarding how valuable a particular piece may be. The first and most important piece would be an original oil painting of a “recognizable” image, signed by a well-known artist. Less value is given if the artist is unknown, much less if it is an unheard of artist. “Recognizable” art is an image that was actually used as an advertising piece, and can be identified, like a cardboard sign or calendar. Next would be a recognizable piece of art that remains unsigned. (The difference between signed and unsigned art could be thousands of dollars.) And, finally, a piece that is not recognizable and is unsigned would certainly be desirable, but not in the high dollar range. Sketches or rough art and comps are much more common, but are still prized pieces in any collection. For the most part, however, original art — and in particular an original painting — remains only a dream piece for even the most advanced Coca-Cola collectors.
The following is only a partial list of the many talented artists who created advertising art for The Coca-Cola Company. Because so much of this art remains unsigned, and the names of most were only known by the advertising agencies that hired them, this list will never be complete.