Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-03-21
PAINTING BIG SIGNS.
ARTISTS WHO DEVOTE THEIR TALL
EMIT TO ADVERTISING PURPOSES. ;

NN-W."
Some OF. Them Have Had Years of
Training In Drawing and Color
Work, and Some Have Studied In
Famous Old World Ateliers.
Although the vivid advertisements Of
the excellences Of foods, ointments,
clothing, all mechanical appliances
known to man and a thousand other
things never dreamed Of in the philoso-
ply of a hundred years ago are contin-
ually catching the eye and possibly
shocking the artistic sensibilities Of the
beholder, few of the ordinary observers
give a moments question to the max
ers Of advertisements. The advertis-
ing craze has grown Of late to such
huge and unlcvely proportions that any
brief account fails to explain it's work
lngs. The office Of a large advertising
concern is one of the busiest places in
town. Artists are constantly appear
ing with designs for the firm, a small
army Of men with paint pots and brush
es are lowering about waiting to be
sent out, and everywhere are gay evil
dences of the results of all this labor.
"Who are the men that paint these
heroic pictures sees on unused
walls and lofty fences" asked a re-
these su~bordinates busy.
"They are not the people you think
them, 1 fancy" was the answer. en-
stead Of being daubers, with about the
ability necessary to WELD a whitewash
brush, our best men are real artists.
By this I mean that many of them
have had years Of training in drawing
and color work. Several of them have
studied abroad in the ateliers of we'll
known men. A man whom I saw paint
ing a head on a wall yesterday is a
night instructor in a Brooklyn art
school. Recently n Of our men paint
ed on a large wall the biggest portrait
ever attempted. He had studied five
years in the Paris art schools"
"Why do they take up this work?"
"The other doesn't pay. It's a case
Of tcommercialism in art They find
that they can't make the real thing
pay, SO they come to this common
calling. There's money in 1t. Why,
u star painters get $50 q week. The
daubers, who put in backgrounds,
don't earn more than $40 or SIS a
week."
The men who paint the designs in
various inaccessible and conspicuous
places have with them small copies
Of the designs to be reproduced. Long
experience makes them expert in &C.
curately tracing the design upon the
chosen surface. Although the familiar
advertisements scattered oyer the city
seem exactly alike and one face seems
the exact counterpart Of another, yet
closer inspection will show various
points Of difference. In the case of a
very familiar picture which is display
ed from one end Of the United States
to the other, when it was first brought
out one man was hired for the sole
purpose Of painting that one design,
and to do this he travelled from Maine
to California.
"Not the least Of our difficulties
said the advertising man, els finding
places to put our signs. We hire men
who do nothing else but go about and
obtain permission from owners to put
up billboards on their premises, use
a vacant wall or decorate q fence or a
roof. 1t needs great tact to do this.
When there are objections, they must
be overcome, and after this Is done
the owner often gets the idea that his
available space is worth thousands Of
dollars to us and to him. The expe-
riences Of advertising men among
farmers and tramps would make a
mighty interesting book"
why do you say trampsT
"Oh, the tramps are our worst enc
mics. They build fires behind our
biiIboards and burn them or else tear
them down out Of sheer wantonness."
When asked about the price a blank
brick wall in a conspicuous part of
New York would bring to- its ownaE if