I created these collages in order to capture and express, through design, these artfully created messages of an ad campaign from the 1940s - a time when "men were men" and the only thing a beautiful young woman needed in her life was the right "manly man."  But what made a man that kind of MAN? Yes, sex appeal had its natural allure as much then as now (albeit now, it is far more overtly expressed by both sexes (and even those in between) so much so that it is showcased at our every turn,  leaving no place for coyness or subtlety). But even in  those times, being the consummate gentleman alone was not enough. A man had to offer more. He needed to show demonstrate his masculinity, his sex appeal covertly so as not to run afoul of the far more conservative and rigid social mores of the time, no matter how demurely they may be expressed). So what is a young man to do, when the overt expression of his sex appeal and masculine wiles was shunned, even though without them, few if any women would find him desirable? 
 

Such a silly question to ask young man! Why simply smoking a pipe with the right tobacco is all that is required! A simple pipe is all he need wield to set him apart and from the pack of the other suitors no beautiful young lady would ever consider yielding to their advances.  This is how a real MAN  looked and acted.  This was the MAN who got the "pin up" girl he desired.  This was a MAN who had it together with all the right pieces in all the right places. That's right. With pipe in hand, he was "going places" and ready for that "big moment"... with "his" lady or any of the many other the ladies for which he pined, for now it was she that longed for he as the sultry haze of smoke cast around him showed him in a new  and most debonair light - that man of her dreams holding her in his arms and then whisking her away. Two young lovers engulfed in passion, lips intertwined, eyes locked, sparkling like the starry night.

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With a pipe in hand, packed with the right tobacco, that was the man they could be. The whole package. The men that would be bequeathed with the with whom he rightly belonged. The women of their dreams and the men of theirs. Who knew that simply smoking the right pipe with the right tobacco were, the only missing pieces for this man to become THAT MAN. The MAN that countless beautiful women wanted. That is to say that he had finally learned that the subtle art of having magnetic sex appeal could be simply had with a nice pipe tamped full of fine tobacco housed in a simple tin.  Pipe Appeal was synonymous with Sex Appeal and the only tobacco that could deliver this appeal was a pipe burning the smooth smoking tobacco that only Prince Albert can deliver. So there we have it. Thanks to the artful words and drawings of these advertisements which have been woven into new artful collage designs that bring new light and life to what would otherwise be nothing more decaying ads and rusting tobacco tins from a bygone era, destined to be forgotten. Fortunately, that is not the case.  These dented tins and the words and pictures captured on the yellowing paper that once embodied the art of advertising, , are now alive again as art. Once again speaking through our eyes, and into our minds and hearts.

. . .Such is the nature of the art and advertising.  Just as there is an art to advertising, advertising can be art and art can advertising.  Each delivering many perspectives to perceive - both separately and taken together.