Uniformed Youth Group Art


Figure 1.--This portrait of an American Cub Scout was done in the modern style. Probably in the 1950s. The artist is unidentified.

HBC is unaware of many artists that have addressed youth groups. Many illustrators have provided wonderful drawings, especially of Scouting. Of course there is always the question as to just where you draw the line between an artist and illustrator. There are also some striking Hitler Youth drawings, but I am unsure as to who the illustrators were. We have just begun this section and more information will hopefully be developed.

Portraits

We note some painted portraits of boys in youth groups. These like the modernistic painting of an American Cub here (figure 1) are relatively rare. This is because of the cost. There are countless photographic portraits, but very few painted ones. Had youth groups developed earlier before the advent of photography this wuld of course have been different. These portraits are of course impages commissioned by the partents anf have nothing to do with the actual youth organization--except the boys are members. Our archieve to date includes very few such paintings, but we will add more as we find them.

Organizations

We note many illustrations done to publicize youth groups. These were in part done by the organizations to publicize their activities. This was generally the case with the Hitler Youth, the Balial, and the Young Pioneers. As a result these images present the organizations few of their program. Seen this way the images are quite instructive. This was also the case for Scouting, but with Scouting we see ollustrators who worked out of love for the organization rather than a commission from them. This work was generally illustrayions printed in magazines or as posters. More illustrations exist of Scouting than any other youth group. Norman Rockwell in America and Pierre Jobert in France have been particularly prolific, especially Jobert. They and others have profuced hundreds of illustrations depicting Scouting. There are also some striking Hitler Youth drawings, and a great deal of kitch. Many emphasize the Hitler Youth boy as a future soldier. We are not familiar with any important Young Pioneer illustrations, but surely they must have been some. We do recall a Scottish painting of the Boys' Brigade. We know less about the Young Pioneers.

Individual Illustrators

HBC is unaware of many artists that have addressed youth groups. Scout art has primarily taken the form of illustrations. Many illustrators have provided wonderful drawings, especially of Scouting. Of course there is always the question as to just where you draw the line between an artist and illustrator. It is Scouting that has been most extensively depicted in illustrations. The two most famous Scouting illustrators are the American illustrator Pierre Jobert and the French illustrator Pierre Jobert. There were also many illustrations of the Hitler Youth. I am unsure as to who the Hitler Youth illustrators were. Presumably after the War, they no longer wanted to be identified with their work. The same may be true of Young Pioneer illustrators after the collapse of Communist Governments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.







HBU







Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Chronology Pages:
[Return to the Main chronologies page]
[The 1840s] [The 1850s] [The 1860s] [The 1870s] [The 1880s] [The 1890s]
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Web Site:
[Activities] [Art] [Biographies] [Chronologies] [Countries] [Essays] [Garments] [Organizations] [Religion] [Other]
[Introduction] [Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Questions] [Unknown images]
[Boys' Uniform Home]




Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Web organizatiion pages:
[Boys' Brigade] [Camp Fire] [Hitler Youth] [National] [Pioneers] [Royal Rangers] [Scout]



Created: April 25, 2002
Last updated: May 27, 2004