This richly colored, large, and dazzling mid-century illustration is a likely interior illustration for Redbook magazine (a publication for which Edwin Georgi worked frequently) and is a defining example by the gifted and inventive artist and illustrator. Painting has been signed by the artist in the lower left corner and is nicely matted and framed behind glass in a light wood frame.
In this fabulous gouache on board rendering two glamorous Georgi Girls enjoy cocktails with their suitors in an intimate setting amidst plush couches and greenery. Both women would appear to only have eyes for the dapper, smoking playboy to the right leaving the other man left of field, as a fourth (and unnecessary) wheel who has literally been edged out of the picture by both the artist and by the women’s lack of attention to him. Georgi was adept at creating images deep in nuance and innuendo and used a unique almost surreal color palette that set him apart from his contemporaries.
Edwin Georgi is an illustrator best known for his depictions of women.
He was studying civil engineering at Princeton when World War I broke out. After serving as a pilot in the U. S. Air Force during the war, Georgi accepted his first job doing paste-ups in an advertising agencys art department and began his practical training as an artist.
His early illustrations were for advertisers. Over the years, he did a number of notable series for such clients as Hartford Fire Insurance, Crane Paper Co., Hockanum Woolens, and Yardley & Co.
Georgis ability to depict beautiful women and sumptuous settings also brought him story manuscripts: he was soon illustrating for most of the national magazines, including Womans Home Companion, Redbook, McCalls, Cosmopolitan, The Ladies Home Journal, and The Saturday Evening Post. His use of color was lavish and dramatic, giving his pictures great impact on the printed page.
(Information on the biography above is based on writings from the book, “The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980,” A Century of Illustrators, by Walt and Roger Reed.)
