Saturday, September 14, 2013

Illustrating shoes: Mary Suzuki and Andy Warhol

Mary Suzuki was an American fashion illustrator in the 1950s and 1960s. She grew up Imperial Valley, California, and studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now Art Center College of Design in Pasadena). She is best known for her work with Harpers Bazaar and Seventeen magazine and her award-winning illustration of shoes.

According to her son, when Andy Warhol first arrived in New York, he became friends with Suzuki. After looking at his portfolio, she advised him to draw shoes and helped him get a job.

Warhol took her advice and began his career as a commercial illustrator. He loved to draw shoes, and that motif remained strong in his later work. His Diamond Dust Shoes sold for $1,762,500 at Christie's in 2010.

From todaysinspiration.blogspot.com and christies.com

Mary Suzuki
todaysinspiration.blogspot.com

Mary Suzuki illustration for which she won the NY Art Directors medal

Mary Suzuki illustrations
flickr.com - AngoraSox

Andy Warhol
infashionstyle.com

Andy Warhol illustration
todaysinspiration.blogspot.com

Andy Warhol illustrations
devorahmacdonald.blogspot.com

Diamond Dust Shoes
christies.com
at

3 comments:

  1. toveSeptember 15, 2013 at 3:34 AM

    Very stylish! Her drawings are lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dana@Mid2ModSeptember 15, 2013 at 12:07 PM

      I found her influence on Andy Warhol to be quite interesting. She apparently was the guru of shoe illustration. Later in her career, she illustrated dress pattern books and covers.

      Delete
  2. UnknownApril 8, 2015 at 3:13 AM

    This is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know about this topic.

    suzuki mot & glasgow mot

    ReplyDelete