1950s Martini Cocktail Party Art Kitschy Music Drinking Dancing, ca. 1950

Today's highly touted ultra-contemporary fine art market has crashed. Why? The artist's lack of talent, concepts, and basic technical skills was overrated and, in some cases, acutely so.
This brings us to artists with abundant talent but who are off the radar. They are the overlooked, brilliant Mid-Century artists who created an original style immediately identifiable. Enter a husband-and-wife team, Naiad and Walter Einsel, who are no longer well known, but who helped invent 50's Kitsch illustration.
During their time, they were widely recognized for their warm, playful, and distinctive artistic style. The present work is a precious 50s masterpiece of concept and design. The subjects look like vibrating musical notes buzzing out of a jester's trumpet. Each portrait is carefully observed with its unique personality. The artists have made the subjects the visual equivalent of the peak moment of drinking and dancing pleasure. My favorite is the reveling woman with the Zoro mask. Both head and body are uniquely described as she takes part in the noisy festivities. Her highly stylized hand holds a martini glass perfectly. The artwork is signed by the artist's last name, Einsel, because, like contemporary illustrators Alice and Martin Provensen, they collaborated on each work. Today, the Einsel's Mid-Century advertising illustration style, with its vibrant, optimistic imagery and aspirational lifestyles, inspires the work of a host of living artists.
Unframed, Board size 20 x 14.25
Materials
Gouache on Illustration Board
12 1/2 × 9 1/2 in | 31.8 × 24.
US$14,000 Plus Shipping
Naiad and Walter Einsel ( American, 1927–2016 )

Naiad June Einsel (June 6, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – April 3, 2016 in Westport, Connecticut) was an American commercial illustrator and artist. Over the course of her career, Einsel completed artwork for magazines, newspapers, and brands. Einsel, along with husband Walter, was inducted into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame in 2008.
Biography

Einsel was born Naiad June Giblan in Philadelphia, PA in 1927. Her father owned a grocery store, where she would draw on the brown wrapping paper. She attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City, going on to attend, and graduate from Pratt Institute in 1947.
In 1952, Einsel met her future husband, Walter Einsel, when he came to CBS seeking employment, and in 1953 they married.Their similar illustration styles allowed them to work collaboratively. In the mid-1960s, the Einsels moved from their town house in New York City to an 1853 Victorian home in Westport, CT.[3] In Westport, Einsel became active in the Westport Historical Society and other local causes, including the Save Cockenoe campaign for which she designed a poster.
Career

Upon graduation from Pratt, she remained in New York City and attained a position as an assistant in the promotions department of Seventeen magazine. Her staff work at Seventeen attracted the attention of advertisers, and she began to take on freelance assignments on her nights and weekends. After a year at Seventeen, Einsel left to become an assistant to graphic designer Paul Rand at the Weintraub Agency. In 1949 her work was included in The 28th Annual Exhibition of Advertising and Editorial Art of the New York Art Directors Club at the Museum of Modern Art. After three years of working for Rand, Einsel began a job as an art director in the promotions department of CBS. While at CBS she frequently collaborated with art director Lou Dorfsman.During this period her illustration work began appearing regularly in the New York Times, and she continued to take on freelance work in addition to her duties at CBS. By the close of the 1950s, Einsel was working full-time as a freelance illustrator.

For the next three decades, Einsel continued to create artwork for a variety of clients. A partial list of magazine clients includes: Redbook, Esquire, Collier's, Look, Good Housekeeping, The Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, and Smithsonian magazine. Over the course of her career she designed album covers, movie posters, and TV commercials. Her advertising clients include M&M, Xerox, Procter & Gamble, Dubonnet, and Chase Manhattan. Naiad has also illustrated books for Doubleday, Macmillan, Random House, Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, Clarkson Potter, Reader's Digest, and Workman Press. She also designed a line of towels for Fieldcrest, dishes, ornaments, and crystal for Dansk, and games for Colorforms.

In 1973, Einsel and her husband created stamps for the U.S. Postal Service commemorating "Progress in Electronics". In 1981 she designed a second stamp for the U.S.P.S., this time a holiday stamp featuring a teddy bear on a sleigh.
Other work
For 46 years, Naiad and Walter Einsel created elaborate Valentines for one another. This project was the catalyst for a large portion of her work. Her illustrat