Many artists in the early and mid-20th century threw themselves into entertainment, but some made room for more educational and informative works and achieved even greater success that way. One of those artists is Frank Soltesz, known for his industrial cutaway illustrations that show us how large facilities work, how materials like rubber or rayon are manufactured, how food is processed, and how it is sold on a large scale.
A career in industrial illustration
Particularly active between the 1930s and 1960s, Frank Soltesz spent a good part of his career working for the advertising agency BBD&O (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn). His most important works were developed thanks to Armstrong's Industrial Insulations (today part of the Specialty Products & Insulation Co.), a company dedicated to manufacturing insulating material. The total number of works is 29, and they were published by the Saturday Evening Post between 1947 and 1951. The gallery we will share below contains 23 of those drawings. I will try to track down the rest, but if you have any information, feel free to share it.
Gallery: 23 illustrations of modern life
Source: Moments of the Past
