This is brillaint stuff. The tension betwen artistic ambition and commercial clarity really comes through here. I ran into similar catalogs from that era while researching vintage gear, and it always struck me how Nieman's style seemed to prioritize vibe over actual product details. Coaches probably had no clue what they were actually ordering until it showed up.
Maybe people understood how it basically looked and just needed to know what it was made of? I am frequently looking at fielders gloves and actual footballs thinking, how did they choose??
Understood. Nowadays we access images easily and can change colors and stripes while making our selections, but they did not have that access. They probably thought they were making a statement, but....
I agree with Neural Foundry's earlier comment about the tension between artistic ambition and commercial clarity. This style of illustration was all the rage around this time, but its beauty really comes out in more abstract pieces - which do not lend themselves to a catalog that by necessity has to (at least somewhat accurately) show product specifics. Still, there's an understated beauty to these pages as they are a great example of how deeply this art style permeated the sports psyche at the time.
This is brillaint stuff. The tension betwen artistic ambition and commercial clarity really comes through here. I ran into similar catalogs from that era while researching vintage gear, and it always struck me how Nieman's style seemed to prioritize vibe over actual product details. Coaches probably had no clue what they were actually ordering until it showed up.
Exactly. The stripes pages are much more traditional, which you’ll see in a few days.
Maybe people understood how it basically looked and just needed to know what it was made of? I am frequently looking at fielders gloves and actual footballs thinking, how did they choose??
Understood. Nowadays we access images easily and can change colors and stripes while making our selections, but they did not have that access. They probably thought they were making a statement, but....
I agree with Neural Foundry's earlier comment about the tension between artistic ambition and commercial clarity. This style of illustration was all the rage around this time, but its beauty really comes out in more abstract pieces - which do not lend themselves to a catalog that by necessity has to (at least somewhat accurately) show product specifics. Still, there's an understated beauty to these pages as they are a great example of how deeply this art style permeated the sports psyche at the time.