To Witt; To Who?

Please excuse the dreadful pun in this blog post title. But if you thought after reading the previous blog post, that we didn't know much about Cobb X. Shinn, then prepare yourself. As I introduce you to "Witt".

That is it. Witt. We don't know their full name, sex, history, or if Witt was a pen name or not. Like Cobb Shinn, they were a prolific illustrator in the first part of the 20th century. Their name is attached to many different series of postcards, and magazine illustrations. But they, like Shinn, produced cards based around the Model T.
We can with some careful deduction and research come up with a bit more information about his work for Ford.  The imprint on the rear of the cards that I have tells that "Witt" produced a minimum of three series of cards, and each series had 10 designs. Some are labelled on the back "Ford Booster Comic", and some "Ford Comic" , others "How Lizzie keeps down the HCL" (High cost of Living).
Those marked "Ford Booster Comic show how the little T is more agile and economical than the bigger cars of the day.
The other two series are more humorous. The "Ford Comic" brand gently poke fun at the size of the car and its low cost. While the "How Lizzie keeps down the HCL"  show how a couple of "Hillbilly" farm types, called Ezra and Si, keep their costs down by using the T for all manner of tasks on their farm.
I find Witt's work more complimentary of the brand, with no references to Louse or Cockroaches,
Witt's illustrations also seem to have more depth and a cleaner style, certainly in the "Ford Booster Comic" series. On the whole I think I prefer Witt to Shinn. It's just too bad that we don't know any more about the person.

One of the "Ford Booster Comic" series. The little Ford conquers the muddy
road that the bigger car can't cope with.

In this Booster comic card the Ford heads off into the distance as the
big car is confounded by a washout

In this "Ford Comic" series card a child asks a T owner if they can spare a
wheel for his toy car, playing on the small size of the T

These two cards in the "HCL" series introduce Si and Ezra. A couple of farmers
who use the Lizzie for all manner of tasks around the farm. There other
characters in this series. But these two appear on most of them.

Who was Cobb X. Shinn?

Conrad (Cobb) X.  Shinn (1887-1951) was a prolific illustrator of the early 20th Century, yet little is known of him. I can't even find a reference as to what the X in his name stood for.
Born in rural Indiana, his family moved to Indianapolis where he learned to draw at the YMCA, and he enrolled in the Art College  in 1907. It is about this time that he started producing the postcards. Though to modern eyes his work looks flat and two dimensional and not much more than average.  This "average" illustrator provided the images for perhaps as many as 150 series of postcards in his lifetime. From Hollywood stars, and illustrating poetry to Women's suffrage.
He also produced a book "Drawing the Easy way" and did the illustrations for several Children's book of the period.
But it is his Model T postcards that interest us, for it is probably what he is best known for. In 1914 the Ford Motor Company commissioned Cobb to produce a series of postcards as a way of advertising their revolutionary new automobile. The cards would be given away by the Ford dealers of the time. It is thought he produced some 50 different cards, of varying degrees of humour. To look at some of them, you would wonder how Ford executives thought these showed the car in a positive light, confusing the car with a louse or cockroach.

This card extols the cheap price of the Model T

This is one of those cards that you wonder how the Execs thought the message a good idea.
"Louse or cockroach" is a phrase that occurs on several cards.

The Model T could cover the most severe terrain. (though if the hill was
too steep and the fuel level low you'd have to go up hill in reverse)

The goat to the right is a motif that appears in several cards.

He served in France during the First World War, it is thought painting camouflage on military vehicles. Though that is not confirmed.

Upon his return from the war, he found the demand for postcards on the wane so he turned to producing clipart and illustrating children's books. 

Other than that, there's not much to tell about Conrad Shinn. Perhaps one day we'll find out more.