Quoted from dmarston:I think this artist did: Bongo, Sky Divers, 2 in 1, Big Day, Harvest/Hayride, Bullfight, Sheba (as qualified above), Discotek, Trio, Blue Ribbon, and maybe others.
Hi David,
Thanks for chiming in. This topic is one that occupies my thoughts, as artists, history, pinball, and the intersection of those three, interest me a great deal. To that end, I thought I'd throw my two cents in here. First, for some context, I'll list the assumed titles chronologically:
Chronology
Bongo: Project Date - January 22, 1963
Sky Divers: Project Date - February 05, 1964
2 in 1: Project Date - May 02, 1964
Big Day: Project Date - May 28, 1964
Bullfight: Project Date - October 24, 1964
Harvest/Hay-Ride: Project Date - August/Sept, 1964
Sheba: Project Date - December 23, 1964
Discotek: Project Date - May 21, 1965
Trio: Project Date: July 27, 1965
Blue Ribbon: Project Date - August 25, 1965
Then I'll go through them alphabetically (in order to more easily locate titles) to discuss my thoughts:
- 2 in 1: I would agree. There's a high probability 2 in 1 and Hay-Ride were done by the same artist. I did a comparison shot of the Hay-Ride and 2-in-1 faces a while back, which looked like this:
comp.jpg
...and a small write-up, which went like this:
Quoted from RyanClaytor:Both Hay-Ride and 2 in 1 are done by uncredited artists, so we'll likely never know. However, artists will usually have sort of a signature style to their faces/people. I've heard suggestions that Hay-Ride might be done by other known artists in pinball of the time, but I'm not convinced. However, if you look at 2 in 1's females next to those of Hay-Ride:
21HayComp.jpg
...from where I'm standing, I'd say there's a definite possibility. The eyes of the "2 in 1" queen on the left look really similar to those of the brunette from "Hay-Ride", as do the noses, the poofy, sketchy bangs and the way the hair flows. Granted, the Hay-Ride gals had more room on the playfield for this mystery artist to get a little more detailed (with the multiple colors for shines in the hair and shadows on the faces), but I'd say there's a high chance these two games shared an artist. Just my opinion, though.
Still wish I knew who this artist was, though.
I'd also say that, while this is likely another piece in the Bally mystery artist's portfolio, I'd argue it's not one of his strongest. The composition seems far less environmentally conceived (like Hay-Ride/Harvest or Sheba), and more small elements scattered around the playfield.
- Band Wagon: You may have noticed this was absent from the chronology listed above. I am going to respectfully disagree on this one.
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The female faces and body postures on this look too stiff and identical to be the Bally mystery artist. They look more like a Stenholm face than a mystery artist face. Look at the fluid body postures on Hay-Ride and compare those to the manikin-esque, staccato, poses on the Band Wagon backglass. If I were writing a pinball history book, I would not include this title in the mystery artist's oeuvre.
-Big Day: Wow. This is an interesting playfield...
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...and I would agree with you quite readily on this title. I talk a lot about the Bally mystery artist's "environmentally conceived" playfields in which s/he transforms the whole layout into a singular environment. No doubt that's been done here. The faces are hard to compare because 1) a lot of them have masks on and 2) they're a lot smaller in scale than many of her/his other more recognizable works (Bullfight, Hay-Ride, Sheba). But just look at everything that's artistically crammed into the bottom 1/3 of that playfield: an arc of 9 full-sized inserts, 14 separate faces, and several figures IN ADDITION TO A CARRIAGE! *phew* So, while the clothing and faces aren't as detailed as we might be accustom to seeing, I call scale on this one and would happy concede this as the Bally mystery artist's work.
-Blue Ribbon: This playfield is a difficult one to make a judgement call on. It's basically littered with inserts that were illustrated into a giant shield:
BlueRibbonPF.jpg
...not much room for illustration, but there's a goodly amount of plant life strewn about, which the Bally mystery artist seemed to fancy, and that big plastic in the upper left has a well illustrated female, so I could get on board with this being a mystery artist work. The backglass also used that uncommon metallic gold ink that was also seen on Sheba and Trio. Not to mention the garments worn by the figures are either flowing or a lot of attention was paid to the ruffles...which also seem to be present on mystery artist work. Not my favorite work by the guy/gal, but this is likely their work.
-Bongo: I'd probably agree on this one, too:
Playfield (resized).jpg
That playfield is an abomination of color fields and concentric circles, the likes of Christian Marche's work at Williams in the 70's. Yeesh. With that said, the lower plastics have that distinctive interest in flora, and some gorgeous figurative work on the upper plastics complete with detailed and flowing clothing. The backglass has more of the same things I just mentioned, so, this is a likely candidate.
-Bullfight: Hecks. Yes. Look at those giant figures on the bottom of the playfield, like you'd see in Hay-Ride/Harvest and Sheba, a couple games I feel as though are PREH-TEE unquestionably the same artist.
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Also, there are a healthy number of similar elements in the figures' faces, many of which I listed in the 2-in-1 description.
- Discotek: This one is really tough for me. On one hand, you have that playfield, which doesn't have much in the way of figurative subjects, so that's a tough call.
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Really, it doesn't tell us much. So I'll give a big shrug to the pf. The backglass, however, is another tough call. It has a number of figures to compare, but there are elements that make me think...MAYBE THAT'S THE ARTIST! ...and other elements that make me think, not a chance.
- Maybe that's the artist! 1) The faces look pretty accomplished, 2) the postures, by in large, have more implied movement to them, as you would see in Hay-Ride, 3) There's that characteristic hair-with-volume that the artist is so great at.
~However~
- Not a chance! 1) Occasionally the postures will appear uncharacteristically awkward, this guy for example...
discotek.jpg
...what in the world is going on with his legs. I mean, I like to dance and I understand a good ole' fashion James Brown "HIT MEH!!!" punctuated by a sweet spin-move, but this ain't it. Also, a pose like this...
discotek2.jpg
Feels so much more forced than the fluid, relaxed, motion found on the Hay-Ride playfield...ESPECIALLY since Discotek had a production date AFTER Hay-Ride. Typically artists get better over time, not worse. Also in the "Not a chance" category,
2) There's this slightly feminine quality to the men's faces on the mystery artist's work. There's sort of a lipstick look to those guys on Hay-Ride and a slightly softer feel. This is one I can chalk-up to experiential learning (maybe the artist told the colorist to pull back on the male lip-gloss or maybe there was a different colorist who colored this in such a flat/bland way, but all this struck me as...different.
Ultimately, I'd put this one firmly in the maybe category.
-Sheba: If ever there was a "hell yeah", this playfield is it. Huge figures. Accomplished faces and bodies. Fluid/relaxed postures. Environmentally conceived layout (just look at those extended trees moving up the playfield to the star-lit sky on the plastics...*gasp*).
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In my eyes, this is unquestionably the Bally mystery artist and in my humble estimation, I'd rank it as his second-best playfield illustration...VERY VERY close to that of Hay-Ride. The backglass, however (as mentioned before), I wholely believe is done by another artist. I even showed this to my PhD Art Historian wife and without prompting she immediately thought the same thing. We also have this in our collection now (as of a couple days ago) so I feel like I can speak to this title with even more certainty.
- Sky Divers: Figures are passable and more recognizable on the backglass than the playfield, but I think the title actually gives this one away. There's this uniquely mystery artist quality to the fat, san-serif, block letters, the interior string of...SOMETHING (diamonds, squiggles, whatever) running inside the letterforms, and slight drop shadow that makes me think, sure, this was probably another mystery artist package:
skydivers.jpg
hay-ride.jpg
- Trio: I'd put this one in the "Probably" category. It doesn't scream out "YES!" to me like Bullfight, Hay-Ride, and Sheba do, but there are more check marks in my "probably" category than "probably not".
Probably Not: Playfield, again, is not environmentally conceived but rather haphazardly composed, but I understand it doesn't have to be every time (deadlines, motivation, etc)...so...maybe. Instruments get kind of flat/two-dimensional:
trio.jpg
trio2.jpg
Not to mention, the backglass seems awfully sparse. Just a huge field of blue with some flat gold up top and flat vertical rainbow bars flanking that.
trioBG.jpg
Probably: On the backglass you'll find accomplished and detailed clothing/drapery, full-flowing hair, similar construction of facial features that you would find on games in the "YES!" column, and even use of metalic gold on the backglass...which is sort of a rare use of color (in my experience) and one that is found on the Sheba playfield.
Holt, MI
Vancouver, BC
