Dagmar: Fashion Illustratior

Dagmar Freuchen-Gale, was a fashion illustrator for ‘Vogue’ and ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ magazines during the 1940’s and 50’s.

She was born Dagmar Muller, 1908 in Denmark. Trained as an artist in Europe, she arrived in New York in 1938 where she would later find work as a fashion illustrator. In addition to her artwork, she taught for 20 years at the Art Students League until the late 1960’s when she returned to Denmark to retire.

Her first husband was killed in the Second World War. Following that, in 1945 she was famously married to the Danish Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen. The couple is captured in a well known photo by Irving Penn with her husband wearing a massive fur costume. She lived in Connecticut from 1945 until 1963 (Freuchen had died in 1957) in a house that overlooked the sea.

In addition to being an illustrator and teacher, she was a cook who prepared exotic dishes. Dagmar wrote a cook book titled “Cookbook of the Seven Seas” in 1968. The title of this book being a parody of a piece with a similar title by Freuchen. From 1961 - 1969 she was married to New York lawyer Henry Gale. By the early 1970’s she had returned to Denmark where she lived until she passed away in 1991.

Editorial illustrations, Spring 1957

Merle Bassett: 1960's fashion illustrations

These bold and dramatic fashion illustrations were painted in the early 1960's by Merle Bassett, one of the best known illustrators of that time.  His career began in Los Angeles, studying art at Chouinard Art Institute.  He found his first job for Joseph Magnin stores in San Francisco, and later Neiman Marcus in Dallas.  He finally made his way to New York city where he would have a successful career as a fashion illustrator for several decades.

The illustration technique seen here uses strong black ink brushwork over a colored background that was brushed on first within the area, but not defining it precisely.

For more details on his fascinating career, you will want to read his own story, here.

Lilli Ann: Purple Suit, Illustration from late 1940's

Post WWII, Late 1940's, "Lilli Ann" label vintage fashion advertisement, showing the peplum jacket and dramatic silhouette that the San Francisco company was famous for.