Witnesses brush ready wall dogs
A Yugoslavian immigrant photographs turn-of-the-century New York facade advertisements
A Yugoslavian immigrant photographs New York facade advertisements from the turn of the centuryBy Thérèse Balduzzi Old advertisements painted on building facades are as much a part of New York's cityscape as the fire escapes and the water tanks above the rooftops. For three years, Yugoslav immigrant Sava Mitrovich has been searching for them with his camera. Part of his rich documentation is currently on display at the Municipal Art Society in New York and is scheduled to be published in book form in the near future.
Scarred by the weather, which only adds to their charm, most painted ads promote companies and products that have long since ceased to exist, such as Omega Oil, Goodall Rubber Products, or Milo Electronics. Out of sheer carelessness, they have survived for half or a century.
Some only reappear because an attached house is demolished. Removed from their useful context, their artistic elements gain in importance and enrich the cityscape as decoration and as witnesses of advertising history.
On the road as a housing inspector in the Big Apple
For the past three years, Sava Mitrovich has been documenting the work of the "wall dogs," as the painters of the advertisements used to be called. "The ads have a life of their own and are always changing," Mitrovich says, "They add something romantic to the urban environment and remind me of the pentimenti, the subtle images among the early church frescoes, as I remember them from my childhood in Yugoslavia."
Sava Mitrovich was born in Belgrade and studied engineering and shipbuilding before moving to Paris in 1965 to study art at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1969 he emigrated to New York and worked in the film industry as a set cleaner and camera assistant.
Since 1988, he has been a project manager for the New York Housing Preservation and Development Department - a kind of historic preservation. Thanks to this job, he knows every corner of New York and always encounters more painted ads on his way to inspect houses. "I'm always on the lookout for special details and nuances that painters had given to the signs," Mitrovich says of his expeditions. He studied photography at the School of Visual Arts and the Maine Photographic Workshop.
New York counts the most contemporary witnesses of the "Wall Dogs"
At the turn of the century, almost every store, hotel or restaurant had an advertisement painted on its facade. Especially for manufacturers of consumer goods such as Coca-Cola, they were considered the option of large-scale outdoor advertising at the time. They had prestige and were profitable.
New York therefore has one of the highest concentrations of these contemporary witnesses. From today's perspective, the advertisements often come across as heartwarmingly naive: they encourage passersby to polish their shoes to look decent, they urge people to go to the movies as a remedy for depression, or they urge people to buy a bottle of Omega Oil for ten cents to cure their stiff joints and aching muscles.
Today's version of large-scale outdoor advertising appears on huge sheets of vinyl netting that cover entire building facades: a technique developed in 1990 makes it possible to print digital images onto large rolls of the material, which is then attached to house walls. The images meet the need for fast-moving advertising motifs and campaigns, and can be quickly produced, put up and taken down again. Because they cover houses completely - even windows, for which apartment owners get paid - they are controversial.
Painted ads can still be seen in the USA
Ads are being painted less and less frequently. Exceptions are individual small stores or the "Player's Navy Cut" cigarette campaign that Leo Burnett Chicago designed for Philip Morris four years ago: On the cigarette logos painted on various house walls in New York and other cities, some bricks were intentionally left out to recreate the nostalgic charm of the old advertisements.
Also on Houston Street in Greenwich Village are new hand-painted ads for Stolichnaya vodka and Casio watches. Unlike the old ads, which were mostly just lettering, but the new ones mostly reproduce larger formats of the print ads running at the same time and images of the products.
Despite the nostalgic feelings Mitrovich and his wife have for the "Wall Dogs" displays, they oppose preserving them as historic landmarks. "It would destroy their whole character," explains Linda Cooper Bowen, Mitrovich's wife.
"Wall Dogs" are adventurers, artists and acrobats
Mitrovich still knows some of the old guard of "wall dogs" personally. Most of them have trained in the arts and spent years of their lives on scaffolding at dizzying heights. Cooper Bowen says they are an unusual species, a mix of adventurers, artists and acrobats. "They rave about working dozens of feet above the ground somewhere in Times Square on a blustery day in the middle of winter, which would be a horror for anyone else," she says with admiration.
The task of the "Wall Dogs" often included not only painting, but also the layout and production of the paint. Until the forties, they mixed pigments with white lead paste and linseed oil. The lead is probably responsible for the longevity of the signs, but highly toxic.
Currently, Sava Mitrovich and Linda Cooper Bowen are working on a book for which she is writing the texts. They plan to search for old facade advertisements in other cities in the USA and include them in the book.
"Art of the Wall Dogs: The Painted Signs of Yesteryear," Municipal Art Society, 457 Madison Avenue and 51st Street, Mon-Sat, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., through April 29.
Scarred by the weather, which only adds to their charm, most painted ads promote companies and products that have long since ceased to exist, such as Omega Oil, Goodall Rubber Products, or Milo Electronics. Out of sheer carelessness, they have survived for half or a century.
Some only reappear because an attached house is demolished. Removed from their useful context, their artistic elements gain in importance and enrich the cityscape as decoration and as witnesses of advertising history.
On the road as a housing inspector in the Big Apple
For the past three years, Sava Mitrovich has been documenting the work of the "wall dogs," as the painters of the advertisements used to be called. "The ads have a life of their own and are always changing," Mitrovich says, "They add something romantic to the urban environment and remind me of the pentimenti, the subtle images among the early church frescoes, as I remember them from my childhood in Yugoslavia."
Sava Mitrovich was born in Belgrade and studied engineering and shipbuilding before moving to Paris in 1965 to study art at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1969 he emigrated to New York and worked in the film industry as a set cleaner and camera assistant.
Since 1988, he has been a project manager for the New York Housing Preservation and Development Department - a kind of historic preservation. Thanks to this job, he knows every corner of New York and always encounters more painted ads on his way to inspect houses. "I'm always on the lookout for special details and nuances that painters had given to the signs," Mitrovich says of his expeditions. He studied photography at the School of Visual Arts and the Maine Photographic Workshop.
New York counts the most contemporary witnesses of the "Wall Dogs"
At the turn of the century, almost every store, hotel or restaurant had an advertisement painted on its facade. Especially for manufacturers of consumer goods such as Coca-Cola, they were considered the option of large-scale outdoor advertising at the time. They had prestige and were profitable.
New York therefore has one of the highest concentrations of these contemporary witnesses. From today's perspective, the advertisements often come across as heartwarmingly naive: they encourage passersby to polish their shoes to look decent, they urge people to go to the movies as a remedy for depression, or they urge people to buy a bottle of Omega Oil for ten cents to cure their stiff joints and aching muscles.
Today's version of large-scale outdoor advertising appears on huge sheets of vinyl netting that cover entire building facades: a technique developed in 1990 makes it possible to print digital images onto large rolls of the material, which is then attached to house walls. The images meet the need for fast-moving advertising motifs and campaigns, and can be quickly produced, put up and taken down again. Because they cover houses completely - even windows, for which apartment owners get paid - they are controversial.
Painted ads can still be seen in the USA
Ads are being painted less and less frequently. Exceptions are individual small stores or the "Player's Navy Cut" cigarette campaign that Leo Burnett Chicago designed for Philip Morris four years ago: On the cigarette logos painted on various house walls in New York and other cities, some bricks were intentionally left out to recreate the nostalgic charm of the old advertisements.
Also on Houston Street in Greenwich Village are new hand-painted ads for Stolichnaya vodka and Casio watches. Unlike the old ads, which were mostly just lettering, but the new ones mostly reproduce larger formats of the print ads running at the same time and images of the products.
Despite the nostalgic feelings Mitrovich and his wife have for the "Wall Dogs" displays, they oppose preserving them as historic landmarks. "It would destroy their whole character," explains Linda Cooper Bowen, Mitrovich's wife.
"Wall Dogs" are adventurers, artists and acrobats
Mitrovich still knows some of the old guard of "wall dogs" personally. Most of them have trained in the arts and spent years of their lives on scaffolding at dizzying heights. Cooper Bowen says they are an unusual species, a mix of adventurers, artists and acrobats. "They rave about working dozens of feet above the ground somewhere in Times Square on a blustery day in the middle of winter, which would be a horror for anyone else," she says with admiration.
The task of the "Wall Dogs" often included not only painting, but also the layout and production of the paint. Until the forties, they mixed pigments with white lead paste and linseed oil. The lead is probably responsible for the longevity of the signs, but highly toxic.
Currently, Sava Mitrovich and Linda Cooper Bowen are working on a book for which she is writing the texts. They plan to search for old facade advertisements in other cities in the USA and include them in the book.
"Art of the Wall Dogs: The Painted Signs of Yesteryear," Municipal Art Society, 457 Madison Avenue and 51st Street, Mon-Sat, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., through April 29.
