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Masters of the Cutaway Part 2: Frank Soltesz, L. Ashwell Wood and George Zaffo

By David Seliger - December 27, 2011

in Graphic Design

In Part 1, I took a look at Hans Jenssen, a modern master of cutaway illustration. In this part, I'll spotlight two illustrators from the 1940's and 50's, back when cross-sections were the method of choice for explaining all of the war-era and post war-era technological innovations to the American public. This was the time of science and innovation, mass optimization and industrialization.

British artist L. Ashwell Wood's cross-sections of machines and factories initially appeared in Modern Wonder in 1937. He eventually drew center page cross-sections for the magazine through 1941. Apparently the British government even handed out Wood's illustrations as information leaflets during WWII!

In 1950, Wood began producing illustrations for the comic book Eagle, featuring Dan Dare, for its very first issue. Over the course of two decades, he produced hundreds of cutaways for the comic book, many of which were later collected into a series of books called Inside Information.

Where Wood dissected the inner workings of modern day machines for children and aspiring scientists, Frank Soltesz illustrated post-war industrialization for the masses. Through Batten, Barton, Durstine, & Osborn, a large advertising agency in Manhattan, Soltesz produced 29 cross-sections of factories utilizing the Armstrong Cork Co.'s products between 1947 and 1951. These illustrations appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, some even eventually making their way into encyclopedias.

Lastly, George Zaffo illustrated popular children's books in the 1950's on a whole variety of big trucks, fire engines, and airplanes. Zaffo was actually hired by my grandfather Charles Seliger, who was art director for Commercial Decal, a company that produced lenticular images and decorations for dishes.

Masters of the Cutaway
» Part 1: Hans Jenssen
» Part 2: Frank Soltesz and L. Ashell Wood
» Part 3: Yoshihiro Inomoto
» Part 4: Stephen Biesty
» Part 5: Graham Bleathman
» Part 6: Christopher & Matt Cushman
» Part 7: Richard Chasemore
» Part 8: The Das Brothers & Roger Stewart
» Part 9: Kevin Hulsey's and Steven Howard's Process

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Christopher Gray

12 years ago

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I, also, was affected by George Zaffo's illustrations - some, the nighttime ones, could be very moving. And, of course, after half a dozen illustrations it becomes apparent that he cannot - or would not - draw a human face. Census records indicate that he was born in 1916 to John and Helen Zaffo, both born in Macedonia, who arrived here in 1915. The father was a shoemaker; they lived in Bridgeport. When the younger Zaffo went into the Army in 1942, he stated he was a commercial artist, and had three years of college. Later he lived in Yonkers, and died in Tuckahoe in 1984. Around 1995, I spoke to his daughter - or perhaps another relative - who said that only dribs and drabs of his artwork had survived.
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Bernard

12 years ago

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Sorry to hear that. Thanks for the info Dave.
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Dave Seliger

12 years ago

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@Bernard - Unfortunately I don't know much more about George Zaffo other than the fact that he passed away some time ago.
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Bernard

12 years ago

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Thank you for this article. I stumble on this while searching for George J. Zaffo. I used to enjoy his illustrations in the How and Why book series.

Do you have any updates about Mr. Zaffo? Im just interested to know more about him.

Thank you.
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bladie

12 years ago

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I love this article, please also consider to feature the brothers Rudolf and Robbert Das, famous for their Science Fiction cut aways. They were very good at predicting future technologies:

http://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/1718180223/sunday-fantasy-264-giant-airliner-concept-from

http://media.photobucket.com/image/gebroeders%20das/fiatauto/AutoDas2020.png

http://www.urbansignature.nl/foto/week/week5-2.jpg

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