Scratchboard line illustrations based on vintage automobile hood ornaments (mascots).
BRONZE BEAR
1925, Charles Paillet
The first automobile hood ornaments - known as mascots - scarcely resemble today's sleek and aerodynamic emblems. Bound only by the artists' imaginations and the whimsy of those who commissioned them, mascots took on myriad shapes and forms. This standing grizzly bear was designed by a noted French Anamalier sculptor best known for his naturalistic animal busts.
SPIRIT OF ECSTASY
1911, Charles Robinson Sykes
Inspired by a secret and ill-fated love affair, the Spirit of Ecstasy was commissioned by automotive pioneer Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to honor his mistress, Eleanor. Four years after she posed for the sculpture, the couple were traveling aboard the SS Persia when it was torpedoed by a German submarine. Montagu survived. Eleanor, tragically, did not.
PATHFINDER PIERROT
1919, Maurice Guiraud-Riviere
Best known as the original "sad clown", Pierrot is the famously naive and trusting mime character from French theatre whose heart was broken when his true love, Columbine, left him for Harlequin. Many custom car mascots depicted obscure literary and historical characters. In this sculpture, Pierrot is shown lighting his way with a Japanese lantern.
BULLDOG MACK
1932, Alfred Fellows Masury
Originally carved from a bar of soap by Mack's chief engineer while recovering from an operation, the Bulldog Mack is the official mascot of Mack Trucks. The auto company earned its nickname and trademark during World War 1, when British soldiers approvingly remarked that the durable, blunt-nosed American trucks had "the tenacity of a bulldog."
RACING DRIVER
1920, H. Muller
The first great automobile race was the Parisian-Bordeaux-Paris race of 1895. Emile Levassor finished first, traveling the 732-mile course in a brisk 48 hours and 48 minutes - an average speed of 15 mph. He was disqualified, however, for driving a two-seater, and first prize was given to a four-seater arriving a mere 11 hours later.
Client: SER Steak + Spirits (Hilton Anatole, Dallas, TX)
Agency: O&H Brand Design
Creative Director: Brian Owens
Designer: Heather Clark
Illustrator: Roger Xavier
Photographer: John Wong