the [normal] sign
DESCRIPTION
A look at hand painted signage in Detroit, MI from over the past 50 years and today.TRANSCRIPT
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Image Left : Hopps Hardware ghost sign (ca. 1950) and Sponge
Bob Square Pant s (ca. 2009) share a wall in Detroit , MI1
Photograph taken May 5, 2010
[Normal] SignDetroit’s Painted Supergraphic
Ben Rambadt
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[Ghost] SignDetroit’s Painted Past
Image Right : Honor Bright Ghost Sign
(ca. 1920). Downtown Detroit , MI2
Photograph taken December 19, 2010
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Image Right : Goodrich Ser vice Station
(ca. 1940) Downtown Detroit , MI.4
Photograph taken July 24, 2010
They are the wall signs of a lost civilization—America’s early supergraphics. These signs speak of another time, the infancy of American advertising.”3
“
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In the late 19th century and first half of
the 20th century Ghost Signs took off when
the development of cities escalated and
vacant sides of buildings were prime spots
for ads. Prior to and after the development
of the roadside billboard, hand-painted
advertisements were the most effective and
logical way to expose a company’s logo to the
public consumer. Large corporations would
commission and send out talented artists,
who were skilled chemists and daredevils, to
take on the job of traveling around the city
and countryside to paint large format ads on
commissioned buildings . Not only had these
signs created an image for companies, they
also provided employment, unique ways of
utilizing architecture, and subconsciously
printed a history of Detroit that has lasted to
today.
The Early Painted Ad
Image Right : Woodward Avenue
Detroit , MI (ca. 1910).5
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Atlas Furniture Company
Gratiot Ave. Detroit , MI (ca. 1930)6
Photograph taken Januar y 16, 2010
Har tz Building Ghost Sign
Detroit , MI (ca. 1930)7
Photograph taken June 16, 2010
6 7
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Corner For t St . near Ambassador Bridge
Detroit , MI (ca. 1935)8
Photograph taken July 31, 2008
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The people who worked for the large companies during the heydays of
hand painted advertisements were called “Wall Dogs” or “Letterheads”.
Work was a combination of grunt, chemistry, and art; giving Wall Dogs
their own unique character of being rough yet skilled artists. Most of
the men doing this job had backgrounds in the arts from either aca-
demia or from being an apprentice. The first couple of years on the job
a painter would not even paint a sign, they would stand back, watch
the master-painter, and learn the trade as a handed-down skill. This
method of learning is still being used today by the larger sign painting
companies that still remain in the United States.
The Wall Dogs would travel around the city with their paint kits to
commissioned wall spaces, working as quickly as possible to get one
sign painted per day. Then they would camp over night in a makeshift
shelter or hotel and move on to the next location early in the morning.
These artists would be gone from home for months at a time, improv-
ing their skill and creating images of America’s past.
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Wrigley’s Double Mint Gum (ca. 1910)
Wall Dogs with scaffolding9
Photograph taken May 31, 2009
Image Right : Two people painting
sign on scaffolding. (ca. 1940)10
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...Detroit ghost ads become a part of the local landscape...”12
Image Left : Carhar tt Ghost Sign (ca. 1955)
Corner Kercheval and Eastlawn Detroit , MI11
Photograph taken May 31, 2008
“
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...in a way that’s far different from modern printed billboard ads.”12
“
Image Right : Chips and Beer Ghost Signs
(ca. 1965) Detroit , MI13
Photograph taken Februar y 28, 2009
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[Commercial Folk] SignDetroit’s Normal Sign On The Street
Image Right : Abandoned Beer and Wine shop
Detroit , MI14
Photograph taken December 10, 2003
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The most effective signs are the most succinct and the least subtle.”15
“
Image Right : Abandoned Auto Repair Shop
Detroit , MI16
Photograph taken October 1, 2010
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The ghost sign heyday lives on in spirit
throughout Detroit on the walls that host the
craftsmanship of artists from the turn of the
nineteenth century. Today in Detroit, there still
lives a craftsmanship of sign painting that has
pronounced itself on all the secondary streets
from Greenfield and Puritan. These signs
are the products of small businesses looking
to make a name for themselves by means of
either subtle or sensational spectacles of art
in advertising. This form of art is one that
does not fully employ a single level of art skill
like the sign painters from the early 1900s.
They have trained for years to acquire the
proficiency we see today in the ghost signs,
but today rather a mixture of both skilled and
novice artists occupy the work that is called,
“Commercial Folk Art.”
The New Painted Sign
Image Right : Phase One Car Wash
7714 Gratiot Ave. Detroit , MI17
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18 19
23 24 25
Images 18-26: Photographs of Detroit , MI storefront s on secondar y street s display an array of ar tist s experience and quality.
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In Detroit, wall ads are found mostly along secondary roads in the neighborhoods, on the sides of small brick buildings. Some are ill-proportioned, crookedly lettered, or poorly drawn. Others are nothing more than a few colorful words scrawled next to a door.”27
20 21 22
26
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...they’re inexpensive, eye-catching, and long-lasting, and in a city mired in economic misery, they’re still in demand.”28
“
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27
In response to Detroit’s recent economy, business owners have been
more compelled to resort to an advertisement different than the
normal, more expensive billboard or vinyl signage. The paint used for
these signs is wielded by either the store owner themselves, a friend
who knows a thing or two about painting signs, or hiring an actual
artist who has trained in the trade and has much more experience.
It is interesting to see the range of skill and detail in the signage.
Commercial Folk Art illustrates an ambitious attitude of Detroit and
its people do the best they can with what they have. These elaborate
store front pieces of commerce and art display a spirit and hope that
the people of Detroit hold onto and believe in as they continue to re-
paint or touch up possibly their only and best means of marketing.
Image Left : Abandoned local Grandy Market . Detroit , MI29
Photograph taken May 3, 2008
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They seek to be independent of, and free from, the burden of the second-class treatment and to be equitably compensated for their physical, mental, and economic contributions. In this regard each sign, whether unselfconsciously sincere, deliberately ironic, calculated, or naive, is as articulate as the Declaration of Independence. It is about the desire to have a piece of the dream.”31 Image Left : Sam’s Loans, Money in 1 Min.
Corner Michigan and Wabash Detroit , MI30
Photograph taken June 30, 2008
“
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A muralist once told Sweet Juniper that Detroit hardware stores paint their wares on the sides of the buildings to advertise products to those who are illiterate. In 1998, the National Institute for Literacy estimated that 47% of Detroit adults were functionally illiterate.”33
Image Left : McDougall Hardware
On street corner in Detroit , MI32
Photograph taken May 23, 2009
“
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An apparent difference from this generation of hand-painted wall
ads from that of the earlier hand-painted ads at the beginning of
the twentieth century is the use of wall space and the building
types available. In Detroit the best available spaces for business
owners to display their products is either on their own building or
on another building besides their own if their budget permits. With
these businesses lacking deep pockets, they must turn to utilizing
their whole building and painting ads on every surface of it. This may
seem like an overly desperate approach to advertising, but in Detroit
desperate is something that allows businesses to be seen. This form
of advertisement in Detroit is unique because it displays a side of
Detroit’s people who survive for themselves and for the benefit of the
city.
Image Right : Mr. Fix-It
5916 W. Warren Detroit , MI34
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The artists commissioned to paint these elaborate store fronts and
building sized advertisements do their job partially for the money,
but mostly for the joy that they get out of utilizing their artistic skills.
Some names that appear on these paintings are some of the more
advanced and experienced artists in this line of work: Michael Wilson,
Scott Caudle, Jeff Young, Kevin Patrick, Marty (MPH), Klein, Norman,
and Richard.35 These artists are the handy work for those needing a
lift up from the blight that seems to consume the city and the exterior
of the buildings. Each artist has their own quality and characteristic
flair, from the bright colors used, to cartoon-like characters, and
more abstract “kaleidoscopic” colorful works of art like that of Kevin
Patrick. Many of these artists paint ads and store business signs
on the side to help finance some of their personal endeavors of
supplying their own paint studios for their art work.
Images 36, 37, 38, 39:
Michael Wilson36
Scott Caudle37
Scott Caudle’s Paint Van38
Talkative Michael Wilson39
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It makes them believe. It gives them hope that they have a future.”43
“
Images: 40, 41, 42
Nakoma’s Car Wash, Detroit , MI40—Photograph taken May 13, 2009
Washitaw Barber N Hair Stylist , 11391 E. McNichols, Detroit , MI41
Aunt Dot s Fish & Chips, Detroit , MI —Photograph taken April 9, 200942
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When Detroit improves, will there continue to be a need for hand-painted signs on second hand stores?
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41
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