An Intro to Joyce Ballantyne Art 1918-2006

You may not know the name Joyce Ballantyne, but you have probably seen her art.

She was born April 4, 1918 in Norfolk, Nebraska but she grew up in Omaha. Her preferred medium was oil on canvas. She was a friend and associate of Gil Elvgren through her years starting in college when Gil was a teacher and on through her time working for various studios.

She attended the University of Nebraska and later transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art.

She later went on to paint for many studios, starting with Kling Studios painting maps for Rand McNally. She also illustrated books for Cameo Press. She was at Stevens-Gross Studio for over a decade and worked with other great artists of the time, such as Gil Elvgren, Al Moore and Al Buell.

"Behind In Her Packing"

She is well-known for her pinup art she did at Brown & Bigelow and Shaw-Barton.

"I Can Never Get Things Straight"

In 1945 Brown & Bigelow introduced Joyce Ballantyne to their national sales and marketing staff as "the brightest young star on the horizon of illustrative art".

"But You Go"

Her Shaw-Barton calendar was a big hit in 1955 nationally as they needed to run reprints to keep up with demand.

"A Show Stopper"

You may actually know her for one of the most famous advertising images ever, the Coppertone Girl.

The model for this advertising character was her then three year-old daughter.

Some of her clients included companies such as Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola and Schlitz Beer, and publishers such as Esquire and Penthouse.

She finally left our reality in 2006 where she lived with her husband, in Ocala, Florida. She went out a legend in her field, leaving the world beautiful images and icons that are still very recognized and loved to this day.

I wasn't able to track down a decent video about this artist sadly, but rest assured, should I get a hold of one I will add to the comments here. If anyone else has a link to a good video on Joyce Ballantyne please comment below!

SOURCES:
Wikipedia Artcle about Joyce Ballantyne
Internet Archive
The Pinup Files
NPR.org article "The Artist Behind the Coppertone Girl Ad"

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Other Artist Intro Posts:
An Intro to Gil Elvgren Art 1914-1980