Historical Perspective: Cataloging’s Early Years

The best fashion artist was Ben Kob. Using charcoal pencils and color pastels (Nupastels), he’d work at version after version, throwing away pages of rough sketches. Periodically, he’d stand back and squint at his efforts. I once asked him what he was doing, and he said he was looking at their “color.” Later, I realized he was seeing the weights and balances of the interplay between darker masses and lighter spaces. His talent was evident when the Sears photography department would capture his layouts and help create some of the most beautiful fashion pages Sears has ever produced.