Going Back To The Future With Cars And Coca Cola And More

Arthur Radebaugh (1906-1974) was a commercial artist with an eye to the future. Based in Detroit, he combined Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles with his visions to produce colorful, eye-grabbing illustrations. He found a most successful market among Detroit's "Big Three" automakers, but also worked with many corporations throughout the world.

Radebaugh's illustration for 1951 Chrysler ad

In 1957, Russia launched the first artificial satellite and awakened the "Space Race" with the United States. One of the manifestations of the race was Radebaugh's syndicated Sunday cartoon strip entitled "Closer Than We Think." Appearing in 1958, the strip ran for four years, giving readers - especially young, impressionable ones - a visual feast of science and technology and what it could bring to the nation in the coming decades.

The BBC has produced an illustrated article on Radebaugh in conjunction with an April 28 event in Los Angeles addressing the retrofuture that he and others brought us in the 20th century. Makes one wonder how many young readers chose science, technology, future studies, and related careers as a result of his pictures of things to come.

Advertisement by Rodebaugh, 1957