Don’t you love illustrator Sanna Paananen’s retro shapes and colors?

More at Pekka Illustration Agency.

This is one of my favorite paintings, Pieter Bruegel’s Children’s Games. Click and zoom for a closer look.

See the little girls twirling their skirts in the left background?

I wrote a post a couple of years ago about Windsor McCay’s marvellous Little Nemo in Slumberland newspaper comics from the early 20th century, and it’s consistently been among my most popular posts – which isn’t surprising, the drawings are so wonderful and imaginative. Every strip depicts a dream of the little hero Nemo.

Here are some more of my favorite Little Nemo strips. I’ve uploaded extra-large images, so you can click and zoom to see them up close.

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Here are some smashing dress designs from the June, 1926 issue of Pictorial Review. There’s an address to order the patterns from, but I doubt they’re still available, unfortunately.

Click and zoom for a detailed look.

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I really like the style of 1930s illustration. The June 1932 issue of American Magazine is full of great pictures.

Cover illustration by Hayden C. Hayden

Probak razor blades ad

illustration for Captain Grim by Donald Teague

color illustration for Captain Grim by Norman Wilkinson

color illustration for Fancy Dress by J. Gotlieb

illustration for Fancy Dress by J. Gotlieb

illustration for The Tall Ladder by Saul Tepper

second illustration for The Tall Ladder by Saul Tepper

illustration for Forlorn Island by Harold Von Schmidt

color illustration for The Last of His Line by James E. Allen

illustration for The Last of His Line by James E. Allen

More ephemera

Eugenio Recuenco takes interesting photos.

Tons more on his web site.

Abroad, a delightful travel book for children, is by Thomas Crane and Ellen Houghton, is written entirely in verse, and follows the adventures of a London family traveling in France. Found in the children’s section of the Internet Archive

The pictures in the book are gorgeous, and beautifully composed. Here is a sample.

You can look at the entire book (which I highly recommend), download it, and even order print copies on the Internet Archive display page.

Pekka Halonen was a part of the blossoming of the Finnish arts at the end of the 19th century. Halonen’s paintings focus almost exclusively on nature, and people interacting with the natural world.

I love the sinuous lines of his paintings.

Here are some old postcards of Soviet style architecture. Click and zoom for a closer look.

The Library of Congress has extensive online digital collections, including a comprehensive collection of Works Progress Administration posters from the 1930s and 40s. Here are a few examples (click for a closer look):