Burr E. Giffen (March 3, 1886 - April 2, 1965) was an American artist and illustrator[1] working in New York City. His most famous creation was while he was working for an Advertising Company in 1910. He created the Fisk Tire Company Boy holding a tire and night candle as a proposal sketch in charcoal. This sketch became the company's well-known registered trademarked image in 1910.[2]
Burr Giffen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Burr Edwards Giffen March 3, 1886 |
| Died | April 2, 1965 (aged 79) |
| Known for | Artist, Illustrator |
| Style | contemporary art |
| Spouse | Bertha Tischler Giffen |
Biography
editBurr Giffen was born in Rockford, Illinois. When he reached the age of 4, he moved to Des Moines, Iowa where his father Marvin Q Giffen, was successful in the wholesale furniture business. Burr was noted without an occupation in the 1905 Iowa Census and soon left for New York City.[3]
In 1910, he was a fledgling working for an ad agency known as Wagner and Field. Giffen says he got the inspiration for the drawing at 3 A.M., sat down on his bed and rapidly sketched the little boy with a tire over his right shoulder and a candle held in his left hand. Simultaneously. he coined the slogan: "Time to Re-tire."[4]
The sketch was an instant hit with the Fisk Rubber Co., which a few years earlier had introduced its first pneumatic automobile tire. Its appeared nationally in Life magazine in 1911.[5]
Norman Rockwell was one of the artists who illustrated the Fisk tire boy, which allowed him to be creative.
Over the decades, the tousle-haired, sleepy-time boy appeared on every Fisk car and truck tire, in ads, on all stationery, booklets, posters, TV slides, calendars, tire store displays and even on clock faces.[6]
References
edit- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=g51AAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=%22burr+giffen%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_rYuLuc2IAxXFlokEHXXXMUsQuwV6BAgIEAc#v=onepage&q=%22burr%20giffen%22&f=false The Standpatter: A Chronicle of Democracy Illustrated by Burr Giffen The Herald Square Publishing Company New York City Copyright 1912 by Ella Hamilton Durley Barr & Hayfield
- ^ https://www.chicopeepubliclibrary.org/archives/items/show/8685#?c=&m=&s=&cv= Chicopee Public Library Archives online
- ^ ancestry.com Iowa State Census Card no. 439
- ^ Transcript Telegram Newspaper May 6, 1956
- ^ "Made in Four Styles". Life magazine, August 17, 1911 on page 276.
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=zwAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA34&dq=%22burr+giffen%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwithvDo_8WIAxXJmYkEHWbeAj0Q6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22burr%20giffen%22&f=true Kiplinger's Personal Finance Feb 1959
External links
edit- https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/126382/149/37A.pdf Doctoral dissertation, Pau Megano-Drigas University of Barcelona Part 1
- https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/126382/149/37B.pdf Doctoral dissertation, Pau Megano-Drigas University of Barcelona Part 2
- https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/126382/149/37C.pdf Doctoral dissertation, Pau Megano-Drigas University of Barcelona Part 3
- https://www.pbs.org/video/antiques-roadshow-appraisal-fisk-tire-boy-time-re-tire-sign-ca-1920/ PBS Antiques Roadshow on Fisk Tire Boy
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/274826668/burr-edwards-giffen Findagrave listing for Burr Giffen