James Montgomery Flagg

207 pp. The author, Susan E. Meyer, devotes the first quarter of its 200+ pages to a biographical essay, heavily illustrated with artwork and photos of Flagg and his friends, models, and fellow celebrities; also included is a chronology of Flagg's life, and an index in the back. The rest of the book is filled with large reproductions (in color and black & white) of Flagg's beautiful sketches, drawings, and paintings. Two dozen masterful charcoal portraits of 1930s celebrities are, by themselves, worth the purchase, but there are also personal works, cartoons, posters, magazine illustrations (Jeeves and Wooster!), and so forth -- all impressive.