Discover how art puzzles became a business and creative opportunity for many artists and illustrators during the 1930s in the United States: the golden age of art puzzles.
Artists and illustrators have always had difficulty making a living, especially in the early 1930s in the United States.
Millions of people were out of work during the Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of October 1929.
Almost everyone was engaged in a daily struggle to get a dollar or two to feed their families, and certainly the last priorities during that period were culture and art.
Each year was worse than the one before, and by 1932, the country’s economy seemed to be truly collapsing.
But it was precisely in these desperate conditions that an extraordinary event occurred.
Beginning in September 1932 with the release of a weekly puzzle sold at Boston newsstands, the entire country was gripped by a six-month craze for die-cut cardboard puzzles.
It was the beginning of the golden age of art puzzles .
Even though money was tight, somehow people were able to scrape together enough money to take home a weekly puzzle , along with a bag of groceries.
By early 1933, Americans were spending over a million dollars a week on puzzles.
Hundreds of companies sprang up to capitalize on the overwhelming demand for puzzles and to stay ahead of their competitors, many of which invited artists and illustrators of the day to provide examples of their best work.
For an artist, it was nice to work again.
When this puzzle craze ended, after only six months, most companies went on to other directions or went out of business.
However, this “hysteria” had created a permanent market for cardboard puzzles that had never existed before.
Three major puzzle manufacturers continued to serve that market until the late 1930s, and their desire to outdo each other provided artists with many opportunities to use their talents in new subjects for art puzzles.
Interest in puzzles began to increase again in the late 1930s and continued until World War II, 1939–1945, and beyond.
During the war years, in an effort to reduce costs, puzzle companies increasingly began using photographs for their puzzles in place of the increasingly rare illustrations and paintings.
By 1960, the golden age of puzzle art had come to an end, and jigsaw puzzle artwork had been nearly replaced.
Fortunately, during the 1960s, a new company took on the task of telling the story of art through the pieces of a puzzle: Springbok Editions .
The company was the first to commission famous artists to create special paintings for adult puzzles .
Maynard Reece’s “Wild Flowers,” Arthur Singer’s “Birds,” and Roger Tory Peterson’s “Penguins” were among the many titles that reflected the Lewins’ longtime passion for the worlds of art, nature, and ecology.
Salvador Dalà was the Springbok’s greatest “conquest.” Katie Lewin met him in the lobby of the St. Regis Hotel during a visit to New York.
His proposal for personalized art, along with the impressive display of Springbok puzzles at the nearby Brentano’s bookstore, struck a chord with DalÃ’s commercial side.
In fact, he agreed to paint a special Springbok version of one of his double-image paintings, an optical illusion with puzzle pieces scattered around the edges.
Springbok continued to produce premium art puzzles until the company was acquired by Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Missouri.
