Suzy Ehrlich fashion illustrations
circa 1950s-1960s
- Collection Overview
- Biographical note
- Scope and Contents of Collection
- Administrative Information
- Keywords for Searching Related Subjects
- Collection Inventory
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Guide to the Suzy Lorraine Ehrlich fashion illustrations, circa 1950s-1960s
Collection Overview
- Repository
- Kellen Design Archives
- Creator - Illustrator
- Ehrlich, Suzy, 1919-2006
- Title
- Suzy Ehrlich fashion illustrations, circa 1950s-1960s
- Extent
- 3.2 linear ft: 2 oversize boxes
- Summary
- Suzy Lorraine Ehrlich (1919-2006), was a New York-based fashion illustrator and product designer. The collection is comprised of 69 fashion illustrations executed in pen and ink, pastel, crayon, watercolor, and collage. It also includes two mailers advertising Milliken yarns. Some illustrations may have been executed for a class taught by Jack Potter at the School of Visual Arts.
Biographical note
Suzy Lorraine Heitler Ehrlich was born in New York in 1919. She began taking drawing classes in the late 1940s at the Art Students League, where she met her future husband, Sol Ehrlich. During the 1950s and 1960s, Ehrlich's illustrations appeared in Women's Wear Daily, Look, and Life magazines. She also created illustrations for sewing and pattern publications. Ehrlich worked as a freelancer from a home studio, employing models wearing garments sent to her by clients.
Ehrlich returned to the classroom during the 1960s to study illustration with Jack Potter, a charismatic and talented instructor at the School of Visual Arts. Potter was noted for teaching a course titled “Drawing and Thinking" and had a great influence on Ehrlich's work. She was also inspired by the work of Peter Max. Ehrlich also taught drawing classes in her home and in her later years worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in production, designing objects for their gift store.
Suzy Lorraine Ehrlich died March 2, 2006 in New York City, where she had lived her entire life.
Scope and Contents of Collection
The Suzy Lorraine Ehrlich illustrations consist of 69 fashion illustrations created by Ehrlich using ink, watercolor, gouache, pastels, crayon, marker, and collage elements. The collection also includes two mailers advertising Milliken yarns featuring Ehrlich illustrations.
The illustrations document the evolution of Ehrlich's style over approximately two decades. Although use of vibrant colors is prevalent throughout the collection, later drawings also demonstrate experimentation with abstracted settings, often depicting female figures imposed over male forms. Noteworthy are two drawings depicting women's silhouettes rendered entirely in black ink. The more experimental illustrations may have been inspired by classes taken with School of Visual Arts instructor Jack Potter.
The collection does not contain textual documentation, nor does it include Ehrlich's later work. No illustrations feature evidence of date of creation or client.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Kellen Design Archives September 24, 2010
66 5th Ave./lobby level/
New York, NY, 10011
212.229.5942
archivist@newschool.edu
Use Restrictions
To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the Kellen Design Archives. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Donated by Sally Ehrlich Hoffman and Steve Ehrlich, Suzy Ehrlich's daughter and son, 2006.
Keywords for Searching Related Subjects
Genre(s)
- Drawings.
- Fashion illustrations (layout features).
Occupation(s)
- Fashion illustrators.
Subject(s)
- Costume -- United States -- 20th century -- Pictorial works.
- Fashion drawing.
- Women's clothing -- United States -- 20th century -- Pictorial works.
Collection Inventory
| Title | Box | Folder | ||
| Fashion illustrations, circa 1950s-1960s | OSx-1 | 1-5 | ||
| OSxx-1 | 1-8 | |||
| Mailer for Milliken yarns, probably 1960s | k_3 | 5 | ||