I try to focus on lesser known aspects of Art Deco and this entry certainly meets that requirement!
American Builder was a long-running publication aimed at contractors and developers. Like the pulp magazines of the 1930s, American Builder’s covers were often the most compelling part of the magazine. And, to be honest, from an Art Deco perspective, the majority of American Builder covers weren’t all that interesting, either.
But there were exceptions, and all by the same artist: L.E. Arent.
Decopix has featured little-known 1930s artists before, like George Adomatis of Lawson clock fame and the woefully under-appreciated Will Hollingsworth. But L.E. Arent, whoever he or she was, seems lost to history.
Let’s fix that, shall we? Someone out there on the internet knows of L.E. Arent. The only clue I have, and it’s just a hunch, is that American Builder was based in Chicago so perhaps L.E. Arent was too. If it helps, the artist signed his/her name in a variety of ways, “LEA”, Arent, ARENT and L.E. Arent.
Hi Randy,
It could be that that’s not the artists’ real name. Maybe it’s a pseudonym. “Arent” could be interpreted as “aren’t”, or “are not”. Just a guess. But the artist was talented.
Mark Reiter
Thanks, Mark. Something like that occurred to me too, and I tried spelling Arent backwards to see if it made sense. Probably just a coincidence, but there was another artist who did similar work around the same time, Jose Arentz.
Probably Lynton Erle Arent, 1897-1970, listed as a commercial artist in the 1930 and 1940 Illinois censuses. His father was a house carpenter.
Thanks for solving the mystery, John. This certainly appears to be L.E. Arent.
Hey our home is the last one !!!!!
Let me know if y’all want some current snaps.
Below are links to the magazines above from the internet archive.
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1933-03_54_6/page/n21/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1933-06_55_3/page/26/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1933-08_55_5/page/28/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1935-08_57_8/page/22/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1937-06_59_6/page/78/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/sim_american-builder_1937-09_59_9/page/56/mode/2up
Thanks for pointing this out. So much good information on Internet Archive. I may just do a post on things I’ve found there.
Thanks for sharing these images. They’re marvelous and having date of publication adds.
Yvonne
Two years ago in 2023 there was supposed to be an estate sale at the home of L.E. Arent in River Forest, IL. The sale was rescheduled twice but, in the end it never happened. The sale contained original works of the American Builder covers, both prints and paintings. It also contained signed paintings of landscapes, cityscapes, and portraits executed by Mr. Arent. I managed to get screen shots of all the artwork that was in the sale. There was also a signed painting by Western artist Ed Quigley in the sale, whom likely worked alongside Arent at American Builder who signed his magazine covers “Quig.”.