Why This Art Is In Every Hair Salon
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"Nagel" is German for "nail" so it's linguistically appropriate that his art ended up in nail salons.
I was gonna comment it.
same for Dutch
probably why they ended up in nail salons, imagine someone searching the words for a poster for them xD
Nagel Kunstatelier
in old norse mythology, at ragnarok, loki will captain a ship made from all the untrimmed fingernails of the dead. in old norse the ship is called "Naglfar/Naglfari" which roughly translated means "Nail-farer/Nail-traveller".
There was a Comedy Central adult animation show called Moonbeam City in which all of the characters were Nagel men and women. It was short lived and very silly but the style was really nice
👍🏾Lol I searched the comments looking for this
Yes, it was absurdly silly but it was really funny and I found it hilarious because of all of the 80's tropes that it piled on top of each other, episode after episode.
That was a great show, thanks for reminding me
I never heard of this and now I need to find it !! Thank you ❤
Thanks for reminding me that this show exists!
To me they don't look cartoonish, they very much are influenced by Ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock art. Look at how striking Three Beauties of the Kwansei Period by Kitagawa Utamaro for example. The Impressionism artists you mentioned were influenced by Japanese art (which was very popular in Europe at the time) and the use of negative space.
Aw man I never even thought of that but now that you point it out I can totally see it.
Japanese woodblock prints were born from the influence of Western prints and Chinese art. And flat 2D images are found not only in Japan, but also in Inara, other East Asian and ancient Egyptian, and European religious art.
Yes I’ve heard this too, that he might’ve been inspired by this.
can you point out the timecode when he mentions impressionism? I missed it
That’s exactly what patrick nagel’s inspiration came from, idk why the creator totally missed that while researching this video lol
My parents had a TON of Nagel prints when I was a kid. They gave me one of their largest framed print that I still have to this day. Anytime I go to antique stores I keep an eye out for Nagel's work. There's just something about the Nagel women I have always loved ❤️
Keep that print, it's worth a lot of money now and growing in value
I've been a fan and have a collection of prints. Dated, but too cool to get rid of.
I own a few prints, sometimes wonder what they may be worth today. Would never sell them. I imitated his style for a while before developing my own illustration style. Still love and admire his work.
My mom has several prints too. I told her if she ever thinks about getting rid of them, i want them. I've loved them since i was a kid--I'm happy I'm not the only one!
Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” music video leaned heavily into the high-key Nagel aesthetic as well.
Exactly what I was thinking as I've just learned about this now 😁
I know what I'm watching next.
@@thelazy0ne Check out “Simply Irresistible” too. Palmer was on a Nagel streak back then. :)
Cheers for your extremely correct use of "high-key"
@@chetsmooth Ha, thanks for noticing. :)
@@mattymmmm2362 Thanks, I’ll look for it.
His women portrayals bring me cyberpunk feelings. Probably the way the lines are simplified but the colors are very vivid. Love this art!
Watch the show Moonbeam City 👍
If you like them you would probably like Pater Satos work. Another 80s artist but from Japan. His work is mostly with airbrush, borders on erotic/fetish at times but very futuristic and nostalgic at the same time. His work ranges from soft floral pastels to bold brash dreamlike visuals. Very neat!
@@grandmasgopnik9642 I didn't know him by name, but I instanctly recognized the style once I browsed it. I associate it with ads from by childhoold.
Yeah, some of the art in the first edition of the TTRPG Cyberpunk 2020 was definitely influenced by his work.
@@robertlocock5636 True, the 1st edition set in 2013 was dripping with Nagel style esthetic. Just google CP 2013 artwork for some great examples.
0:43 Digital vector art was not only possible back then, it was exceedingly popular. Digital vector art started in the 1960s. Nagel’s work stood out because it was at once nostalgic and futuristic.
Vector art wasn't available until desktop PCs become common, and programs like Adobe Illustrator (a vector graphics program) were developed in the late 1980s. I worked in the graphic industry, and we didn't have access to "digital vector art". Maybe you're confusing line art with vector art. This video was only comparing (unclearly) the style to what is now achievable with vector graphics, but Nagel painted his graphic illustrations. If I've misspoke, and you have examples of the popularity of digital vector art, I'd love to be corrected.
@@msf1967 Firstly, I am not confused about the difference between line art and vector art. And we agree that Nagel preferred to paint his creations. He was trying to recreate a very specific niche of Art Deco but with modern styling. Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, QuarkXPress and others without question popularized digital vector art. It certainly brought it to the masses as part of the desktop publishing craze. There are many tools and technologies that existed decades prior and I used these tools and technologies personally. The creator of this video stated wrongly that digital vector art was not possible in Nagel's time. That's flat out wrong even if we started the clock with Adobe Illustrator. So in addressing that digital vector art was, in fact, possible in Nagel's time, I went beyond the popularization of digital vector art to its actual origins. The software tool that originally put digital vector art on the map was a program called Sketchpad by Ivan Sutherland. Before it was commercialized in 1963, he had called it Robot Draftsman. The tool was part of the early CAD explosion and was designed as a drafting tool that worked with early ink pen based plotters. But people started using it for art, especially in the mid to late 1970s. I first became aware of it in 1978 and loved it. We were using it for easy typography. In fact, early Postscript owes its origins to Sketchpad. My original point stands. Digital vector graphics DID in fact exist in Nagel's time. It was a ready option for him but he never chose to use it. If anyone is confusing line art with digital vector graphics, it is the TH-camr. Nagel was inspired by art deco travel posters and was fascinated with line art minimalism. Also most of those nail salon images he showed are knockoffs not genuine works. So much is wrong in this video. Digital vector art DID exist, it WAS available in his time, and he WAS a household name in his day. And just like filmmakers and photogs who eventually went digital, I believe if Nagel was still alive today, he would likely have gone digital at some inevitable point. It wasn't that digital vector art wasn't possible. Nagel preferred natural media. It was his artistic choice. Sorry for my lack of brevity but I wanted to get you a complete answer. I hope this satisfies your criteria. I am happy to expand and elaborate if necessary. Cheers.
@@robertholtz hello im a fan and enthusiast of early computer graphics, I would love to look deeper in to the very earliest work, and what hard ware and computing power, rendering times and the cost, it took to accomplish it. my question is do you know of any early designer or artists that used digital graphics as their main medium? please can you comment on this , thank you, J
@@TheJosefin123456 If you picture the entire field of computer graphics and computer generated imagery as a giant tree, the root of that tree is Ivan Sutherland. Learn about him and all will be revealed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Sutherland
@@beefar0ni Thanks for saying that. Most appreciated.
As someone who actually lived during the era, Nagel actually *did* become a household name. I loved the calendars my parents would get me each years.
Hmm, I should find them and frame them now. Thank you for the inspiration!
I blame Duran Duran.
Their songs are great though
@@mmmahh9056 Yeah, Rio is a great pop album.
😍 Yess, I have those original vinyls from my dad
Vim comentar exatamente isso 😂❤
Her name is Rio, people.
Patrick Nagel started out doing covers for jazz albums because he could do the art deco style. He painted musicians of color, such as Thelma Houston, Justo Betancourt and Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom).
huh, interesting that Thelma and Cissy are depicted with white skin, though their African features are still obvious
@@WilliamAndrea good point
I think it was all about high contrast and few lines that made him prefer skin as a white or blank canvas. It’s just a supposition on my part
Duran Duran also????
Edit: nvm I got to 2:11
@@Stevie-J - Never mind the hyperbolics, here's the Snow Flakes!
As a child I would go to my wealthy aunts house and in her dining room above the fireplace was the first glimpse I ever had of a Nagel artwork. It was so different and captivating. So much more out there than anything I had ever seen. Her house was an 80s Time Capsule as well as a 1920s Time Capsule. What I didn’t realize is I was looking at an original, painted by the artists hand. I couldn’t believe it, there is no evidence of paint, no strokes. Just pure graphic bliss. I’ll always love and never forget the time I spend staring at that woman with the cool sunglasses.
That’s really cool. Who has the painting now?
Well it still may have been a serigraph, just the artist only did one. The reason most have multiple copies is because the technique lends itself to copies. But if the client or patrone wants uniqueness, you charge a tad more and go make your project.
@@jemiebridges3197 my aunt bought it before he died, so he was still producing work and serigraphs didn’t flood the market. I don’t really think she would pay all the money she did for a serigraph? But honestly I can’t tell you. I’ve only found one picture of the painting online so I’m not sure what that means for it. She also has several and specifically told me which ones are the painting and which ones are serigraphs
@@reefk8876 she still has it
4:46 He absolutely was a household name in his day, a superstar, but it was all cut short by his untimely death. After, there were many copycats and most of those nail salon “Nagels” are knock-offs that rushed in to fill the void when he passed but demand for his work was still on the rise.
Nagel was definitely a household name in the '80s.
Came here to say the same thing. Everyone knew his work; there were artbooks, tee shirts, and wall calendars. And they were still popular well into the 90s.
@@stevezilla68 Yes, you are quite right. Cheers.
Being European (and growing up in Eastern Europe) , I was never aware of this being a thing.
It is very reminiscent of the look they went for in Blade Runner , for the Rachel character.
First thing that popped into me head too
I'm also from eastern europe, Balkan to be more precise, and this was my first thought as well. We all have those old, faded photos of women wrapped in their own hair and mostly blonde hair
I'm in South-Eastern Europe and these faces are familiar to me. So many hair salons have this type of vector-looking graphics in their shops.
@@MELLMAO
Yeah, they look like macedonians to me
here in the US it's exactly as he says in the video. most people have no idea who the artist is but the image is so common on hair and nail salons that it's almost like seeing the giant golden "M" above a McDonald's restaurant. you see it and instantly know there's only one thing it could possibly be. if i ever need to reference Nagel, it's usually easier to just say "Nail salon window art" and everyone knows i mean the Nagel Women, but if i said nagel women they'd look at me like i was a martian.
for a long time after the 80's died, if you needed a haircut a perm or a mani-pedi, you just looked for the strip-mall shop window covered with the woman with Paper-white skin, ink-black hair and hot-rod red lips.
slightly more wealthy types tend to make their homes feel sort of like museums, empty floorplans, white walls and ceilings, hard floors, minimalist decor. i've known a couple folk like that who have Nagel women hanging on their walls, i think they like the clean linework as it doesn't take away from or clutter the rest of the room's minimalist aesthetic.
I had no idea that this was not digital. I mean, I grew up in the 80s, and every computer generated image from Pixar to the Abyss was considered impressive.
Uhhhh images of a ray traced world looks way different than this? If anything this looks like vector art but still that wasn't a thing back then lol... Even most of the chrome in logos and print from that era you've seen are Chalk and Marker renderings... 3D wasn't a widespread thing until Desktop 3D computers make it more accessible in 1998.
There certainly *were* digital vector versions of these in the late 80s, as handcoded laserwriter-era postscript; it suited the medium perfectly.
@@chikato7106 Chalk and marker renderings? Like actual chalk and marker?
It's litograph art & vectorial existed since the 1960s. This is a neat collection of his art but the history behind it is a bit warped. McCloud can't even draw a picture from a photograph so why is he even cited as some sort of authority, idk.
The Abyss effects are outstanding. It's not easy to make effects like that even today.
I had an art friend that created paintings in the Negel style during that time. He figured out how he did it. Thinned out paint (very thin and watery), with several coats. Once you got to 7 layers it started to get that signature look. So he tried it and was amazed at how much it looked like an original painting. He put it up for sale, and it sold right away. So he made another, and another. Everything he made sold. It got to the point where he was making 2 paintings at a time. Painting one with one hand, drying the other with a hair dryer for 18 hours a day.
He wasn't making forgeries but making original pieces in that vector art Negel style. People didn't care. They bought it all. He wasn't charging Negel prices. Demand died as quickly as it started. It was a product of its time. The man is an amazing artist (better than Negel IMO) but the only time he found big success as an artist was replicating his style. And even that didn't last.
His house has hundreds of his paintings but only a couple like that left. Looked like Negel to me. His place has stuff in his own style and replicas in style of other artists like Alex Ross.
what's his name I'll buy one right now
He doesn't sell his stuff anymore but next time I see him I'll mention it.
@@dallassegno I'm also curious!
@@DamonCzanikWhy did you bring your friend up if you weren’t going to share his name
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@devans00 Because it was probably just a funny story that they didn't think would go anywhere?
As an 80s kid who loved to draw. I was OBSESSED with Nagel’s art. His and Mucha’s styles are still pretty big influences influences in my artwork.
I was obsessed with Nagel. (but as a teenage girl I did NOT know he was in Playboy, lol) I used to paint copies of his works onto sweatshirts as gifts for friends and family. So iconic of the 80s. I love that you made this video!!! Keep up the good work!
Apparently Nagel's heart failure was caused following an "aerobathon".... which is possibly a more iconic way to die in the 80s than if he'd OD'd on coke, which was my first and incorrect assumption...
The craziest part was that the aerobathon Nagel participated in was to raise funds for the American Heart Association.
The irony was everywhere in the early 80s: Running promoter James "The Complete Book of Running" Fixx died while running in 1984.
@@DMLand Fixx had the classic US lifestyle, lots of meat, unsaturated fat, alcohol, sugar and smoked like a chimney and barely moved. He took up running, but the damage was already done.
It is likely that the aerobathon was fueled by coke
@@exoticallovergirl I wasn't going to 'go there' so thank you, lol. I don't know about Nagel but I wouldn't be surprised if there were lots of people in the 80's who didn't grasp that doing aerobics would _not_ cancel out the heart health risks of doing cocaine.
The complexion doesn’t matter - that look was aspirational for everyone. Hell, those knockoff images you mentioned are most common in predominantly black/Asian owned salons and look in general was ripped almost entirely from supermodel Grace Jones.
Agree. There was definitely a caucasian bias in advertising in those days though, but it wasn't a product of the 80s exclusively. It was always there until very recently.
I was going to say, there's a black salon in my local shopping plaza and the very same sun-damaged Nagel woman has been there for decades!
So you think this was the look that black people, Indians, middle eastern and Latinate people were aspiring to? Yeah…..
also: patrick nagel did do art of non-white people, if i recall correctly he did a lot of jazz album covers and also made some asian nagel women portraits
I have three prints of his that I got in the 1980s. He was super inspired by Japanese block prints, if memory serves.
Pretty sure my dad served with him in Vietnam. He saw the name on the book, we had a conversation, and I don't feel like he would have been pulling my leg on this. Unfortunately, he's been gone nearly 10 years now and I can't ask him more questions. He was definitely a household name in my household! :)
Wasn't just nail salons. Back in the eighties, I remember a local dance club had a huge painting, a mural, even of a Nagel-esque woman covering the entirety of one of it's walls. The club was bought and renamed, but the painting didn't come down until around the mid-nineties.
I remember seeing these prints at Harvey's (in Canada).
I noticed that the album Rio by Duran Duran has it on their cover art as well
Came to say the same thing
Is it just me, or is this the style for Desire in The Sandman comics?
Not just you, and I think that was absolutely intended by the comic artist. I wouldn’t be surprise if Gaiman wrote that into the script.
I'm surprised he didn't bring it up.
I also thought about that
Desire is based on his artwork! I thought the same too!
Yup! There's a tweet where Neil Gaiman confirmed that Mike Dringenberg used Nagel's works as a visual inspiration for Desire. Jill Thompson also mentioned that she had Patrick Nagel in mind when she drew Desire in her run of Sandman.
I remember going to the salon with my mom after having a fit about getting my hair cut, and sitting in the chair squirming like I was at the dentist, and one of those pictures was right in front of me-just giving me that look like “calm down and just be beautiful“ lol
Moonbeam City was an amazing homage to his art and style
As an 80s kid I definitely associate the Nagel women with that era and have always been fascinated by how often I still see them. They always seemed too ubiquitous, poppy, and simple to be iconic ... or even objectively good art. This video put them in a perspective from which I can finally appreciate them instead of just being confused as to why I didn't find them more annoying 😅
‘Kitsch’ is probably the word that fits what you’re describing
this is a stupid take.
I’m also an 80s kid. When I see Patrick Nagel art I think of Michael Jackson Thriller, Max Headroom, Boy George of Culture Club and other popular trends during the decade. Duran Duran and Dixie from Designing Women were spot on the vibe.
80’s kid here too. I remember first seeing Nagel on the Duran Duran album cover. I thought it was awesome. While wearing my Miami Vice look a like gear. 😁
Well said. They annoyed me because I didn't know any context for them and it just seemed like a fad to have these framed images.
I was just commenting to my wife that hair salons tend to put up pictures when they open and then they *never* change them. They fade or turn sickly green-blue in the sun. Sadly, they are no longer aspirational ads, instead telling potential customers to keep walking.
Whoa this is like a poem
I've never run a business a day in my life, but I can appreciate just how difficult it is. Of all the things demanded by a small business owner, they really ought to realize that faded, sunbleached, and dusty signs, decorations and faux plants are major turnoffs. Compared to the cost of keeping people employed, you'd think maintaining some basic sense of "keeping it fresh" would be a greater priority.
The saddest one I saw recently was a bridal dress shop, with every sign warped and discolored so badly. The images of wedding dreams and beauty were so distorted, I felt bad for any girl seeing those and having their high enthusiasm about their dress buying experience being let down.
Well, you are incorrect considering many of these salons have been open for decades, proving they still get plenty of business.
The better one do change interior design, the more middling sort have the sense to put up images that dont "age" like actual decor and let that rot. Seems to only be the hole in walls and the ones just kinda staying afloat. I dont get it either, these same small business owners have no problem telling new techs to look professional or professional thismthat and the other concerning attire, hairstyle, training but have 30 year old gross wall art and dusty ass waiting areas.
@@feloniousbutterfly What a way to be a pea brain. Just because someone's in business doesn't mean they're getting as much business as they can. Many also barely scrape by or are in debt.
Stunning work, both eternal and forever locked in its era. And how deep 80s that Patrick Nagel passed away after an Aerobathon! It’s a shame we didn’t get to see how his aesthetic might have evolved, but there’s something very special about it being located so vividly in the 80s.
He probably wouldn’t. Most artist that get recognition for a singular style get locked in. Even if they do evolve it’s most likely over looked. Like Warhol, they only think of his cans. But he was on time as far as branding and commerce.
@@reefk8876 True that artists are pressured to keep making the thing that sells the best, but even Warhol made a wide variety of other art. His Death and Disaster series, for example. He also made and produced films and video works, not to mention his beautiful illustrations from early in his career. There’s often a big difference between the popular perception of an artist’s output vs the actual breadth of their work. Nagel might have kept making the sexy chic women (and men) art that made him famous, but every artists gets bored and curious, and at least explores other content or styles in their work. Even if it doesn’t sell, it can be a cool part of their archive.
It creeped me out as a child, but good to know there's a story behind it. Now, I can say I appreciate it, and it was pretty iconic!
I know right, I did always question how or why every salon had them though lol
Definitely creeeeeped me out...looking like androgynous nail salon vampires
I had a number of Nagel original serigraphs, really liked his style, his thin line control, and the cool, smoldering impression of his subjects. My girlfriend who had confidence issues didn't like me having them and requested strongly I get rid of them.
I begrudgingly sold them.
Three months later, Patrick Nagel passed away due to a heart attack. The value of his art sky-rocketed, which was secondary, but makes the point.
Never compromise on your appreciation and eye for art that you enjoy. It may not be everyones cup o' tea, and that's okay. Also, if a SO is threatened by your taste in art (trust me, there was more than just the serigraphs) take that for the red flag that it is.
What an interesting story and great advice 👍
Cheers dude
I totally understand her feelings, but sometimes you have to just put them in the garage rather than sell them. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.
Excuse for ask but, how is exactly that she wanted you to get rid of the serigraphs because of her confidence? Is just so weird.
@@RuinedStillWetMascara Women are extremely insecure, even of drawings.
She was threatened by paintings? Dump her ass, that would be the tip of the iceberg
My half brother's mom was a stylist and owned a hair salon. She had these everywhere, and my dad even had a few at his house. Almost every single one shown they had. Takes me back man...
Back in the mid-80's I adopted a very Nagel-esque art style, and admired the way he would "Nagel-ize" celebrities doing portraits of them. Friends and more admired my works so much that they started to ask me to "Nagel-ize" them in their own portraits, and I did happily. Those were fun artsy days.
Pretty sure I’ve read that the appearance of Desire of the Endless was inspired by the cover of Rio. Certainly reminds me of the Nagel woman anyway (especially in their first appearance in The Doll’s House), and it’s a good fit: as you were saying it’s an art style that is just realistic enough to suggest an ideal one can project aspirations onto - somewhat perfect for the character of Desire!
I was thinking of Desire as well! so happy to see this comment ❤
That connection is, for me, one of the best ways to explain how UNRELATABLE these women were. They were aspirational figures - what you may want to be, but not what you saw yourself in. Not the "everyman" identification with cartoon figures at all (which are often caricatures anyway).
The style does very much lend itself to a shifting, even non-gender specific interpretation, though. Feminised, sexy, but in a fluid way. The connection to the woman on Rio is perfect for Desire, then, and all that they are.
A print by Nagel that hung in my father's hobby room now hangs in my son's bedroom.
That was beautiful artwork.
Nagel prints were all over print media in the Eighties and were quite widespread even in Southeast Asia. I not only saw his work everywhere but even knew his name growing up.
I've enjoyed Patrick Nagel's artwork since I was a little kid in the 80's and I own a book on his art which covers a spectrum of what he did during his life. His minimalist style is really enticing to look at.
I have that book too (with the grey cover, right?).
@@sandrafaith - Yep, mine does have a grey cover.
I worked in a photographic studio in the 1980s doing black-and-white printing, the high-key portrait with skin tones completely blown out & a pair of nostrils floating in featureless white paper was very much a thing at the time, as I recall.
I deeply disagree with the idea that we are drawn to cartoonish art because we can see ourselves in it. Cartoons are loved for many reasons. I feel like his art was appreciated because it was a brilliant combo of artistic style and empty space that produced a calming effect. There was room to breathe and places for the eyes to rest. These stunning women were unattainable, otherworldly, and definitely not something I could relate to.
“I deeply disagree with the idea that we are drawn to cartoonish art because we can see ourselves in it.”
I’m with you. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard something that just sounds more like some made-up assertion than “When we see one [a cartoon], we fill in its blanks with ourselves.” I can say with absolute certainty that when I look at, say, Roy Lichtenstein’s _Drowning Girl,_ I do _not_ “fill in its blanks” with myself.
I think one might be misunderstanding. This isn’t saying that’s the only reason. It’s probably one of the major reasons. People like to see themselves in things. That’s not debated or new. It’s a possible reason, albeit asserted as fact but it more or less is.
@@stephengehly2319 Whether or not that’s one of the major reasons-I don’t think it is but that’s neither here nor there-I’d say the nature of a cartoon or cartoon-like art doesn't _preclude_ seeing oneself in it, at least not in the way a more realistic depiction might.
@@jeff__w yeah like the concept of the audience filling in the gaps is definitely A Thing in art and obviously some artists are guided by that concept but it feels way too reductive to say that for all or even most cartoons-especially not nagel’s work
I think it is a strong reason we like some cartoons. But you’re right that this is not the case with Nagel’s work. Like you said, his women were unattainable and most women would have a hard time relating to them.
My entire life I thought of it being Desire of the Endless.
thats what i thought when i saw the thumbnail
Same. In fact, Neil Gaiman himself has said that he suggested to Mike Dringenberg that he use Nagel's art as inspiration for Desire
I actually discovered Nagel's work from two prints that were hanging in a halfway house that my dad was staying at (yes, really.) I looked into him when I saw a copyright to his name in the bottom corner of the print, and I really fell in love with the art style. It became a huge influence on my own art. I still frequently reference Nagel's work when I'm trying to get just the right feel from a certain drawing. His is so stripped down and focused, and expresses a lot of feeling that I often try to. I immediately recognized his art in the thumbnail of this video. He's genuinely one of my favorite artists.
My parents lived in the Dallas area in the late '80s and purchased almost a dozen Nagel prints in that time. I grew up with the prints around the house and they left a strong impression on me-I was shocked when I found out the Nagel girls weren't portraits of my own mother. To your point about the ambiguous universality of cartoons, it was very easy to project the image of my mom into the prints, and in a backwards sorta way I feel like I imprinted on the Nagel women in the same way one does with their own parent(s) at a young age.
I now have two of the prints in my apartment-the sunglasses/burgundy lipstick on a yellow backdrop (0:34) and the sage green/salmon (2:30).
I often wonder whether Nagel's style had an influence on the art of Disney's Pocahontas in the '90s, the minimalist lines and dynamic, almost-living jet black hair seem like a dead ringer for his work.
Reminds me of that cartoon for adults from idk 10+ years ago now that only got 1 season. Every character design and even the environment was based of that art style.
Moonbeam City
@@MayorOfEarth79 thanks!!
Comedy Central made a mistake canceling that one just because it cost more to make, but it was actually good. They gave another crappy cartoon another season, but they canceled that one anyway (it wasn't good and the art was fugly).
I never realized that the episode of American Dad was actually referring to the ubiquity of Nagel women art in the salons, despite also having been aware of the reprints being a part of salon decor (and having been born in the 80s, waiting for my mom at her salon at least 3 times a year and as oft as monthly meant I had plenty of time to see them.) It's a pretty funny episode, but now I wonder if it will be less or more funny to me now that I've become aware of the connection.
There was a shortlived animated series with Nagel's artstyle, titled "Moonbeam City".
I do nails and my goal in life is not only to own a Nagel print but to have my own salon to put it up in. He is my ultimate art idol for his design and i have been in love with his works since i went to a Hispanic salon with my mom growing up. The closest i ever came to buying one was a client i had in Sonoma County, she had an original print in her consignment shop for 375$ but i couldn't justify buying it at the time.
My pops had a house in Newport Beach in the 80s and 90s and had these all over the walls along with neon lights. Great memories!
I think he made the poster graphics retail store-which every mall had along with a Musicland and a Sbarro-places where you could shop for pop art about cars, fashioin, sports, humor and music and décor-generally supplanted by novelty shops like Spencers and Hot Topic finally dwindling to a an aisle at Walmart and then an endcap.
Duran Duran album cover, unforgettable! On a side note, a lot of men died of "heart attacks" and "cancer" in the 80s; AIDS was rampant and few if any families wanted to have their loved one remembered that way. RIP Nagel, and thank you for your iconic art that personified an era.
I am so glad I came across this video. I worked for our local newspaper drawing art and creating advertisements for decades. Our huge books of clip art contained a lot of Mr. Nagel's work. I always admired his minimalism. I had no idea who the artist was, but now I do! Thank you!
Nagel never made any clip art. All of the Nagel clip art images were fakes. And nearly all of the images that ended up in nail salons were those same clip art fakes.
It's fascinating how everywhere we look, everything has a story to tell. This reminds me of the richness that is all around us, but that we are most often oblivious to. Thank you for sharing yet another wonderful story and adding more meaning to my world!
I find it strange to expect inclusivity in art and especially this man’s art. The dark haired, grey-eyed, translucent woman is the muse as it seems all/most of his women have the same colour palette. This was the colour palette or aesthetic he was entranced with. The limitation and simplified colour palette he used should not be construed as some statement of exclusion. His work is line and form and there one can see a multitude of women. One can also see the play of negative space within the subject by using this high contrast style.
@@Dimitris_Half I disagree, some of the women have distinct almond shaped eyes possibly marking Asian descent as in his work named Papillon Gallery. And there is a silk screen print named Casa Lupita which is of a Latina woman.
I'd always thought it was the same woman, over and over again: his muse, as you say. Only in watching this video do I see a *little* variation. (But I've never been good at recognizing faces.) This is not to belittle Nagel's art, which I've always found breathtaking.
Exactly definitely not for black women and their natural hair. But thats stated in the video right after.
I note that he doesn't even seem to be into blonde women at all, lol. Now THAT's limited interests!
The ringing phone, hair salon, Nagel art evokes a feeling tied to memory of the many visits to hair salons.
Childhood memory unlocked. I remember seeing these images whenever my mom went to the hair salon in the ‘90s.
I have a collection of old Nagel girl posters from old hair salons. Sure they're just posters and not originals, but they hold that nostalgic 80s look and feel that I'm absolutely obsessed with
I want to see her in an animated film. I can just see her moving effortlessly, saying very little, if anything at all. Ending with where is she now? Is she a graceful elder? Is she a warm grandmother? Does she stoicly listen to the long, frantic breathless monologs of a child?
If you like weird humor, go find Moonbeam City, it uses the style.
Maybe she's a grandmother who delivers her own breathless monologues about her life in the 80s :P
I’ve always loved his work. It’s so quintessentially 80s! Gorgeous!
It's nice to see who the artist is. I'm from the US and many nail shops, hair salons and laundry services used these images a lot. I also started to see a resurgence for City Pop album covers around 2015.
It's funny that "Nagel" is the word for "nails" in Swedish.
Also in Dutch.
Also in German.
Also in Klingon.
Do not quote me on that.
So, wait, was there an _actual reason_ given why this art is in every hair salon? Were they promoted to or by the hair salon industry? Were they sold at especially cheap prices or maybe even given away for free at trade shows? Why is this art in every hair salon?
@@dreamlarking “i wish the video had delved into this…” Well, yeah, especially because it’s _the title_ of the video.
Ahahahaaa I didn’t know you meant THESE specific women😂 I’m not from the US, so these EXACT posters are probably culturally specific, But I can tell you so much: we don’t get these specific women on posters, but almost all hair salons have photographs on the wall that have these exact angles and hair styles. So I guess this really speaks to their timelessness.
Of course, I had a Duran Duran "Rio" LP in the 80s, but so did almost everybody I knew! 🤗
During that time, while visiting an art gallery in Venice, CA, I remember walking through the back storage room/framing area to get to the other gallery across the alley. And in that framing area, I passed by some shelves with stacks of signed Patrick Nagel serigraphs worth hundreds of dollars! They were right next to the open roll-up steel doors! Seemed so "tempting" in a way, but the "angel" on my shoulder said NO! 🤣
Anyway, thanks for a trip down memory lane...
I miss the 80s! 😎
This makes me see why this art inspired the design of Desire from The Sandman
Nagel is one of my favorite artists!!!
I have several of his prints (many of which where shown in this video) and have them proudly displayed in my home!!! Most are at least 35 + years old, but still look & feel modern to me!!! Thanks for this great post!!!
I've had a hardcover book of Nagel's work for decades, the bold colors and the economy of his lines are still an inspiration for my drawings even today. It saddens my every time I see his work so blatantly plagerized by so many including artist Plaboy hired after his death. He was moving into creating sculptures of his "women" shortly before he died, they had an Egyptian appeal that took them beyond simply looking like mannequin heads.
Ive got a giant framed Nagel Print in my hallway. the one shown at 4:06
I found it when cleaning out a house that belonged to a hoarder. I couldn't bring myself to toss it. It was captivating.
This was almost 7 years ago. Ive moved twice and always make sure to find a place for that hauntingly beautiful stare.
From the thumbnail and before starting the video, I legit thought this was Desire from the Sandman.
After watching now I think that Desire's design may have been inspired by Nagel's women and men of course. (it's inspired by Nagel's art)!
The last woman at 0:09, my family has had a print of since I can remember. It's only become more enchanting as I grow older, always loved the sharp lines.
Awesome video
It annoys me that this art became synonymous with cheap saloons. Because I love it! I have a few prints my self, but every time I hang them I just get saloon comments 😔
This was my childhood. The 80's were a fun time to be a kid. Miami Vice, Robert Plant, Shopping malls.. Good times.
I actually drew a picture of my mom from the 80s in the style of Nagel for Mother's Day about five years ago. It's an aesthetic that I have always loved and wish I had the moolah to own a real Nagel.
Holy shit is this art style the inspiration for Gozer's look in Ghostbusters?!
Nagel was a master. I was 20 when I purchased my first Nagel serigraph in 1982 for $44 at a small studio, and eventually sold the seri for $440 a few years later, a testament to his rise of popularity. In the end, I owned maybe 20 of his seris, but ultimately sold them in the late 1990's as my tastes focused elsewhere (though, I'm still an avid poster art collector and fan). Still, Nagel's artwork still holds tremendous power and effect, even today. I appreciated your observation about his evolutionary style veering toward simplicity. "Palm Springs Life" was one of the images you featured in the video, and it was my favorite of all of the serigraphs I owned. Through my life, I often reflected on that image and what the women was conveying about living a comfortable and warm life -- and the simplicity of the image encouraged me to insert myself into that idyllic environment. I am now living that Palm Springs Life after enjoying 40-years of successful career and reflection on what started as a beautiful women in a poster with an enigmatic smile.
"Nagel, you're a genius! Sunfaded prints of your paintings will never be found in Korean hair salons!"
The American Dad episode about this guy was hilarious!
"...faded ambassadors of cool for a bygone era." Love this!
Also let’s not forget the show Moonbeam City that was a cartoon that used his artwork for the entire show.
Thank you for th recommendation
I love this art style so much! I love the aesthetic and aura it gives
It's crazy that this was published just 1 day after I learned about these prints! I'm lucky and thankful there was such succinct and well-explained video on the topic just as my curiosity needed itching.
I completely fell in love with Nagel's style. I still have one of his portfolios I think.
I get inspired every time I watch a Nerdwriter video
I absolutely love Nagel’s art, it’s very beautiful yet elegant.
I know him from Duran Duran, but now that you mention the hair salons and and classic Playboy I do remember seeing him there too. I looked him up after recently listening to the band again a couple years ago.
Moonbeam City is an animated short series that uses the same art style. It is so beautiful.
I always loved these images. They felt like Warhol meets Art Deco meets Japanese woodblock. I don't think even with the fact they are white women, that it totally shuts out anyone. And yes there was at least one in all three shops my hair dresser back home worked at over the years. Heck there's one on the cover of a very old hair style book at the shop I've been going too for the last 25 years.
Wow! These always remind me of my best friends from my childhood. The living room at her house had that rose pink carpet, gray velour furniture and one of these large prints on the wall. It was so awesome.
This is my genre, my favorite type of art and my core art style, as an artist! Love everything about it I’ve been obsessed with this style of art since I was very very small. Love how the narrator captures the elements of the psychology behind it. Duran Duran was also my favorite band in the 80s❤️❤️❤️
@4:17 the Nagel women are a beautiful display of modern Art Deco sophistication. Me being Black/ my race never crossed my mind when looking at Nagel's art. Who the hell is that white? Whose face is that symmetrical?No one. It's surreal art.
Yeah…. These are abstract graphic images…. Also a ton of these appeared as magazine illustrations. Bringing up race is beyond redundant.
I've never seen anything like this in the UK
I have in London
@@eolay4411 Ah I've never been to London
I was so drawn to these in the 90’s. Thank you.
I just want to say thank you for the years of wonderful video essays. The algorithm isn't always kind to quality content. When I'm reflecting on the best content on TH-cam, your account is one that comes to mind. Appreciate you!
When you are a kid in the hair salon looking at all those Nagel women, the last thing on your mind would be 'hey, white woman!' wouldn't it just be 'oh, that's pretty cool!'? I remember wanting to try every style portrayed. And sorta developed an art style similar to it too now that I kind about it.
theres a song that goes "youre as fake as a beauty shop nagel" and i never knew what that line meant until now!
As a graphic designer who worked always digitally but was trained by people who used to work traditionally I have to clear something about the ‘’vector’’ comments. Back before CMYK printing was affordable, most publications had most of all of their inner pages in black and white. So it was very important for any Logo or line art to be able to be reproduced clearly in black and white. That led to the stylization of images. It was a process were you would get a black and white photo, and at first with white correction fluid and a black marker you would discard gradually any unnecessary elements, trying to streamline and simplify it down to its most basic but also interesting forms. Then you would lay transparent paper and tidy up your lines. Using variant line weights and breaking contours where the human mind could complete by its own the image, while leaving visually interesting shapes was the desirable result. I bet you all have seen the famous Che Guevara t shirts. That’s how it was done.
Vector art does pretty much the same thing but digitally. There are many tools today that will vectorize any image. BUT they just convert a photo to flat surfaces. If you really want to have a result similar to those classic stylized images, you still have to sit down and adjust everything manually.
We had one of these above the sofa in the early 90s along with a Greg Brown Whitney Hopter Graphics print in the kitchen, for years I thought it was a Duran Duran poster and now it all makes sense haha. But yea I remember these in literally every hair salon I went to back then
The short-lived cartoon Moonbeam City used this style for the characters to capture that perfect 80's ascetic.
The idea that Nagel never became a household name isn't totally accurate. Most of my friends in the 80s knew exactly what a "Nagel print" was, but that's in LA. But anyway, there he was a household name.
His name was known in the Philippines during the same era when I was exposed to his work, also in hairdressers and nail salons.
@@rorqualmaru Ours were in dorm rooms.
When I think of the big pieces of popular artwork from the 80s, Nagel's work come immediately to mind. The artwork was an icon of the decade. I remember my friend had the one shown in 4:51 framed on a wall, and I thought it was damn awesome.
My grandparents were hairdressers so seeing this unlocked some memories of when I was a kid
I have a large serigraph of a Nagel woman. Bought it at a goodwill for 20 bucks.
Ah these were what that cartoon Moonbeam City imitated style-wise
In early 80,'s I met this guy, his apartment walls covered w/ his 'collection': 50% framed Nagels & 5o% glossy white face ceramic harlequin/jester mask w/ ribbon & bell accents.
It's finally about time that Nagel is getting the credit he deserves. One of the finest and most unique artists of his time, easily dismissed to his success commercially.