Chapter 23 - FISK TIRES
AND THE SLEEPY BOY - Part One

Chapter 23 - FISK TIRES
AND THE SLEEPY BOY - Part One

The Fisk Tire Company

Fisk's advertising legacy includes some of the most interesting campaigns carried out by manufacturers in the sector, bringing together the most prominent artists of the so-called Golden Age of American illustration such as Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell. Many of these artists reinterpreted and gave life to the adorable spokesman of the company, the sleepy Fisk boy in his pajamas, ready to re-tire to rest accompanied by a candle and holding a tire as a teddy bear. This article is an in-depth investigation into the corporate and advertising history of the Fisk Tire Company. It is chapter 23 from the dissertation by Pau Medrano-Bigas presented in 2015 and translated into English in 2018. It includes detailed descriptions of the numerous images that illustrate the text. There are over 500 images, most of which are shown for the first time, that had never been reproduced since they were created and published in the press of that time.
This is the first of three parts on the Fisk Tire Company provided by Pau Medrano-Bigas with permission to reproduce and enhance the Chicopee Archives Fisk Tire Company Magazine Ad Collection. This part includes a full description of the history of the Fisk Tire Company illustrated by ads and images from 1900 - 1916. Click here to view the entire dissertation by Pau Medrano-Bigas.

2015; 2018

2015

PDF

English translation

suggested citation:
Medrano-Bigas, Pau.
The Forgotten Years of Bibendum. Michelin’s American Period in Milltown:
Design, Illustration and Advertising by Pioneer Tire Companies (1900-1930).
Doctoral dissertation. University of Barcelona, 2015 [English translation, 2018].