Under Cover: Nathan Machtey, Illustrator and Art Director

Nathan Machtey was born on March 14, 1907 in Yonkers, New York according to his World War II draft card. His parents were Solomon Machtey and Minnie Rabinowitz, both Russian immigrants.

The 1910 United States Census counted Machtey (line 27) as the fifth of six siblings. The family were Yonkers residents at 4 Jefferson Street. Machtey’s father was a minister.

Young Machtey entered the contests of the New York Evening World’s “Kiddie Club Korner” which was created by Eleanor Schorer. Twelve-year-old Machtey received an honorable mention in the September 4, 1919 newspaper.

The Machteys (lines 94 to 100) were at the same address in the 1920 census. The Yonkers Statesman, June 25, 1920, said Machtey graduated Public School Number Ten. Machtey attended Yonkers High School.  

 

Machtey’s cartoon appeared in the Yonkers Statesman, January 28, 1921.

In 1921 the Evening World had a children’s contest called Summer School of Drawing. Machtey won the ten-dollar award on August 10 (below) and was awarded the consolation prize of one dollar three times for his entries. His name appeared August 8, 10, 12, and 29.

 

Machtey was a member of the Sketch Club. The Yonkers Statesman, November 14, 1922, said

The problem of the Sketch Club of Yonkers High School, at present is the drawings for the first publication of the “Aegis.” All drawings must be in on Nov. 24. The preliminary drawings were submitted last Friday. Joseph Musial is the art editor: Dorothy Graves has charge of headings; Eileen Blackburn is the cover editor; Inger Veise has charge of illustrations of stories; Nathan Machtey has charge of the cartoons, and Dorothy Rellly has charge of outside advertising. Each of these people is responsible for his department. Those who are not selected to finish drawings for the “Aegis” will design Christmas cards. ...

In April 1924 Machtey was one of forty participants who challenged Alexander Alekhine, of Russia, in chess. There were no winning challengers and one draw.

The Yonkers Statesman, June 27, 1924, reported the class of 1924 graduation.

Yonkers High School Sketch Club Scholarships, presented by the Sketch Club from funds earned by the club together with donations from club friends: $100 in cash awarded to Nathan Machtey; $75 in cash awarded to Joseph Musial.

Blackboard yearbook

 

Machtey continued his studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Machtey’s watercolor, “Reflections”, was shown at the 1926 Annual Combined Exhibition of the New York Water Color Club and American Water Color Society.

The Yonkers Statesman, June 7, 1927, said

Mr. Machtey is completing a three year commercial art course. He has been specializing in portraits and illustration. Some of his work has been on exhibition at Pratt during this past week. Mr. Machte[y] received the basis for his art training while at the Yonkers High School, from which he graduated in 1924. There he was Art Editor of the Blackboard and the Aegis. His home is 74 Hawthorne Avenue.

Prattonia yearbook

The graduation was covered in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 23, 1927.

In the 1930 census, Machtey (line 54) lived with his parents in Yonkers. He was an artist at “U. Litho”.

On February 19, 1931, Machtey and Ethel Axel obtained marriage license number 1393 in the Bronx. They married two days later.

The early the 1930s were a productive time for Machtey who had publisher, Grosset & Dunlap, as one of his clients. Here are some of Machtey’s covers.

1930
The Bat/The Bat Whispers; Ex-Mistress; Journey’s End; The Office Wife; Put on the Spot

 

1931
$20 a Week; The Big House; The Black Camel (signed with year 30); Charlie Chan Carries On; Cosair; Dolores Divine Guilty or Innocent; Frankenstein; Goal to Go!; Heaven on Earth; Lost Ecstasy; The Man Who Came Back; The Men in Her Life; Penrod and Sam; Personal Maid; Trader Horn; The Trial of Vivienne Ware; Westy Martin in the Sierras; Young Eagle of the Trail

1932
At the Sign of the Queen Pedauque; The Beast of the City; The Heritage of the Desert; The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales of Horror; Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; The Rich Are Always with Us; Tess of the Storm Country; Second Choice; Loot

 

1933
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back; The Invisible Man; Peg O’ My Heart

1934
Miss Barrett’s Elopement

 

Yesterday’s Gallery & Babylon Revisited has a large selection of Machtey’s jackets.

Machtey’s illustrations appeared in the following magazines and newspaper supplements:

Liberty
July 8, 1933; August 5, 1933; February 12, 1944; March 24, 1945; November 17, 1945

 

This Week
March 15, 1936; February 14, 1937; July 11, 1937; November 7, 1937; November 14, 1943; March 12, 1944; June 11, 1944

The Saturday Evening Post
February 20, 1937

Good Housekeeping
December 1937

Collier’s
December 18, 1943; July 15, 1944; January 13, 1945; April 8, 1945; April 28, 1945; February 9, 1946; May 18, 1946; August 31, 1946;

Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife
February 1943; June 1943; August 1944; February 1945; and May 1945

The Progressive Farmer
November 1947

 

Woman’s Day
March 1949

According to the 1940 census (enumerated April 5), Machtey (line 27) and Ethel were Manhattan residents at 40 Monroe Street. He was a commercial artist.

The couple registered as Democrats on October 14, 1940. The voter register said their address was 760 Riverside Drive in Manhattan. The same address appeared on Machtey’s draft card which he signed two days later. He was employed at the Board of Education. His description was five feet seven-and-a-half inches, 165 pounds, with gray eyes and blonde hair.

The New York Sun, July 15, 1943, listed the new teachers including Machtey who taught commercial art at Bronx Vocational High for Boys.

In 1948 Machtey moved his family to Miami, Florida. The 1950 census (lines 14 to 17) said his address was 6236 SW 10th Street in West Miami. He was an advertising commercial artist.

At some point Machtey became art director at the Charles Anthony Gross advertising agency. He was listed in the 1956 and 1958 Television Age Yearbook, and the 1962 Radio Annual and Television Year Book.

Machtey’s mother passed away on December 24, 1949, and his father on March 25, 1960.

Machtey passed away on May 20, 1986. His obituary appeared in the Miami Herald, May 23, 1986.

Nathan Machtey, book illustrator
Services were held Thursday for Nathan Machtey, an illustrator of short stories and book covers. Mr. Machtey died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 79.

Though much of Mr. Machtey’s work was done as a freelance illustrator of action and drama to accompany stories and novels, and later, as a commercial art director, “his most satisfying work was done after he retired and painted full time,” said Ethel, his wife of 55 years.

His heart attack was very sudden, and Mr. Machtey died “with a lot of work he still wanted to do,” she said.

In retirement, Mr. Machtey worked with oils creating landscapes and portraits. He never worked toward a public exhibition, but did sell some of his art to collectors. “Our home is his gallery,” his wife said.

Born in Yonkers, N.Y., most of Mr. Machtey’s work as a freelance illustrator was done while he lived in Manhattan. Through an agent, he would get commissions to illustrate stories for magazines such as Redbook. He would read the stories and decide which episode would be most appropriate for illustration.

“It was fun,” his wife said. “It was interesting and he liked that very much.”

During the 1930s and 1940s, magazines frequently used drawings rather than photographs to illustrate articles, and it was then that Mr. Machtey did most of his freelance work. In addition to illustrating magazines, he also drew book jacket covers for hardcover reprints of movie tales for publisher Grosset and Dunlap Inc. For those, he was required to portray likenesses of the stars, whose “faces were larger than life,” Ethel Machtey said.

With the decline of magazine illustration work after World War II, Mr. Machtey moved to Miami in 1948, getting a job as the art director for a local commercial firm. “It was the first time he ever got a regular job,” his wife said.

Twelve years ago, he retired to salve his own creativity in oil. “They are beautiful pictures,” said his wife.

In addition to his wife, survivors include one daughter, Benita; one brother, Israel; one sister, Bea; and three grandchildren.

The Riverside Hollywood Chapel was in charge of arrangements.

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(Next post on Monday: Art Lettering Alphabet)