Jerome Biederman Automobile Illustrations

Transportation was his passion.

Born in 1913, Jerome Biederman was a nationally recognized illustrator of transportation. Whether his subject was an automobile, aircraft, or locomotive, his renderings were technically accurate and highly detailed. His medium of choice was tempera paint on illustration board.

After graduating from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he entered the advertising world where he did almost everything except illustration. By 1940, he chose to leave the corporate advertising world and return to the creative atmosphere of a studio.

For many years, Biederman’s steadiest assignments and commissions came from calendar companies. His work appeared regularly in Automobile Quarterly, Horseless Carriage Gazette and other magazines. Before Biederman passed away in 1996, he donated many of his illustrations to the Detroit Historical Society’s collection.

This traveling exhibition, on loan from the Detriot Historical Society, features 28 colorful and painterly framed renderings of automobiles spanning the years 1903 through 1955. These include many manufacturers that no longer exist, such as Lozier, Paige, Brush, and Scripps-Booth.