Edwin D. Mott

Edwin Debaun Mott (17 April 1894 – 1962) was an American architectural and landscape artist who developed a specialism in highly detailed aerial views.

[7] Mott continued the aerial perspective method used by Richard W. Rummell, the first artist to prepare Turner City, receiving the blueprints months in advance and first making cardboard models of each building on a table to get the scale right.

Then, in his studio in a converted garage, with the windows blacked-out, he would photograph the model from a step ladder and draw it in pencil, finishing with an ink wash.

Each building was numbered and a key on the reverse gave their real location, apart from during the Second World War when that information was secret.

[4] Around 1939, Mott's depiction of the General Motors' Highways and Horizons building for the 1939 New York World's Fair was shown in the company's publicity brochure for the exhibit.