Where are the real-life Mad Men today? Well, if a group show at NYC's Gallery225 (225 W. 14th St.) is any indication, they're following their creative impulses instead of their mercenary ones. Curator Harv Toback, who worked in the biz back in the 1960s, gathered the work of four commercial artists active in advertising at the same time as Mad Men is set for Group Show + 4 Mad Men. "Originally this was going to be just a group show," Toback explains. "But then it dawned on me, having seen Mad Men on television, that four of us were from that era." The quartet (Saul Lambert, Seymour Leichman, Les Richter and Toback himself) worked at firms such as DKG, Ted Bates and LGFE. Today, they're fine artists producing paintings, illustrations, and even pottery.

So how accurate is Mad Men's portrayal of their bygone world? "The smoking, drinking and womanizing was all true," notes Toback, who should know -- he served as art director, creative director, and partner at various times. Toback's exhibition, which runs through October 31, isn't the only show in town either.

The New York Public Library is exhibiting "Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue: Their Impact on American Culture," until Friday, September 26. This show celebrates the contributions of copywriters and artists from firms like Young & Rubicam, Ted Bates and BBDO -- agencies that were "prototypes for the atmosphere and culture portrayed in the AMC television series Mad Men." On display are more than 200 ads, posters, books, TV commercials, and other paraphernalia, including work from women pioneers in the field like Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, Mary Wells Lawrence and Shirley Polykoff, the originator of Clairol's "Does she or doesn't she?" ad.

Photograph: "Houdini" by Seymour Leichman