The Firebird

This work of Boris Zvorykin is incredible. After scanning these I checked the internet and saw where these are posted here and there, but the resolution of those scans seemed to be minimal.  So I'm going ahead and post these, showing a bit more detail than elsewhere. 

I will post his other fairy tale illustrations somewhat soon.

Invisible Architecture

Well, I think I've set the stage enough that I can now wander up and down the corridors of my library of images and not have to be even remotely chronological. If you've read along, and I'm guessing you haven't, you know my obsession with images. If I had saved everything of that sort that I had ever owned, we could have quite a show here. But time and tide disperse of all things, yet I did manage to keep my sanity and keep a few. And this stuff does help keep my sanity in a world where we all have to die. This stuff has helped me live. The love of imagery has been the invisible architecture of the structure of my life.

"Artist-illustrator Frank Carson, who produced over 3000 constructions in a four year period, proposed that we reinvestigate the whole concept of intuitive, non-linear thinking, what he called, 'nature's own path, the path of least resistance'. Carson opened a window into a math of circles and curves, fundamentally different from traditional mathematics. He developed a new geometry which he declared is a 'new mandala or great key to awakening of these unconscious powers of the psyche.' "

—Architecture / May 1990

Whatever a person's understanding of these concepts, clearly art and science can come together beautifully.

My Little Golden Age

There I was, rummaging through cast offs of the New York Times Book Review, clipping David Levine caricatures, and David Johnson illustrations of literary legends. New Yorkers, Saturday Reviews, Sunday supplements, comics, TV Guide, brochures, paperback books, art magazines, architectural magazines, history magazines, men's magazines, women's magazines, kid's magazines---nothing was safe from this dork. This was my golden age.

Fitzgerald and Flaubert by David Johnson

Thomas Mann by David Johnson

Dashiell Hammett by David Johnson

WH Auden by David Johnson

Maybe this was, maybe this wasn't the reference for the above drawing?

my Little Golden Age

This composition is wonderful isn't it? It's lively and full of character. It's a David Johnson illustration for The Piano Recital by John Podhoretz from one of the slick literary magazines.

My Little Golden Age

People spend a lot of time naming eras and speculating on their values. The Golden Age is a term that naturally evokes nostalgia—for a time that probably wasn't so great at the time, but in hindsight seems pretty peachy.

The golden age of comics has been debated for years and not everyone can agree. The quote that comes up now is that the golden age of comics is when you're nine. My little golden age was when I was 10 to 16. From 1962 to 1968 my exposure to pictorial art was astounding. No matter where I looked, or what I spent, golden material was everywhere. Old stuff was still cheap—reaching back to the 19th century. New stuff was coming out weekly that made my eyes pop and my heart flutter. This was the time Frazetta was in his prime and his illustrated books were 35 cents or 50 cents new on the newstand, and his slightly older ones were easily discovered in expeditions through dusty old bookshops. 

Magazines still hired illustrators, Norman Rockwell in Look and SatEvePost, Bob McCall in Boy's Life, Bob Peak in Time, so many others in Time, and Playboy and on and on. The comic books were still smack in the middle of the Silver Age with beautiful work by Kubert and Curt Swan and Mort Drucker and Neal Adams and so many others.

I didn't realize at the time, of course, how golden it was. By the end of the decade times changed, I changed, and the material became scarcer, more expensive, not so creative and beautiful. But collections can last a long time and looking through the collection, I remember where I bought this item or what I was doing when I read that one. Memories are embedded in the contents of my bookshelves and morgue. 

I was innocent but maturing. The spectrum of my interests was huge. I enjoyed artwork from Peter Pan at the same time as enjoying artwork from Little Annie Fanny.

Ah but I'm waxing nostalgiac. Today is another golden age with the internet. So many people are posting so many treasures that it's impossible to encompass it all. It's free and it's far-ranging, it's golden. Thank you all for sharing.

The original golden age as seen by Ingres.

Looking at this Disney Golden Book again recently, I was astounded by its Disneyish beauty. A large hardback for $1!

Frazetta covers stirred the depths of my imagination and inspired me to read deeply.

Some covers stirred my imagination more deeply than others.

And Frazetta was even recognizable in other mediums and formats. I was delighted to discover his renderings of Annie.

My Little Golden Age

Frank Kelly Freas

Chesley Bonestell

Bob Peak

detail

more detail

Hidden Forces

There's nothing like a New Yorker cartoon to evoke the pathos of our lives...

Ephemera

This little piece of ephemera didn't even survive intact, after all these years, yet I consider it a little gem. Alfred E as the sphinx is only part of a back cover of Mad that parodied Reader's Digest. Painted by Joe Orlando, it is packed with fun in one small image, as the usual gang of idiots was capable of back in those days.

Sources

I love discovering the sources that artists use, and figuring the process of creation. Of course Mel Ramos made no secret of his uses of popular culture, it was his modus operandi. Still it was fun finding the match.

Sorry to disappoint, but I never did find that sea lion walrus sofa guy thing.

Classic Graphic(s)

I love images that you darn well know is art and not a photo, but has that elusive quality of being alive with spirit. Gerald Cassidy was a fine painter, but also a great graphic artist, as this suite of drawings demonstrates. Incorporating artful type, and bold outlines, and silhouetted shapes, and beautiful negative space—and well, just everything is so satisfying to look at.

Classic Graphic(s)

Panama-Pacific International Expo 1915

For All It's Worth

Jim Payne sold me a copy of Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing For All Its Worth and Creative Illustration when I was 14 or 15, and I've referred to them every year since. Loomis was the consumate illustrator's illustrator in his day, but is still influencing students in the 21st century. His techniques were flawless, as were his female studies. I wish someone would do a definitive book about the man and his work. 

I will be posting more of his work from time to time. Even though it is available here and there on the internet, I haven't seen much in really good resolution, so I will try to provide that.

For All It's Worth

Loomis' work was copied not only by thousands of amateurs, but by more than a few pros. The bottom 3 are just ones I've noticed lately. But I have seen his poses reflected in many illustrations over the years.