postcards II

Another site with postcards. This one for traders (buyers and sellers). It also contains a lot of nice old postcards. On this site I found postcards of Kapelle, where I grew up.
Other cards are of Vlissingen, which was flooded not only in 1953 (after it had been bombed to pieces in the war), but also in 1906, and of Rotterdam (before it was toen apart by the Germans). There is also on eof Cadzand, where we spent our holidays.

 

postcards

Site with thousands of dutch postcards.

Far from complete but a great initiative!

Phillippe Apeloig

site of Phillipe Apeloig, a french typographer/graphic designer. His work seems very classically modernistic, yet his best work is more eclectic, playful and vivid. Sometimes funny. Which I like best.
He lives in New York and France.  He has worked for Total Design in Holland and with April Greiman in California.
These posts are all related to me reading the book "The Story of Graphic Design in France" by Michel Wlassikoff, which contains a lot of beautiful and often surprising (and unknown, to me) graphic design.

design in France

site on the history of graphic design and typography in France. The weirdest URL... untraceable. That's also french I guess

Oracle

History of the San Fransisco Oracle by one of it's founders Allen Cohen.
History of the Diggers
a bibliography of the Haight Ashbury also includes films.

Summer of Love

Link to a PBS documentary about the Summer of Love (San Fransisco, California, 1967). As I mentioned before I am reading a good book on the Haight Ashbury scene in the sixties. I wanted to know more about this period in the history of the United States and the history of the Counter Culture. An interest I have had for as long as I can remember, but which takes on a new shape all the time (from Thompson, to beats, to anti globalists)
This documentary is a nice introduction to th hippie phenomenom (of course the book I am reading is better).  The moving images are nice to see after having read so many details. For me it remains a period in time which is inspiriational. Until I imagine where all the ex hippies currently are and what they're doing. who they became, and what was left of their heritage. Also what it mutated in.

Posters

Here are two sites of fantastic Poster Makers. The Heads Of State and SmallStakes Both work ina different style but in all work the clean and simple but folky style is perfectly suited for what I think is the best client list ever: Wilco, Sufjan Stevens, Gomez, Iron and Wine etc. Some of the finest bands from the US. Actually those are not the direct clients (I think the concert halls are) but nevertheless I'd be willing to offer my small toes if I'd be able to work for bands like that (en being soo good at it). The design are extremely strong in their visual intelligence and wit. Respect mes amies!

Wes wilson

Wes Wilson was a poster designer (graphic artist is a better word) in the famous days of '66 an '67. He designed hundreds of brilliant rock posters, mainly for the Fillmore East. His skill and style evolved at a furious pace. His posters were very sought after and immediately copied by other artists that wanted to catch on to the "new wave" in graphic arts and the "hippie" style.
May 5 1967 he designed his last poster for Bill Graham, the famous owner of the Fillmore East and rock promoter., who replaced his work for the work of lesser but cheaper gods.
"his style was imitated in L.A., Austin and London (.....) Bill Graham had  already slipped in an occasional poster by another artist, so Wilson decided to demand a raise while his iron was hot. No Deal. Wilson's last poster showed a serpent with a bold dollar sign in its mouth"

from "The Haight Ashbury" by Charles Perry, 2005 (which I am currently reading of course)

This Site shows some pretty examples of his work.
This site sells them for an amount of money that Wilson would have laughed at when he printed them. They sell beautiful items though.





pictures copyright wes wilson, taken from http://www.collectable-records.ru/images/post/wilson/

Paul Davis

Paul Davis kicks ass.




This Paul Davis is quite good aswell

 Paul Faassen is not bad either

Though it's a bit too obvious which Paul imitates the other Paul.


It seems there's a lot of Paul Davisses. If they are all illustrators...pfew. That would be the day....

Distribution of Paul Davis Listings across the United States

To buy a rope.

postcards I

Nice site with hundreds of old postcards (penny cards). All from New York State.

Mainly architecture and landscape photo's Pre-1950

terroirism

excellently written shocking facts about today's wine market.

The King of Line Drawings

Al Hirschfield, also known as the king of line drawing made hundreds of caricature portraits for the Ne Yorker. The man is able to capture the spirit of his subjects with a minimum of lines. Even though I am not a particularly big fan of the caricature genre, this is something else. Striking and very very fluid. Heavily influenced by Japanese and European graphic artists (it seems to me) His own influence is big, major even.
There's a documentary about his life and work. This is a site whit a huge gallery of portraits. Enjoy!





portait of Woody Allen

PersePolis Screened

The critically acclaimed Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is now made into a movie. Trailer here

yet another

Yet another gallery to feature his work.

all gorgeous prints here

walhalla for Ware Prints

.

Look Kids this is how it's done

behold...

from october 28 - december 3, 2005 Chris Ware had an exposition at Adam Baumgold Gallery in New York

David cihla has a nice hobby (and money to spend)

I came across the site of a real estate agent. Judging on his site this man is not gifted with a great sense for style and taste.
My guess he does his business and he does it well. "Specializing in serving the needs of buyers and sellers on Chicago's north side" is his works' motto. Nothing suspicious you'd say. Just an all-American Clark Kent-like salesman bringing home the bread and the bacon.
If you add this extension to his URL though, you find that Davis has a hobby. He collects original Chris Ware artwork.
There are to me few things more exciting than Chris Ware artworks. A few years back I saw I think four original pages of Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan at the Whitney in New York. My mouth literally fell open (I think). I have always been a great fan of the now so called "graphic Novel" and especially of the Jimmy Corrigan series, but this was the first time I saw the craftsmanship, the staggering amount of detail, the obessive feel for contrast, line weight etc. It was also for the first time that it became clear that all lettering was done by hand. Yes, even all the titles and sub-headlines and vignettes, the fake blurbs of advertising, the long columns of comments and semi-intellectual gibberish..
For some time I have been looking to buy a piece of original artwork by Ware. It is clear that I am not the only fan. Ware's low output makes for even higher prices. I don't even know how much he puts on the market. The prices are in any way simply unaffordable.
I'd even do a small hitjob for one the truly magnificent posters or other serigraphs.
So that brings us back to dear David. This House-selling, grinning son of a real estator has no less than 35(!!!!) originals. No need to express my jealousy and envy. You probably feel the same way. Let's weep together. That will cheer us up won't it?
I guess, no I know, David has good taste. Why else would a man collect this work? But how did he start this collection. I he so wealthy that he just buys them at auctions? Or was he a so called early investor? Or is this guy a good Samaritan and old friend of Ware's? Questions, questions. Meanwhile I am stuck with the fact that I can only admire JPG's on a hidden page of a real estate agent's corny website.

decode unicode

This Decode Unicode poster displays 51.980 characters. This project s an effort to retrieve the meaning of some of the 98,884 graphic characters that Unicode 5.0 contains. From far it looks like a Turkish Rug. A fascinating work of information visualization.