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Category Archives: Illustrators
AUSTIN COOPER’S FASCINATING BOOK , MAKING A POSTER
The career of graphic designer, Austin Cooper (1890-1964), may be characterized as enacting how British Canadians were, less than a hundred years ago. Born in the farming village of Souris, Manitoba, he hopped over to Montreal, and then to London, … Continue reading
THE PROS ARE GETTING YOUNGER AND YOUNGER: TORONTO’S OCADU GRAD SHOW
One of the graphic design participants at last weekend’s Ontario College of Art and Design University grad show (quite a mouthful, but also quite a handful) was a bright and charming young woman with whom we spent a while expressing … Continue reading
POSTERS AND PUBLICITY 1929—MORE AND MORE MARVELS
Extending beyond the delicious color priorities of the 1928 edition, the process here, in the production of one year later, applies itself to compositional matters. Here the poster for the Vienna Fair gives us a convening of stylized, streamlined ship, … Continue reading
LIVING WALLS
Architectural design is something city dwellers tend to be as addicted to as they are to the jolts from their coffee shops. A bemusing and most absorbing instance of this devotion is the proliferation of upgrading tired facades with scintillating … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Illustrators, Industrial Design
Tagged Mural Art, Toronto, uber5000, urbanity
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MURAL ART: A CALL TO PARADISE
Since the time of cave-dwellers, there has been mural art. Installing imagery on a much-frequented structure has, through the ages, elicited much-needed focus upon what makes life worth living. From caves to cathedrals, the setting would act as a complement … Continue reading
BRINGING TO US THE SIZZLE OF LINE, COLOR AND TEXTURE—GEBRAUCHSGRAPHIK
The still life on this cover is a tipoff that the editors want us to consider here the reverb elicited by, first and foremost, awe-inspiring color lithography.
NO BUSINESS FOR OLD MEN–THE EFFERVESCENCE OF GEBRAUCHSGRAPHIK
There are many ways of fathoming and enjoying graphic design from that arresting era when lithography was the primary innovative medium. One quite marvellous way we have not until now considered is the phenomenon of deluxe periodicals whereby exponents of … Continue reading
BLACK AND RED: NOT MERE COLORS!
At the outset of lithographic poster communications (in the 1890′s), an inspired French designer, Jules-Alexandre Grun, hit upon color cues to evoke the addictive verve and uncanniness of Belle Epoque Paris delights.
JEAN COCTEAU: AN ARTIST NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN
During the German Occupation of Paris, Jean Cocteau, assisted by his friend, Jean Marais, shook off a decade-long oblivion due to opium addiction, and wrote the script for Robert Bresson’s film, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1944/1945).
LADIES IN ADVERTISING
So often you’ll hear that advertising demeans women, that it tends to imply that they are mere physical entities with no more-elevated features. This seems a dynamite argument, until you stop to consider, “What’s wrong with physical riches?” Sure, calculative … Continue reading