Spine Out

3/9/11

Deface the Nation

The recent upheavals in the Middle East and other parts of the world have brought forth a barrage of one of the most potent forms of graphic expression: the defaced political poster. Let's leave aside the actual messages presented in these images—many of the posters come from an anti-Semitic mindset and others have insults not easily decipherable to western eyes. I'm still not sure how Mubarak can be both Hitler and an Israeli sympathizer. But is there a more passionate form of visual communication? On the home front we've seen Barack Obama photoshopped into The Joker, Hitler, and a bleeding-eyed Abraham Lincoln. These pale in comparison to the urgent paint and marker-ed images from the Middle East. Images that people risk their lives to create.

3/7/11

It's Back

50 Books/50 Covers returns

3/5/11

Almost 1000 signatures already!

3/4/11

3/3/11

3/2/11

Catching up

Casual Optimist interviews David Drummond

"Vip's" drinking art

A Journey Around My Skull is now 50watts.com

Family. A great bookstore in LA.

This series:

3/1/11

Upcoming events

A couple of talks/discussions/presentations I will be participating in.

AIGA Dog and Pony Show IV

I will be presenting my Nabokov presentation

at Galapagos on March 8th.

Not Dead Yet

I will be discussing the the future of the printed book with fellow cover meisters Henry Sene Yee and Helen Yentus at the Type Directors Club on March 16th. This is also Book Cover Night, so there will be drinks, snacks and lots of book covers to see.

2/22/11

Guest contributor: Luc Sante

The fact that it took so long for photography to get any respect is illustrated by how long it took for photographs to appear on book jackets, fiction in particular. When photos did appear they did so in France and on the noir tip, naturally. The Simenon is one of the first series of books he published under his real name, starting 1931. The Fantômas is from the 1932 second edition (after two decades of reprints). Both were published by Arthème Fayard, while the slim 60-odd-page Collection Police and Police et Mystère series (1932-1940) were put out by Ferenczi. The photographers repeat from one house to the next: Studio Piaz (best known for showbiz portraits, lasted into the 1950s), Lecram ("Marcel" backwards), Henri Manuel (a maker of official portraits, then an image factory), Hug Block (once Robert Capa's employer). Together they might make up the output of a small-time movie studio, with the Fayard titles upholding the high end like solid B pictures and the Ferenczis fizzing like slap-up improvised two-reelers.

Luc Sante decided at age 18 to be a writer rather than a graphic designer, and often thinks the grass looks greener over there. His cryogenically preserved blog can be found here. (He is also the author of one of the great books about New York, Low Life.)

Thanks Luc!

2/16/11

Protect and Observe

All this talk about police photography put me in the mind of my favorite traffic cop with a camera, Arnold Odermatt. Plus, this will be a good lead in for next weeks guest blogger. Stay tuned.