Jim Flora

Flora talk & rare art show Dec 17 in NYC

2011-12-15T15:56:00.012-05:00

untitled tempera, early 1940s

Flora biographer/archivist me (Irwin Chusid) will present an informal talk about the artist's life, accompanied by digital projection of over 100 spectacular works from the Flora collection on Saturday, December 17, at Dorian Grey Gallery, New York. The wine begins pouring into cheap plastic cups at 4:00 pm, with the presentation starting at 5:00 pm sharp. Admission is free, but seating is limited, so arrive early. The event concludes around 7:00 pm.

The Dorian Grey Gallery, located at 437 East 9th Street (between 1st and A), is hosting The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, the first posthumous New York exhibit and sale of Jim Flora original art and prints. The exhibit opened on Nov. 19 and runs thru Jan. 8.

"visual pop in an off-kilter story"

2011-12-08T12:04:00.005-05:00

Pamela Paul in the New York Times reviews Enchanted Lion Books' new reprint of Flora's Kangaroo for Christmas:

Kangaroo for Christmas offered joy of an entirely different sort to the Sallys and Bobbys of the Mad Men era. First published in 1962, the story of little Kathryn’s astonishing gift from her Uncle Dingo showcases the marvelous period illustration of James Flora, a giant among midcentury commercial artists. Working in riotous bursts of carnation pink and deep teal, Flora adds visual pop to an off-kilter story that hardly needs it, but is gloriously zanier for it all the same.

Flora exhibit opens in New York, November 19

2011-11-14T23:47:00.005-05:00

The Dorian Grey Gallery will host The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, the first posthumous New York exhibit and sale of Jim Flora original art and prints. The exhibit opens with a reception on Nov. 19, and runs thru Jan. 8.

The gallery, located at 437 East 9th Street (between 1st and A), will showcase significant works from the Flora family collection, covering the 1940s to the late 1990s. Offerings include temperas on paper; woodcut prints (vintage and new); medium and large acrylics on canvas; pen & ink drawings on paper; fine art and screen prints, and branded Flora paper merchandise. Many exhibited works have not been previously published in our three Fantagraphics anthologies.

The above exhibit promo art (by Laura Lindgren, our Flora book designer) will be issued as a limited edition of 25 numbered fine art prints through Dorian Grey.

The exhibit is curated by yours truly, in conjunction with gallery owner Luis Accorsi and director Christopher Pusey. The Nov. 19 reception will include a live music set by the Cracked Latin trio, featuring vocalist Accorsi along with guitarist/vocalist Lane Steinberg and percussionist Charlie Zeleny.

Jim Flora 2012 Calendars

2011-10-19T04:54:00.000-04:00

Those perennial favorite Jim Flora calendars are in stock for 2012. You've got your bug-eyed saxophonist, an Aren't-We-Having-Fun? moon, and a manic drummer to guide you through the coming Leap Year. These are hand-printed mini-calendars measuring 10" x 4-1/2". If you prefer something of greater magnitude in a maritime motif, our Sheffield Island poster-sized calendar should suit your tastes:

Queztlcoatl Returns (again)

2011-10-18T06:22:00.004-04:00

Friend (and WFMU colleague) Therese Mahler joined us for an archiving visit to (what we call) the "Floratorium" (Norwalk CT storage space) in September 2008. Therese poses with a 1997 acrylic on canvas entitled Queztlcoatl Returns, rendered the year before Flora's passing. The work was first featured on this blog in January 2008 and reproduced in our third anthology, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora, the only Flora compendium still in print.

Well-Fed at Last

2011-10-15T05:18:00.012-04:00

These two tempera with pencil illustrations, differently titled yet seemingly related, were discovered in a mid-1960s Flora sketchpad pages apart. Both have a completed look, yet no discernible (or documented) purpose. Well-Fed At Last is signed, which indicates the artist considered the work finished and fit to behold. The alligator has a vicious or peeved demeanor. He has no love.

Local Government or the Commuter is unsigned, but has the added element of a homo sapien entree (moments before the dessert menu). Absent a context, the title appears to make no sense. Oddly, the alligator, who appears more satisfied than his above cousin, has one mismatched foot. His satisfaction no doubt derives from his happy meal.

puzzle pony

2011-10-12T03:46:00.000-04:00

Untitled, undated, unsigned woodcut print from Flora's Little Man Press days (1939-1942). The original block cannot be located, and we have no idea of the image's original context. It does not appear in any LMP publications.

electromechanical design

2011-10-09T01:29:00.000-04:00

Spot illustration, promotional brochure for trade journal Electromechanical Design: Components and Systems, 1957. Flora illustrated a number of covers for the monthly from 1957 to 1960.

political patrons

2011-10-05T03:05:00.014-04:00

Commercial spot illustration, ca. 1960, magazine and article unknown. The theme is obvious: agriculture, broadcasting, and oil moguls attempt to steer public policy by channeling self-interest through a politician's bully pulpit. Pen & ink with black tempera on vellum with printer's markings.

Little Man Press, Summer 1939

2011-10-03T09:25:00.005-04:00

Another rare (and previously unseen) print acquired from a recent estate sale in Cincinnati. As with all prints from Flora's productive post-Art Academy period, the original block cannot be located (possibly having been destroyed or discarded by Flora's LMP partner Robert Lowry). The above water-damaged print is unsigned, untitled, and unnumbered. No documentation exists regarding the work's purpose (e.g., publicity, ad, edition print, chapbook page). The faded vertical center section (and lack of signature) implies this print could have been an early strike, when the block had not been thoroughly inked.

rush hour

2011-09-30T02:08:00.015-04:00

Commercial spot illustration, 1961, magazine and subject unknown. Pen & ink, watercolor and Liquid Paper on artist board with printer's markings. Time-traveler Buster Keaton found himself in a similar predicament in the legendary Twilight Zone episode "Once Upon a Time," which aired the same year.

sitting man

2011-09-28T03:37:00.000-04:00

Woodcut print, ca. 1938-1940, rendered when Flora lived in Cincinnati and was working with Robert Lowry producing Little Man Press publications. Title, edition run, and location of original block unknown. The print was discovered in the estate of a Cincinnati collector who passed away at age 93 several months ago. The collection included about a dozen vintage Flora prints, most previously unseen by us. We'll publish others soon.

road rage (1958)

2011-09-26T19:36:00.002-04:00

The miserable family road trip. Commercial spot illustration, 1958, magazine and subject unknown. Pen & ink and watercolor on artist board. Three additional thematically unrelated spot illos were arrayed on the board.

Inside Sauter-Finegan (print)

2011-08-16T20:11:00.006-04:00

Jim Flora Art has launched a new limited edition fine art print: INSIDE SAUTER-FINEGAN, a 1954 RCA Victor LP that features one of Flora's best-known cover illustrations. Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan were famous for their orchestral mayhem. While Flora's mischievous cover figures didn't physically resemble Eddie or Bill, his caricatures reflected their inventive approach to redefining big band jazz in the 1950s.

The print image is larger (15-1/2" square) than the 12" square LP. This archival-quality edition is limited to 25 hand-numbered prints. As with all our limited edition prints, prices will increase as the edition sells down. Nine have already been sold to Floraphiles (some of whom might be closet Sauter-Fineganians).

Baltimore

2011-05-06T03:42:00.005-04:00

Baltimore, tempera on heavy stock, early 1960s

Self-Portrait with Cigar

2011-05-03T02:38:00.000-04:00

Pen & ink on heavy stock, 1990s, from the archives.
Previously unpublished and uncirculated work.

Salt Pond - Block Island

2011-05-02T05:26:00.001-04:00

Salt Pond - Block Island, tempera and pencil on paper, 1963. This previously uncirculated work was first published in our 2009 anthology, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora (the only one of our three Flora compendiums currently in print). The work reflects Flora's love of rustic maritime locales and things that float.

Block Island, Rhode Island is located off the southern coast of the state. Wiki contains the following about the saline pond:

Great Salt Pond Archeological District is a historic spot in New Shoreham, Rhode Island. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The Great Salt Pond is a round and almost entirely enclosed body of water separating the north and south regions of Block Island. The pond has a small channel on its northwest shore connecting it with Block Island Sound. The opening is artificial and was dug out in 1895 to make a harbor in the south part of the pond.

Mambo for Cake

2011-04-30T08:46:00.003-04:00

Someone who co-admins this blog recently had a birthday and his girlfriend concocted the above cake (based, of course, on this.) The (edible) elements were commissioned from a designer on Etsy and meticulously assembled by wondergal Beth Sorrentino on a chocolate cake she baked. The cake was presented to the surprised Flora archivist at Café Frida in New York. After dozens of cameras (including that of Otis Fodder, above) documented the delicacy, it was summarily disassembled with knives and forks.

Beth confides: although the original RCA Victor album was a 12" LP, the cake replicates the rare (in fact, never seen) 10" version.

Rowayton Creature Tableau (new print)

2011-04-26T14:10:00.005-04:00

Our latest Jim Flora limited edition fine art print launches today. We've dubbed the untitled, undated black and white work Rowayton Creature Tableau because of the strange figures populating the streets of this seaside Connecticut village (the artist's adopted hometown). The previously uncirculated and unpublished pen & ink with watercolor drawing was discovered in the artist's collection. We've analyzed the technique and determined that it reflects the 1970s style of caricature commonly found in Flora's children's books of that decade.

Flora lived in Rowayton from the mid-1940s to his death in 1998. Over the years he rendered scenes from the town dozens of times (see our recently released Bell Island at Night print) in a variety of media. The creature tableau is one of his more playful portraits of the town.

Rowayton Creature Tableau has been issued in a numbered, limited edition of 25 prints at a price of $150 (+s/h) each. Prices will increase as the edition sells down.

Leonardo, Lorenzo and Verrocchio

2011-04-25T03:14:00.003-04:00

Pen & ink, 1992, discovered in sketchpad. Like most Flora works of the 1990s, this cityscape has never been published or publicly viewed.

Meeting of the Clan (part 1)

2011-04-22T01:08:00.001-04:00

Detail of large-scale illustration for "A Meeting of the Clan at a State Park," article in New York Times, October 14, 1956. This detail, reproduced (with the full illustration) in our second anthology, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, is from a rejected version of the assignment found in the Flora family archives. The published version has similar elements, but repositioned.

The Duke and Harry Carney

2011-04-19T04:54:00.001-04:00

Previously uncirculated pen and ink from sketchbook, 1995.

From the 1920s to his death in 1974, Duke Ellington saw musicians come and go. Saxophonist/clarinetist Harry Carney (b. Boston, 1910) devoted 46 years to performing and recording with the maestro. The trusty sideman occasionally conducted the orchestra in Duke's absence.

After Ellington's death, Carney was quoted as saying, "This is the worst day of my life. Without Duke I have nothing to live for." Four months later, Carney passed away.

Flora was an admitted "jazz hound." He sketched, drew, painted and illustrated jazz musicians and scenes sporadically throughout his career, often as commercial assignments. However, in the final decade of his life, the retired artist devoted a considerable amount of creative energy drawing and painting portraits of musicians he admired from the 1920s through the 1960s. Scores—perhaps hundreds—of such works are in the Flora archives; most have never been publicly viewed.

We're in the preliminary stages of a Flora jazz exhibition for 2012. Details as plans develop.

Charlie's Egg

2011-04-16T06:16:00.001-04:00

Tempera on heavy stock (actually, painted on the reverse of an oversized 1943 Columbia Records convention program; clean paper was rationed and scarce during World War II). The previously uncirculated and largely unseen work was first published in our third anthology, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora. We issued a limited edition fine art print of the work in 2009.

The identity of Charlie remains unknown.

Brain Map and Abstract Tangle (new fine art prints)

2011-04-13T00:13:00.006-04:00

Artmuse.com recently issued two new—and low-cost—Jim Flora limited edition fine art prints. The above, based on a 1964 untitled and previously uncirculated work discovered in the Flora collection, has been casually tagged Brain Map to differentiate it from countless other works left unnamed by the artist. The work was first published in our 2007 Fantagraphics anthology, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora.

The print can be purchased in several different sizes at various price tiers, from $25 (14" x13", edition of 200) to $1,000 (40"x38", edition of 20). These works were licensed exclusively to Artmuse.com, and are only available thru their website.

Brain Map is partnered in the Artmuse.com catalog with a second untitled 1960s Flora work, provisionally christened Abstract Tangle #2:

This work has never been published and is previously uncirculated, having been discovered—page intact—in an artist's sketchpad from the mid-1960s.

Charlie Yup's cast of characters

2011-04-10T07:34:00.007-04:00

Hand-drawn two-page spread of figure studies for Flora's third book for young readers, Charlie Yup and His Snip-Snap Boys (1959). The pages, which do not appear in the published edition, were scanned from the Dr. Irvin C. Kerlan children's literature collection at the U of Minnesota.

On the mock title page at right, the author refers to the book as "An Old Fashioned Scissor and Paper Adventure." Although the characters above were drawn in pencil and painted in tempera, a few draft pages (later donated by Flora to Dr. Kerlan), including an early version of the title page, feature hand-cut figures glued to the paper.

The explanatory note atop the left page was intended for Margaret McElderry, the legendary children's book editor who in the mid-1950s encouraged Flora to embark on a secondary career that yielded 17 titles (all edited by McElderry) in 27 years. Charlie Yup is the hardest-to-find of the vintage Flora books, rarely turning up at auction or in the listings of antiquarian booksellers.

McElderry passed away in February at the age of 98.

Bell Island at Night (new print)

2011-04-07T11:38:00.001-04:00

JimFlora.com has released a new fine art print. The panoramic Bell Island at Night was adapted from a 1968 tempera in which Flora provided a surreal nocturnal impression of his neighbors and neighborhood. Bell Island is part of Rowayton CT, and the Flora family lived on the island at 7 St. James from the late 1940s to Flora's death in 1998.

The archival-quality fine art print has been released in an edition of 30 at a launch price of $160. As with all our Flora fine art prints, prices increase as the edition sells down. The image area is 10-1/2" high x 17-1/2" wide and centered on an untrimmed 13" x 19" sheet.

Arts and the Man (part 1)

2011-04-05T02:31:00.001-04:00

Detail from panoramic illustration for article "Arts and the Man," Park East magazine, May 1953. Flora served as the publication's art director in 1952, but moved on to full-time freelancing in January 1953. His successor in the Park East AD chair was his longtime colleague Robert M. Jones, who had also succeeded Flora as AD at Columbia Records in 1945. Jones jobbed out several Park East illustration assignments to Flora. The following year, Jones was named AD at RCA Victor Records, for whom he commissioned Flora to create some of the label's most iconic LP covers of the mid-decade.

The Patented Gate & the Mean Hamburger

2011-04-02T01:09:00.002-04:00

Spot illustration for "The Patented Gate and the Mean Hamburger," a short story by Robert Penn Warren which appeared in the January 1947 issue of Mademoiselle magazine. At the time Flora was employed at Columbia Records, but having been promoted out of the art department and focusing largely on bureaucratic tasks (much to his displeasure), he was seeking outside freelance work. His first assignment for Mademoiselle, for Robert Lowry's "Little Baseball World," had appeared in the September 1946 issue. All illustrative elements from "The Patented Gate" (and "Little Baseball World") were reproduced in our second anthology, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora.

What Is Automation? (part 1)

2011-03-29T04:56:00.003-04:00

Partial illustration, "What is Automation," Collier's magazine, March 16, 1956. Pull quote from the layout:

Automation has been heralded by some as the threshold to a new Utopia, in which robots do all the work while human drones recline in pneumatic bliss.

The complete two-tiered illustration—half-utopian (above), half-apocalyptic—was reproduced in our second anthology, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora.

music amid the ruins

2011-03-27T10:43:00.006-04:00

Spot illustration, April 1946 Columbia Records Disc Digest, a monthly "commentary on the new Columbia Masterworks and popular records plus interesting features on the artists who make them." DD was the successor to Flora's popular monthly Coda, which he created for the label in 1943. Coda was seemingly "retired" when Flora was promoted from Art Director to Advertising Manager in 1945. He illustrated all issues of Coda, but very few DDs. Here's Flora's cover for the April '46 issue:

Many (but not all) of Flora's covers and spot illustrations for Coda and DD showcase a more sober side of the artist. These publications focused primarily on classical ("serious") music. Besides his well-known penchant for hot jazz—as evidenced in his wild album artwork for Columbia—Flora was a devotee of classical music and many of his Coda illustrations reflect the dignity of the genre.

A New Turn in Taxes

2011-03-25T21:24:00.008-04:00

The above tempera on illustration board by Flora was recently purchased by a fabulous financial blogger. The Rube Goldberg-like catalytic pipeline originally appeared in the December 1964 issue of Fortune magazine accompanying an article entitled "A New Turn in Taxes."

Most of Flora's work-for-hire illustrations from the 1940s and 1950s cannot be located, having been kept (or disposed of) by client art directors. Judging by what's in the Flora family collection, starting in the late 1950s the artist began retrieving his creations after publication. Hundreds of commercial illustrations—some elaborate like "Taxes," others simple black and white spot illos—remain in storage. There's no way of knowing how many commercial illustrations Flora provided during his career—surely thousands, because that's primarily how he earned his livelihood. Despite his considerable legacy of fine art, it was topical deadline assignments that paid the mortgage and supported the family.

Bell Island at Night

2011-03-23T12:14:00.006-04:00

We return from a fine art print hiatus with our first new work of 2011: Bell Island at Night, a 1968 tempera in which Flora provides a surreal nocturnal impression of his neighbors. Bell Island is part of Rowayton (which in turn is part of Norwalk, CT), and the Flora family lived on the island at 7 St. James from the late 1940s to Flora's death in 1998. Our newest fine art print will be launched in an edition of 30 in the next week or two. We'll re-post this info upon launch. The print is currently in the final proofing stages.

Keystone Crowd

2011-02-05T12:42:00.004-05:00

Keystone Crowd, a 1968 tempera on thick stock that hasn't yet made it into one of our Flora anthologies. Unpublished, uncirculated, previously unseen work currently sitting in storage. Pennsylvania is the Keystone State, but the artist's title reference remains a mystery.

artist at rest

2011-01-25T00:01:00.005-05:00

Today in 1914, James Royer Flora was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Above our guy is pictured relaxing at home in the late 1980s. Interesting juxtaposition of bold patterns, with hunting jacket, slacks and chair vying for focal primacy. Cameo in the upper right by the Fab Four, depicted in 1964, tho it appears to be a hand-rendered (probably not by Flora) replica of a famous photo.

Flora's daughter Julia provides some family context:

I love this picture; this is exactly the way I'll always remember him, with that great head of hair and his flair (?) for mixing plaids (we used to tease him about that all the time). I'm fairly sure it was my brother Robert that took it and probably for some kind of promo shot Dad asked him to create.

In the early 1970s, Flora rendered an autobiographical montage, The First Five Years, in acrylic on wood. The work featured six stacked tiers depicting incidents during the artist's childhood. We posted one tier in December 2008. Here's another:

Provincetown, July 1957

2011-01-23T10:31:00.001-05:00

Provincetown 7/57, pencil drawing from sketchbook

At the Cabin

2011-01-21T23:17:00.006-05:00

That's the title of the new CD by Seattle's quirky genre-blending jazz ensemble Reptet. It's the group's fourth release to feature a licensed Jim Flora illustration (all usages initiated by the band's drummer, John Ewing). Information about Reptet, their music, and the gatefold letterpress CD package (designed by Tom Parson) can be found at the Artists Recording Collective. The above image is an inverted detail from Flora's masterful 1951 woodcut Railroad Town.

hybrid vehicle

2011-01-18T23:04:00.007-05:00

This steamroller is obviously in violation of some vehicular maximum-occupancy statute. The question is—who gets ordered to court? Most likely young Fletcher (at the controls), the only homo sapien on the scene. He's the most convenient scapegoat (though not the only goat).

All the other animals jumped on top of the steam roller as fast as they could. It was the only safe place to be.

"STOP!," everyone was shouting.

But the steam roller kept right on at full speed.

Page from The Day The Cow Sneezed, Flora's 1957 children's book (his second), reprinted in October 2010 by Enchanted Lion.

Richard Strauss LP cover (1954)

2011-01-15T06:58:00.003-05:00

Illustration from the cover of Eugene Ormandy & the Philadelphia Orchestra's 1954 Columbia Masterworks 10" LP, Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels [sic] Lustige Streiche and Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier (AL-46).

Flora illustrated about a dozen covers for Columbia during his 1943-1950 employment at the label (all released after he relinquished the Art Director chair in 1945). Following a 15-month Mexican hiatus, he rekindled his U.S. freelance career in 1951 and provided a number of work-for-hire illustrations for Columbia records and print material thru the mid-1950s.

The original artwork no longer exists except on the somewhat rare (and hence very collectible) cardboard sleeve. The bland, generic typesetting is poorly juxtaposed atop Flora's iconic fine-art imagery. We can only speculate that Flora — who also specialized in mischievous typography — provided the artwork but did not design the package.

costing you an arm & a leg

2011-01-13T07:18:00.002-05:00

Another pencil draft from the 1955 sketchbook we've been featuring the past few weeks. The purpose of this stand-alone drawing is unknown. Other sketches on the same and adjacent pages feature rough panels for a cartoon ad about Proctor toasters; none of those drawings depict a loss of limbs.

fiesta time

2011-01-10T01:02:00.002-05:00

Black ink on vellum overlay of illustration from Flora's first children's book, The Fabulous Firework Family (1955). One of numerous such artifacts donated by Flora to the Dr. Irvin C. Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Overlays were used to indicate colors for printing. Flora's books were published over a 27-year span, during which printing processes underwent a number of developments. However, all Flora's books pre-date digital printing techniques.

miscellaneous sketches

2011-01-08T02:48:00.000-05:00

Figures from a mid-1950s sketchbook. The two panels were juxtaposed horizontally, but are stacked here for vertical display. The purpose of the drafts is unknown, and the elements are unrelated to any other sketches in the book.

pecking order

2011-01-05T00:27:00.001-05:00

Our title, not Flora's. Draft from sketchbook ca. 1955, purpose unknown. Adjacent pages feature rough illustrations of management skills, probably intended for a topical magazine assignment.

Baba Yaga

2011-01-03T00:32:00.001-05:00

Baba Yaga, pen & ink and oil pastel on paper, 14" x 16", 1996. Previously unpublished and uncirculated late life work (two years before the artist's death). Wiki entry profiles a dangerous damsel:

She flies around on a giant pestle or broomstick, kidnaps (and presumably eats) small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs.

Walter Beartree & the Boo-Saying Whale

2011-01-01T19:17:00.004-05:00

Flora authored and illustrated 17 children's books under his own name between 1955 (The Fabulous Firework Family) and 1982 (Grandpa's Witched-Up Christmas). A milk crate in the Flora archives contains contracts and correspondence for each one. Most of the letters passed between the author/artist and his legendary editress, Margaret McElderry.

The crate is also stuffed with manila folders for dozens of abandoned or rejected book ideas. Walter Beartree and the Boo-Saying Whale does not have a folder, but these pencil roughs were discovered in a sketchbook from the mid-1950s.

hieroglyphic montage

2010-12-30T01:00:00.001-05:00

Untitled pencil drawing discovered in mid-1960s sketchpad. Theme unknown. The pad included dozens of rough pencil sketches for Flora's 1964 book My Friend Charlie, along with a number of unrelated sketches, mainly architectural, some Mexico-inspired, most incomplete. This work echoes nothing else in the sketchpad, or any other known Flora work.

the business of baseball

2010-12-28T00:35:00.003-05:00

Hot Stove League entry: illustration (one of several) from "The Big Leagues Are Killing Baseball," LOOK magazine, April 15, 1958. The above image is an original painting. Many of Flora's early commercial illustrations exist only as printed reproductions, the original art either kept by the magazines or thrown out. When I interviewed Flora in 1998, I asked him about the whereabouts of his commercial originals. "They would reproduce it," I queried, "but they wouldn’t think to give it back to the artist?" Flora replied, "Yes, they would—if the artist wanted it. But most artists didn’t even think of getting it back in those days. I didn’t, mostly."

Flora began reclaiming his periodical illustrations in the late 1950s, and dozens (if not hundreds) exist in the family archives from such publications as Life, Fortune, Look, and the New York Times Magazine.

Bonus baby: this draft figure from a sketchbook looks familiar ...

Christmas, 1942

2010-12-25T15:36:00.003-05:00

Christmas greetings Flora-style from Columbia/Okeh Records. Above: cover of the December 1942 new release flyer from Flora's then-employer. James had not yet risen to the position of art director (he would in 1943); at the time he was just nearing the end of his first year in the art department under the legendary Alex Steinweiss.

music & films

2010-12-11T16:09:00.001-05:00

Spot illustration, Columbia Coda, August 1945. That was Flora's final year as Columbia art director, and the final year of the monthly Coda, which Flora launched in 1943 and illustrated single-handedly. In January 1946, Robert M. Jones assumed the AD role when Flora was promoted to Advertising Manager. Coda was transformed into the monthly Disc Digest, few of which featured Flora illustrations.

After Uplift, Ka-Chow!

2010-11-29T14:54:00.006-05:00

In the Nov. 20 Wall Street Journal "Bookshelf" column, Meghan Cox Gurdon reviews Flora's 1957 The Day The Cow Sneezed, recently reprinted by Enchanted Lion Books:

"Flora's style is about as goofily retro as it's possible to get, with wide-eyed men in suits, amazed-looking wild animals, and an old-fashioned matte palate of red, pink, green and gray. In the story a series of wild events unfurls when a boy neglects his cow, which catches cold and lets loose a colossal sneeze. The force of it bowls half the farmyard first onto a motorcycle and then onto a steamroller, which topples statues and scrunches through a zoo."

red and black ship

2010-11-25T10:38:00.005-05:00

Untitled, undated (ca. mid-1960s) ship in cross-cut view. Previously unpublished and uncirculated work (rendered in tempera and pencil) discovered in sketchpad.

Flora books arrayed

2010-11-21T12:08:00.006-05:00

Shelf display of Flora kiddie books in the office of Cynthia Johnson, director of the Rowayton (CT) Library. The glass-enclosed office is nestled behind the checkout counter, so patrons can view the display. (The plush creatures are non-Floracentric, but companionate.)

Cynthia is producing a jigsaw puzzle of a 1980 cartoon map of the town rendered by its illustrious Citizen Flora, a resident from 1946 to his death in 1998. The puzzle should be available soon at the library, and will be announced on this blog. Cynthia also plans to host separate presentations about Flora's children's literature and his fine art legacy early in 2011.

Photo: Beth Sorrentino

Little Man Press logo (evolution)

2010-11-20T07:54:00.005-05:00

Above: rejected attempt at a Little Man Press logo, ca. 1939-1940, discovered in early sketchbook. The experiments continued:

Eventually Flora and his LMP partner Robert Lowry settled on this design:

outside El Centro

2010-11-18T09:13:00.002-05:00

Untitled pen & ink, 1994, from sketchpad. Unknown Mexican (presumably) town square.

the alien arrives

2010-11-17T08:58:00.000-05:00

Untitled pencil sketch, mid-1960s, discovered in artist's sketchbook. No indication the draft was refined for any specific use.

Sheffield Island 2011 letterpress calendar

2010-11-16T00:51:00.000-05:00

JimFlora.com is offering a new 2011 poster-sized calendar featuring a 1954 Flora woodcut illustration called SHEFFIELD ISLAND. The artwork is hand-printed letterpress in black ink on kraft card stock; a 12-month tear away calendar is attached on the bottom. When the year ends, you have a unique hand-pulled letterpress Jim Flora print suitable for framing.

The full dimensions of the card with artwork are 13-1/2" x 17". The calendars, which were hand-printed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress, of Knoxville, sell for $25.00 (+ shipping) each.

The Day the Cow Sneezed mini-print

2010-10-26T18:43:00.005-04:00

JimFlora.com has issued a low-cost ($25) fine art print of the cover of THE DAY THE COW SNEEZED, Flora's second kiddie book. Originally published in 1957 by Harcourt, the book was just reprinted by Enchanted Lion. Our 11" x 8-1/2" print features the complete cover art (used on both editions), including Flora's playful hand-cut letters. This is an open, unnumbered edition (i.e., there is no limit on the print run).

a little Flora brightens a room

2010-10-20T06:48:00.004-04:00

To many who know him, our friend Takashi Okada of Tokyo is a talented graphic designer, music producer, historian, cultural connoisseur, cat lover, and gentleman. But unless you visit Takashi and his wife Tomoko's home, you might not know he has a deep Flora fixation. Takashi owns original art, album covers, Little Man Press artifacts, children's books, and fine art prints. We've long known about Takashi's love of Flora, but never having visited the Far East, we hadn't seen the shrine. The above photo was sent by our Japanese friend.

domestic disturbance

2010-10-17T08:50:00.005-04:00

Detail, "Furnished," Primer for Prophets alphabet series, 1954. We've issued 12 letters as limited edition screen prints, but "F(urnished)" is still in the deep freeze. The full print isn't as disturbing as the above detail suggests—the husband beyond the crop hasn't lost his cool. All shall be revealed by the time we complete the series.

life in the food chain

2010-10-14T05:32:00.000-04:00

Half-page from unfinished and untitled hand-painted children's book prototype, ca. early 1960s. The project includes ten words (e.g., "automation," "characteristic," "evident," "powerful") defined, pronounced and illustrated for young readers. A previous partial page ("fantasy") appeared on this blog in November 2008.

tail wagger

2010-10-11T20:49:00.000-04:00

Detail, "Raided," Primer for Prophets alphabet series, 1954. We've issued 12 letters as limited edition screen prints, but "R" remains on our to-do list.

avoiding traffic

2010-10-08T01:44:00.001-04:00

Hand-painted draft page from Kangaroo for Christmas, Flora's fifth (of 17) children's books, published by Harcourt Brace, 1962. The box of lines in the upper left indicate placement of text.

balancing act

2010-10-05T06:20:00.003-04:00

Spot illustration, dedication page, The Day the Cow Sneezed, now back in print thanks to Enchanted Lion Books.

The first review—favorable!—courtesy the For Immediate Release (Kids) blog:

I like his habit of calling attention to certain words by putting them in all caps, nearly on every page: POW! WHAMBO! and my personal favorite KA-BLOWIE-BLAM! I also enjoy the language he uses, specific phrases such as "scrunched as flat as corn flakes." It's just plain good reading paired with some spellbinding illustrations that make this a book you won't want to miss.

creepy dinner

2010-10-02T05:26:00.002-04:00

Topical illustration (mechanical), tempera on paper, ca. 1961. Assignment, title, periodical, and publication date unknown. The Flora collection contains dozens of such illustrations of unknown provenance. The crosshairs at the corners are printer's registration marks, used for aligning overlays and film plates.

spill in the gulf region

2010-09-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

In 1956, Flora mocked up a proposed illustrated series about his fascination with Mexico. The storyboard, entitled Footloose in Mexico, consisted of vignettes drawn from his residency and travels south of the border. On the back of the heavy artist's board draft was handwritten, "Sketches for a magazine that never got off the ground." The identity of the failed periodical is unknown. No descriptive copy was included, just dummy lines for text placement; hence, the significance of figures such as the above are left to the imagination.

The images have never before been published or circulated. We'll post more details of the draft work in the future

sittin' (& hangin' & swingin') in a tree

2010-09-28T00:33:00.004-04:00

Untitled, incomplete tempera and pencil drawing, ca. 1950, found in a sketchbook from Flora's Mexican period (1950-51). The ghostly shadows in the periphery reflect bleedthrough from an image on the reverse side of the page. No finished or refined version of this work has been found.

Mount Adams ascension

2010-09-23T20:57:00.009-04:00

Mount Adams ascension, one of a series of woodcut prints the young Flora rendered for the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati's August 1941 publication, Life Association News. The images accompanied an article entitled "Where to go ... What to do ... While you're in Cincinnati." These woodcuts have not been republished since their first appearance seven decades ago. The location of the original wood blocks is unknown.

night-sky moonswinger

2010-09-19T06:32:00.004-04:00

With the anticipated October reprint (by Enchanted Lion) of Flora's 1957 kiddie book The Day the Cow Sneezed, we're focusing on the re-emergence of the Flora children's market. We're planning an open edition (low-cost) fine art print of Cow's playful cover, and we're proofing the above image for a planned bedroom-suitable print. The overalls-clad night-sky moonswinger appears on the back cover of Flora's 1972 Atheneum-published book, Pishtosh Bullwash & Wimple. When the proof proves proven, we'll announce the print's release. The book is not currently scheduled to be reprinted, but Enchanted Lion hopes for a long-term reprint schedule covering the entire Flora catalog.

Last year we issued a limited edition fine art print called Ferris Wheel Fireworks, depicting a spectacular two-page spread from The Day the Cow Sneezed.

Flora Mambo font

2010-09-16T21:35:00.008-04:00

New from P22 Type Foundry:

Based on playful hand-lettering from the 1955 Jim Flora Mambo For Cats RCA Victor album cover, the set includes "Flornaments," consisting of 72 miniature figure icons (dingbats) from Flora artworks. Samples:

pink & black cats

2010-09-09T01:09:00.001-04:00

untitled tempera & pencil on paper
found in early 1960s-era sketchbook

Henry Ford in Cetara

2010-09-07T12:03:00.005-04:00

Henry Ford in Cetara, rough pencil drawing found in 1991 sketchpad. Cetara is in Italy. There's no refined sketches and no indication the sketch was developed into a finished work.

Flora traveled widely and artfully chronicled his globetrotting. This sketchbook contains no other images of Italy, but does contain a letter handwritten in a Mexican hospital while Flora was being treated for "over medication and loss of blood." On the preceding page was a journal entry titled "A Bum Week in Guadalajara."

The faint lines in the background are from a drawing on the reverse side of the paper.

Yee-Haw Industries studio tour

2010-09-03T21:15:00.013-04:00

We're honored to have worked with the fine folks at Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress, producing Flora limited edition woodcut prints (including the 1951 tour de force Railroad Town and the 1957 LP-sized Jugglers) and letterpress notecards and calendars.

Printmaker Brian Baker with Jugglers edition print (left) and vintage block (right)

Co-proprietors Julie Belcher and Kevin Bradley, along with the Yee-Haw staff, are committed professionals and we consider them friends. We're working with Yee-Haw on new projects, including a 2011 letterpress calendar based on a 1954 Flora woodcut entitled Sheffield Island, and more woodcut limited edition prints.

David Trawin of ThisIsProcess.com writes:

Last year I had the chance to check out the Yee-Haw Industries studio space/storefront in Knoxville. They were generous enough to give me the grand tour. Take a look.

Flor-riffic details:

Yee-Haw was fortunate to work with the estate of Jim Flora to print original block carvings made by the legendary artist. [ed.: below, Serenade, 1947; only proofs currently available]

[Kevin Bradley] showing drawers full of Jim Flora samples:

N.B. The above giclée proofs were produced by printmaker and Flora co-archivist Barbara Economon of JimFlora.com for planned fine art prints.

First National Bank Robbery

2010-08-31T20:06:00.004-04:00

Detail, The Big Bank Robbery, mid-1960s tempera on board. The bank displaying the signage at right isn't actually depicted in the complete work, only a counter clerk with upraised arms holdup-style (not pictured in detail).

We issued a limited edition fine art print of the work in 2009, and one-half of the print run has been sold. Prices increase as editions sell down.

last Chance

2010-08-22T00:27:00.000-04:00

Chance Encounter (detail above), a 1970 Flora tempera, was issued in a limited edition run of 20 in 2008. With last week's sale of print number 1/20, the edition is now sold out. It may later be offered in reduced form in print items such as cards, calendars or folios, or commissioned as exclusive, premium-priced, custom-formatted single prints produced privately at our discretion. But that's it for edition prints. Chance Encounter is our first sold out limited edition release.

brain map

2010-08-16T21:07:00.001-04:00

Untitled tempera on board, 1964, reproduced in our second book, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora (Fantagraphics, 2007). Though ten years separate the works, certain elements are reminiscent of the 1954 RCA Victor LP Shorty Rogers Courts the Count.

"Mr. Flora, this is Aleksandr Kerensky"

2010-08-12T18:27:00.000-04:00

Rowayton Remembered, detail of woodcut print, ca. 1974

My Brush With History
a series by the readers of American Heritage magazine
James Flora's contribution
February/March 1997 (Volume 48, Issue 1)

During the late 1940s I lived in Rowayton, a small Connecticut village, with my wife and two small children. I was the art director of Columbia Records, a job I dearly loved. In my work I had many opportunities to meet the musical celebrities of the day, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington among them, and I considered myself a fairly cool cat.

Fate had blessed me with Roussie, the world's most delightful daughter. At the time she was somewhere between four and six and my regular weekend date. Every Saturday we did the chores together, visited the post office, and wound up in the town's only drugstore.

Soybel's Pharmacy was a true drugstore—no greeting cards or eyelash curlers. In the rear of the shop the druggist filled prescriptions and sold patent medicines. The front was given over to a small, gaudy soda fountain with four or five stools. George Soybel's counter was a gathering place for the town cognoscenti, and the stools were almost always filled.

Detail of Rowayton street map by Flora, 1980, depicting drugstore. The large
(15" x 23") map was issued by the artist as a signed, limited edition print of 200.
The last remaining copy in the family collection was sold last year to a local.

One cold wintry Saturday Roussie and I had finished our errands and went to cap the morning with a visit to Soybel's. We were in luck. Only one stool was occupied. A gentleman in a heavy black overcoat and a natty Borsalino hat was nursing what seemed to be a ginger ale float. I sat next to him and hoisted my daughter onto the stool beside me. While she and I were deciding what to order, George Soybel emerged and greeted us.

"Jim, I want you to meet a new resident in Rowayton," George said. I turned to the stranger, who had a pleasant, angular face, and extended my hand. He took it.

"This is Aleksandr Kerensky."

ALEKSANDR KERENSKY!

Was this the Aleksandr Kerensky who had been the first premier of the provisional Russian government after the 1917 revolution? The Kerensky who had held the fate of the world in his hands? The man who could have ushered Russia into the twentieth century, avoided the murderous regime of Stalin, saved the world from the Cold War? Who might even have been such a benign and powerful influence on the 1920s and 1930s that Hitler could never have risen to power and World War II might never have happened?

As if he could read my thoughts, he smiled and nodded several times in confirmation. Pictures of the revolution flashed through my mind. Kerensky was thirty-six in 1917, and here he was, three decades later, wrinkled but recognizable, and rather handsome.

A dozen questions stumbled behind my tongue. Why had he not been more forceful when he had the reins of power in his hands? Why had he failed to prevent Lenin from entering Russia? Why hadn't he seized and imprisoned him? What should I ask first? I opened my mouth.

"How do you like Rowayton?" was what came out.

Kerensky proceeded to tell me how happy he and his American wife were in our town. He enjoyed the peace and quiet he found here and was finding time to write, et cetera, et cetera.

A woman appeared at the door.

"I'm ready," she said, and Kerensky hopped from his stool, shook my hand, and exited.

The trouble with history is that it has a habit of rushing by us so swiftly that we don't recognize it until we see the taillights receding in the distance.

Sheffield Island (partial scan)

2010-08-09T00:36:00.000-04:00

Partial scan (about one-third, with color checker card) of unpublished 1954 woodcut print Sheffield Island. The original block is in the Flora family collection. Only a handful of original artist prints exist. We are contemplating issuing a new limited edition run of the complete work next year.

Little Rock Getaway (pre-launch)

2010-08-03T21:34:00.005-04:00

This will be our next limited edition fine art print. Little Rock Getaway is an undated Flora tempera that reflects his mid- to late-1960s color schemes and contours. It will be released soon in an edition of 25. Floraphiles can pre-order via the linked title.

Flora at Etsy

2010-07-27T11:22:00.008-04:00

We recently opened a Jim Flora store at Etsy.com. For now, the shelves are merchandise-sparse, but more items will be added in the coming weeks. Current and future Etsy offerings are also available through our fine art prints gallery and our Little Shop of Flora's. Either place you purchase, the source is the same: us. We're also considering listing some exclusive items at Etsy.

We'll have Flora 2011 letterpress calendars available in September. Same designs as 2010, and possibly some new ones, all produced by Yee-Haw Industries of Knoxville.

The Complete Guide to Cartooning

2010-07-22T23:55:00.006-04:00

The above profile of Flora appeared in The Complete Guide to Cartooning (Grosset & Dunlap, 1950), by Gene Byrnes. Byrnes had a long, distinguished career as a syndicated cartoonist (Reg'lar Fellers) from 1915 to 1949.

Flora never claimed to be a cartoonist per se, tho his commercial illustrations—in particular the 1940s Columbia album covers featured in the profile—certainly were cartoonish. In his quotes (click the image for enlarged reading), Flora doesn't address any aspect of cartooning; he offers an artistic credo vis-a-vis the demanding world of commercial art. Ironically, by the time this book hit store shelves, Flora had bailed from his executive perch at Columbia and was en route to Mexico with his family to spend 15 blissful months creating art without commercial pressure.

physical inventory risk

2010-07-19T19:40:00.010-04:00

We learned the phrase "physical inventory risk" last week from someone in the music business. It describes why, in the current industry-wide economic downturn, many record labels won't gamble on artistically worthy but commercially uncertain projects: because of the probability ("risk") they'll end up with unsold goods ("physical inventory," e.g., CDs) sitting on distributor and retailer shelves. Rather than commit (again, "risk") financial resources to marginal productions, they trim existing catalog and/or keep the release schedule lean.

While this is a regrettable state of affairs for niche markets and the artistically adventurous, from a business standpoint, it's understandable and fiscally prudent.

We bring this up because Fantagraphics Books, publisher of our three Flora anthologies (The Mischievous Art, 2004; The Curiously Sinister Art, 2007; and The Sweetly Diabolic Art, 2009), recently informed us that stock is low on the first two books and they will not be reprinted. This is a situation over which we, as authors, have no control. The economics of publishing make reprints of limited-market titles prohibitive. You may think Flora is a world-renowned artist whose legacy is commercially indisputable. (If so, we agree.) But to the broader public, Flora remains largely unknown, a cult figure.

So be advised: if you've been meaning to buy our Flora books but have delayed purchasing, you're running out of time on the first two books. They will eventually be available only on the secondary market at collector's prices:

As of this writing, new and used copies of Curiously Sinister are still available at reasonable prices. Mischievous is becoming scarce and prices are trending upwards. New copies of our most recent book, Sweetly Diabolic, remain in stock.

G3 in Tampico: the restoration

2010-07-16T17:57:00.044-04:00

We launched our latest Jim Flora fine art print, G3 in Tampico (detail, left), earlier this week. The original 1970 tempera painting on artist board is shelved in storage at the Flora collection in Norwalk, Connecticut. The title is an enigma, but so are the figures (full work below). Here's a peek at the selection and restoration process behind our fine art prints.

The Flora catalog is huge; as co-archivists, Barb Economon and I have a growing list of works flagged for print production. G3 was not on this list. Most original works on paper have been scanned at high resolution, and oversized canvases have been photographed. The digital files then undergo a carpal-straining restoration process to prepare the images for print media (e.g., books, paper goods, fine art prints). This process is the purview of Barb, a specialist in digital image technology. It's become obvious during our research in the collection that Flora was less than fastidious in the preservation of his past art during his lifetime. It's likely that the large volume of historical works balanced against the ongoing creation of new works left little time for the artist to focus on safeguarding his legacy. Sunlight, humidity, careless shelving, aging, and accidents, as well as adhesive stains, paper acidity, and nicotine smoke have all taken their toll. After Flora's death, his family placed the entire collection in safe, climate-controlled storage (photo, lower left), where most of it remains to this day. The greater the deterioration of (or damage to) the original, the more restoration work is required.

A few weeks ago a small record label requested an image to license for a CD cover. Reviewing hundreds of digital files, I discovered G3 (previously unpublished and uncirculated) and sent the label a low-resolution jpg (along with a batch of additional images). On closer examination, I realized the image had not been restored. Strictly as a Zen exercise, I undertook some rudimentary cleanup over several days, and the figures began to percolate. I reached the limits of my restorative powers and turned the file over to Barb. She made additional corrections and adjustments, and decided to produce a test print. It was declared a masterwork, and we decided to issue an edition. The entire process from idle cleanup to print launch took four days.

Below is a before/after comparison of the images (click to enlarge). The original is in bad shape — there are faded areas, soiling, paint loss, and moisture spots. It's amazing what you can accomplish with painstaking mouse-clicks.

I considered purchasing G3 from the Flora family. However, considering the condition of the original, I opted for a print. The damaged work would be expensive to restore, and without professional restoration it will continue to deteriorate. (Its condition is effectively stabilized in limited light, climate-controlled storage.) The new print reflects the work much as Flora created it forty years ago, with a few minor aging artifacts.

new print: G3 in Tampico

2010-07-13T22:05:00.004-04:00

Our newest Flora fine art print, G3 in Tampico, is available at JimFlora.com. The 1970 tempera (on board), titled by the artist in pencil on the reverse, sits in storage, previously unseen. The work had not previously been published or reproduced anywhere.

Tampico is the main city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas (and the birthplace of legendary Space Age Pop maestro Esquivel); however, the significance of the Flora title (the "G" and "3" elements notwithstanding) is unknown. Peepers, towers, foliage, phallic imagery, and teats: G3-rated for moderate ambiguity. Edition of 25.

typographical puzzler

2010-07-09T01:47:00.005-04:00

The above typography appears on the covers of at least three RCA Victor LPs from 1956 and 1957, one by pianist Hal Schaefer, another by polymath-bandleader George Russell, and a third by saxophonist/clarinetist Hal McKusick. Of the series, Schaefer explained: "I was invited to participate in The RCA Victor Jazz Workshop. You had to be a composer, arranger and instrumentalist, all rolled into one." (Which abundantly explains Russell's inclusion.)

In each case, the album covers are photographic, the "Jazz Workshop" logo branded in a corner. There's no typographical credit, yet the intricate lettering appears to be the handiwork of Flora, who often toyed with typography and illustrated dozens of RCA Victor (front and back) covers between 1954 and 1961. The letter fills reflect Flora's painstaking mischief.

One Floraphile insists on the benefit of the doubt. That would be me. Until proven wrong, I remain insistent.

Redskin Romp (typography)

2010-07-06T21:04:00.005-04:00

Hand-lettered typography from cover of Charlie Barnet's 1955 compilation Redskin Romp 7" EP (also released as a 12" LP). Barnet (1913-1991) was a Swing Era bandleader and saxophonist whose first 78 rpm hit, "Cherokee," released in 1939, inspired the Indian-themed title of this 33-1/3 rpm hi-fi retrospective. Above is a section of the full cover; that's a non-lookalike caricature of Barnet in the lower left.

science geek 5

2010-07-03T00:48:00.002-04:00

Detail, cover illustration, "Human Engineering: Tailoring the Machine to the Man," Research and Engineering magazine, February 1956. We reproduced the entire illustration here. Pure blacks are missing from the detail, an enlargement of a scan of a worn cover. Copies of R&E in any condition are difficult to find, and the original art has not been located.

Mexican cityscape (1967)

2010-07-01T22:23:00.004-04:00

Untitled Mexican motif, pen and ink (or tempera) on paper, 1967. The work was reproduced in our most recent book, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora.

The Fabulous Firework Family (cartoon)

2010-06-21T09:07:00.010-04:00

Flora's first children's book, published in 1955, was adapted for animation by UPA's Terrytoons in 1959. It was directed by Al Kousel and produced by Flora's longtime friend Gene Deitch. Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew posted it to YouTube and wrote about the project at his blog here. We agree with Jerry's assessment: "Though Flora was involved with adapting the story to the screen, the final result wasn’t entirely successful in translating the charm of the original book." Jerry also explains that it was "the last cartoon Deitch personally produced at the studio." Flora's close friend Gene moved to Prague with his wife in '59 and to this day continues to live and prosper there. Deitch makes periodic contact with us to convey recollections of his departed friend Jim and share rare Flora artifacts. Gene also wrote the Foreword for our first book of Floriana, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora.

New York in the 1950s

2010-06-18T03:32:00.001-04:00

One-half of an undated black and white business card (mock-up) from the 1950s. At the time, though he lived in Rowayton CT, Flora shared an office (and probably an art studio) at 21 East 63rd Street in Manhattan. A classic tempera painting from the period caricatures the neighborhood.

No copies of the printed version of this card exist in the Flora collection. The discoloration in the upper right is an aging artifact.

Red Mike hunts the scissor boy

2010-06-17T03:41:00.003-04:00

Detail from title page, Charlie Yup and His Snip-Snap Boys, Flora's third children's book, 1959. That's Charlie, snipping away at right; the villain with the lasso is Red Mike.

In the book, Red Mike is ... red. However, as with many illustrated books of the period, color pages alternated with black and white to make printing more economical. A number of Flora's kiddie books reflect this trend.

Electromechanical Design

2010-06-15T17:21:00.005-04:00

Page from 1957 sales brochure for Electromechanical Design magazine. Flora illustrated an unknown number of covers for this (now long-defunct) monthly. In the 1950s and '60s, he was often a go-to artist for science-related journalism, as evidenced by his work for Research & Engineering magazine.

Ohio

2010-06-10T06:47:00.003-04:00

This three-tiered montage appeared in Fortune magazine in 1947 as part of a 48-state series sponsored by the Container Corporation of America. Flora, an Ohio native, was commissioned to illustrate his birth state. A color version—as it ran in Fortune—was reproduced in The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora. Tearsheets turn up periodically on Ebay.

The above greyscale version—presumably the original, described as "watercolor, gouache, and pencil on paperboard"—is in the Smithsonian collection, according to their online catalog. It's not clear if the original is black and white and colorization was added at the magazine print stage, or if the image was converted to greyscale for the Smithsonian's database. A phone call to the Smith would resolve the matter. It's on our to-do list.

Jolly birthday

2010-06-05T00:01:00.010-04:00

Peter Ceragioli Jr. was born this day in 1932. You may not recognize this West Coast jazz pianist, accordionist, and composer by his birth name. Beyond TV and film soundtrack cognoscenti, he's probably obscure even by his stage name—Pete Jolly. The keyboardist was a child prodigy on accordion, as spaceagepop.com points out:

When he was eight, he made his first broadcast appearance, billed as "The Boy Wonder Accordionist" on CBS Radio's Hobby Lobby. The show's emcee messed up his name, announcing him as "Pete Jolly," but the boy liked the sound of it and used it ever after.

Though his name is little recognized today, Jolly had a long, distinguished recording, composing and performing career. To Floraphiles, however, he is a household name, having been idiosyncratically rendered by the artist twice (in duo and trio releases) on 1955 RCA Victor 7" EP covers. In each case, Flora's caricature in no way resembled a recognizable human being. But then, Flora always insisted he "couldn't do likenesses." Original copies of both covers are extremely rare and highly sought by Flora collectors.

We issued a screen print of the Pete Jolly Duo cover in 2007.

I spoke to Jolly briefly before he passed away in 2004. I was soliciting quotes for our first volume of Floriana, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, the anthology that contained most of the artist's album cover illustrations. Having tracked down Jolly thru the L.A. musician's union, I gave him a call. He had no recollection of either EP cover and claimed never to have heard the name Jim Flora. Though Jolly was a gentleman to chat with, I came away from the conversation without a quote.

fishing in New Orleans

2010-06-03T02:18:00.002-04:00

Detail from a series of woodcuts Flora produced as a freelancer for the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati around 1940. They were reproduced in UCL's monthly Agency Bulletin to illustrate articles about the history and legacy of the Crescent City. The images proved so popular they were issued as a limited edition folio by the company in 1942.

Flora later admitted that at the time he produced the woodcuts, he had never visited New Orleans; he'd based his images on photos of the city and on literature about the region.

A previous post about this woodcut series depicted Jackson Square.

Benny Goodman @ 101

2010-05-30T02:00:00.005-04:00

Jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, as portrayed by Flora for the March 1952 issue of Columbia's monthly Coda new release booklet. Goodman was a founding father of the mid-1930s jazz big band ("swing") style—launched in force after he hired arranger Fletcher Henderson in 1935.

As he matured, he performed and recorded classical repertoire; the above figures illustrated Coda's preview of Goodman's recording (with the American Art Quartet) of Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings.

Flora was a fan of Goodman, and rendered him many times for Columbia and RCA Victor releases and promotional material. Asked about his encounters with the jazz musicians he illustrated, Flora told me (in 1998):

I didn't get to know many of them intimately. Benny Goodman I knew better than any of them. I did some photographic sessions with Benny. He was always difficult to get along with, but I never had any problems.

Goodman was born this day in 1909.

Charlie Yup (endpapers)

2010-05-25T13:04:00.004-04:00

Left half of endpaper, Charlie Yup and His Snip-Snap Boys, Flora's third children's book, published in 1959. This seems to be the rarest of Flora's out-of-print kid-lit. Antiquarian book dealers ask three figures for used copies. This book also betokens the end of Flora's classic, edgy 1950s commercial illustration style, which became tamer in the 1960s.

unfinished dancers

2010-05-21T13:33:00.005-04:00

Unfinished pencil and tempera sketch, ca. 1950-51 (Flora's Mexican sojourn), found in artist's notebook. There's no evidence the work was refined or adapted for any other purpose. The ghost image in the background is the bleedthrough of a series of figures on the reverse.

The left figure above has some female attributes, the right some vague echoes of manhood. Regarding the lady, we won't speculate on what's protruding from her butt or clustered in her belly, nor will we venture an opinion on the chopsticks positioned in her crotch.

Woody Herman

2010-05-16T21:18:00.003-04:00

Bandleader/clarinetist Woodrow Charles "Woody" Herman (1913-1987) rendered by Flora in the June 1946 issue of Columbia Records Disc Digest. Flora used alternating-color patterns throughout his career (see examples here, here and here). Because he was partly color-blind, skin tints were irrelevant.

Herman was born today 97 years ago (less than a year before Flora).

Mardi Gras Quartet

2010-05-13T07:06:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we (officially) launched our latest limited edition screen print series, Mardi Gras Quartet. (They've been "unofficially" available on our website for months.) Based on an early 1950s series painted by Flora while living in Mexico, each print is identical except for color scheme. The original four variants, along with sketches and figure studies (displayed at the bottom of the linked print page), were reproduced in our second book, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora (2007).

The Mardi Gras screen prints were produced in a limited edition of 125 each by Minneapolis print/design studio Aesthetic Apparatus, working from Flora archivist Barbara Economon's digitally restored and color-proofed high-resolution scan of the original art (tempera on artist board).

Each of the four prints can be purchased individually ($30/ea.), in multiple combinations, or as a full set ($100). Prices will increase for subsequent prints as the edition depletes.

food chain 2

2010-05-07T01:49:00.002-04:00

Detail, Sherwood Walks Home, Flora's eighth children's book, 1966. We won't reveal the outcome, but we suspect the cat is the most determined diner.

science geek 4

2010-05-04T02:11:00.002-04:00

Untitled acrylic on board, ca. mid-1960s. This modular work echoes illustrations Flora provided for the covers of Computer Design magazine during the 1960s and '70s. We've yet to determine whether this painting or an adaptation actually graced a CD cover. If not, this blog post might represent its first public exposure (we haven't reproduced this work in any of our Flora anthologies to date).