The High Fidelity Exhibition

You can buy our fourth anthology The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora and browse the man's legendary album illustrations between book covers. Or you can attend Jalopy's similarly named exhibit and be surrounded by four walls of Flora. Those walls will be adorned with vintage LP and 78 covers, proof sheets, and oversized reproductions from our fine art print catalog. The Brooklyn-based club's exhibit opens Friday June 13 from 6 - 8pm, during which yours truly will be on hand to: 1) sign your copy of The High Fidelity Art; 2) spin Flora-centric music (trad jazz, swing, and hard bop, with a smattering of Third Stream); and 3) chat about Flora. Admission is FREE, and you don't have to buy a book to attend. Jalopy has a restaurant next door to the club, and the fare is scrumptious.

Jalopy is located in Red Hook, Brooklyn (315 Columbia Street, specifically). It's not that hard to get to, though locals have a saying, "It takes people in Red Hook two hours to get to Red Hook." You can find it. It's a very cool place to hang, and it's run by a cool couple, Lynette and Geoff Wiley, who recently gave birth to a couple of cool twins.

Flora talk & rare art show Dec 17 in NYC

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.

Flora exhibit opens in New York, November 19

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.

Mambo for Cake

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.

New York in the 1950s

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.

Flora exhibit at A-D Gallery, New York

If you're planning to attend the above June 10 exhibit — you're 66 years too late. However, by historical accounts Flora's first New York City gallery show, held in 1943, was fabulously successful.

A few months earlier, Flora had been named art director at Columbia Records, replacing the man who hired him, Alex Steinweiss (at left with the artist in photo below). The whereabouts of the inscrutable petroglyphs on the wall? All will be revealed in our forthcoming book, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora, scheduled for August publication by Fantagraphics.

Flora at the Commodore

Floraphile Cary Ginell dropped us a note:

Just ran across this image in the Library of Congress archives. It’s a shot taken by William Gottlieb of the Commodore Record Shop in New York in 1947. Check out the guy in the middle of the photo. He’s getting ready to purchase (or sell, if he's a counter clerk) the Kid Ory Columbia 78 album with Flora’s artwork.

BTW, the guy reaching up to pull something from the record stacks is Jack Crystal, Billy Crystal’s father. He ran the store for Milt Gabler, the owner.

Don Brockway adds:

The customer will never listen to it; he just likes the cover. Great shot. Makes me miss REAL record stores with REAL salespeople, who would never have said, "People who have bought Kid Ory have also purchased items by The Jonas Brothers."

UPDATE: A later (unpublished) photo taken at the Commodore shop that same day was subsequently discovered in the Gottlieb archives.

Broadway Celebrates the Big Apple

Jim Flora's 1954 cosmopolitan woodcut, Manhattan, has been adapted for the cover of a new music folio. Broadway Celebrates The Big Apple: Over 100 Years of Show Tunes About New York City, was launched January 5 by Alfred Publishing Co. Cary Ginell, Associate Editor for Popular Music at Alfred, is a Flora fan who discussed image licensing with us last year. After reviewing samples, Ginell deemed the Manhattan cityscape ideally suited for this developing project.

The book contains piano-vocal-chord charts for 42 Tin Pan Alley classics. As the title suggests, the repertoire covers over a century: from 1904 ("Give My Regards to Broadway") to 2006 ("Another Saturday Night in New York)". The interim years are represented by "Harlem Serenade" (1937), "Give It Back to the Indians" (1939), "Lounging at the Waldorf" (1978), "Welcome to Brooklyn" (1993), and dozens more.

Broadway Celebrates the Big Apple is available now from Alfred online, or from Amazon (shipping in February).

Manhattan limited edition fine art prints are available, now in two color versions: red and blue.

Art serving commerce

business card, Davis Delaney Printing (ca. 1950s)

adapted pencil and tempera figures from sketchbook

Manhattan limited edition print

Jim Flora Art LLC has produced a limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of a 1954 Jim Flora hand-tinted woodcut entitled Manhattan. The cityscape depicts New York in its 1950s glory, including a number of gotham landmarks such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, subways, taxis, horse-drawn carriages and tourists.

Only twenty-five (25) prints of Manhattan were produced for this edition. The first five prints (#21/25 thru #25/25) were offered Wednesday on eBay—and sold out in less than two hours. We are now offering #16/25 thru #20/25 at JimFlora.com.

vintage Flora print now on eBay

Jim Flora Art LLC has listed on eBay a vintage hand-colored relief print of a 1954 Flora woodcut entitled Manhattan. The print was color-filled (with either tempera or watercolor), signed, titled, and matted by the artist.

The cityscape depicts many NYC landmarks, such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the UN, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, a NY public library lion, subways, taxis, horse-drawn carriages and tourists.

An unknown number of Manhattan prints were gift-wrapped by the artist for gallery sale back in the 1950s. The print being auctioned remains sealed by tape. Several Manhattan prints are in the family collection, but this is the only one which will be auctioned, and there are no immediate plans to sell the remaining prints.

Update 1: Auction drew 24 bids, closed at $1,610.00.

Update 2: Message received. Due to popular demand, we will be issuing a limited edition giclée of this work. People feel nostalgic about New York in the 1950s. Who knew?

Update 3: Like magic: done.