Spectators — new fine art print

At JimFlora.com we're issuing our first new limited edition fine art print in over a year. Spectators, an uncirculated 1940s-era tempera, depicts a phantasmagoria of grotesque faces, with stray limbs. This work has not previously been reproduced or published anywhere. The original is owned by Flora's godson, Keith McAllister, of California, who granted us permission to professionally photograph the work and issue it as a limited edition print. 

Only twenty-five (25) prints of Spectators were produced for this edition. Each print is hand-numbered in the lower right, hand-titled in the lower left (beneath the art), and authenticated on the reverse with the stamped seal of Jim Flora Art (a Flora family enterprise).

Tenement K

Today we introduce a new limited edition fine art print called TENEMENT K, whose residents are bawdy, musical, criminal, and/or exhibitionistic. Doesn't matter if you're rowdy, serpentine, or headless—the landlord will rent you a room. If you were a mutant miscreant, you'd be home by now.

The previously unpublished and uncirculated work, which dates from the 1940s, is owned by a private collector who allowed us to have the work professionally photographed for print reproduction. Although the work is untitled, we have provisionally named it Tenement K to differentiate it from other untitled Jim Flora works.

Only forty (40) prints of Tenement K were produced for this edition. Each archival-quality 22" x 17" print is hand-numbered in the lower right and authenticated on the reverse with the stamped seal of Jim Flora Art (a Flora family enterprise). The provisional title does not appear in the print markings.

The launch price is $175.00 each (+ shipping and handling). Prices will increase as the edition sells down. Full print specs are included on the Tenement K page at JimFlora.com.

Too Much Information - Part 2

More current activity in the Florasphere (see Part 1 here):

We're preparing several new fine art prints for release, including a Mambo For Cats giclée (the oversized screen print sold out last year, but the Mambo mini remains available). Above is a mockup of a proposed print that might make it into 2013's release queue.

Our Tokyo-based Floraphile friend Takashi Okada has compiled and designed The Raymond Scott Songbook, a magnificent two-CD set of vintage and rare Scott recordings from the 1930s to the 1960s. The package includes a 100-page booklet featuring a number of Flora spot illos from the 1940s and '50s, which we provided for Takashi's use.

Three full Flora works from the 1940s (Fletcher Henderson, 1942, pictured above) are being used as set dressing on the forthcoming Showtime TV series Masters of Sex. The series takes place in the 1950s, and portrays the lives and work of sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The series debuts in September.

An untitled early 1950s Flora black & white tableau has been edited and vibrantly colorized for a forthcoming album, Raymond Scott Rewired, to be released in September on the Basta label. The album features the entire Raymond Scott music catalog—from 1930s jazz novelties to 1960s electronic experiments with Scott's homemade instruments—remixed, mashed, and flipped by three expert audio hooligans: The Bran Flakes, The Evolution Control Committee, and Go Home Productions. You can hear three samples from the album here.

Bix, birthday boy (and Flora tattoo #3)

Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke (1903-1931)

Today is the 109th birthday of Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke, an American "hot jazz" legend who's been dead for 81 of those years. Bix was an alcoholic who never took a legal drink in his life. He was underage when Prohibition commenced in 1919, and died before it was repealed in 1933.

Jim Flora, who loved jazz, rendered a caricature of this revered cornetist on a 1947 Columbia Records 4-disc set. Last week we issued a limited edition fine art print of the illustration. Despite his brief, sordid life, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential musicians of the 1920s, the only decade commonly identified with a specific strain of music — "The Jazz Age." Bix lived it, and helped define it.

P.S. Bix and Flora also helped define this man's arm:

Photo: Julie Belcher/Yee-Haw Industries

Bix & Tram print released

Today we launch a new limited edition fine art print of a classic mid-century Flora album cover. Bix and Tram was one of the artist's earliest record sleeve illustrations, issued by Columbia in 1947 on a 78 rpm 4-disc set. The cover features outlandish caricatures of two legendary bandmates from the 1920s "hot jazz" scene: cornetist Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer.

Despite what appear to be mutant facial and cranial features, in fact these figures look exactly like Bix and Tram! Bix was scarlet-complexioned due to his overindulgence of bathtub gin, and Trumbauer was green from showering in money. Little-known historical facts. No need to thank us. Come back often.

The work has been issued in a limited edition run of 25 hand-numbered prints. Prices will increase as the edition sells down.

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.

Inside Sauter-Finegan (print)

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).

Rowayton Creature Tableau (new print)

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.

Brain Map and Abstract Tangle (new fine art prints)

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.

Bell Island at Night (new print)

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.

Bell Island at Night

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.

The Day the Cow Sneezed mini-print

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).

night-sky moonswinger

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.

Yee-Haw Industries studio tour

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

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

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.

Little Rock Getaway (pre-launch)

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

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.

G3 in Tampico: the restoration

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

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.