Chioggia

Detail, Chioggia, early 1960s, acrylic

Sundazed blasts off with Flora

Sundazed Records, one of the world's foremost boutique rock reissue labels, offers a new limited edition T-shirt emblazoned with a Jim Flora space-age pan-galactic starship.

The original 1958 illustration (from the back of a Billy Mure LP) was black & white. Sundazed offers two colorized editions, the mustardy-cheesey:

And the aqua & salmon tinted:

William Bernal

Producer/writer Bill Bernal was a dear friend of Jim Flora. In an autobiographical reminiscence penned in 1987, Flora recalled an intercession by Bernal that upscaled one of the artist's less successful children's books:

In 1961 Leopold, the See-through Crumbpicker was published. It did not make much of a splash. It was illustrated differently than my other books and that may have been a mistake. I tried to see and do the illustrations as a child would see and do them. The story is about Leopold, an invisible animal, who likes Minerva, a little girl who has lost her two front teeth. When she eats cookies, she makes a lot of crumbs and Leopold loves crumbs. He follows Minerva to school one day and proceeds to get into a lot of trouble. This is followed by a mad chase through town until he is arrested and finally made visible. I thought it was a good story even though it didn't sell well. Once again, good fortune intervened in the shape of Bill Bernal, an independent film producer. He liked Leopold very much and thought it would make a fine short film. He, too, knew Gene Deitch who had made my first film [ed.: The Fabulous Firework Family] and who now lived in Czechoslovakia where he was in charge of the government's animation studios. Bill commissioned Gene to make the film and he turned out a very smart and lively seven-minute film. Book sales picked up and the film is still available from Weston Woods, who distributes it to schools and libraries.

Deitch dropped us a note and three jpgs in July 2006:

I recently came across my original storyboard plus three original color studies [see above] for our production of Leopold, The See-Through Crumbpicker. The color studies were made by Jim personally. They are not actual illustrations from the book. Jim made them as guides for our animators.

Now gawk at this safe-driving cartoon from the 1950s, Stop Driving Us Crazy!, written by Bernal, animated in classic UPA style, and starring — Martians.

The Incredible Flutist

UPDATE 4/25: Two prints sold. Now available via JimFlora.com.

The Incredible Flutist is an uncirculated 1953-54 record cover illustration by Flora that was intended for a 7-inch RCA Victor EP. Jim Flora Art LLC is offering two fine art prints on eBay at a launch price.

According to a purchase order discovered in the Flora archives, the illustration was commissioned by RCA in late 1953, but there's no indication the work was finished, accepted, or used on a commercially released EP. This illustration has not previously been published or offered in any form. An alternate version appeared in The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora.

Only 20 numbered prints of this illustration have been produced. After the two launch prints are sold, prices will increase on edition prints sold at JimFlora.com.

That Little Man --

Coulda been clad in this onesie as a littler one. Had it been available. Just a mock-up. This image (circa 1940) originally graced the top of a box designed to collect issues of Little Man Press publications.

The Flora Faded Line

Jim Flora's art has appeared on record album covers, in magazines, in children's books, and on fine art prints. You'll soon have more options about where to display your Flora:

Jim Flora Art LLC is working with the Colorado-based Faded Line Clothing Co., who are designing a very cool line of t-shirts, hoodies, and assorted apparel featuring Flora's mischievous and curiously sinister art.

Above are proposed designs, of which there are a half-dozen others being developed. The apparel line has not been finalized, and shirts not yet manufactured, so don't place orders. We'll update as the line comes closer to launch, hopefully by Fall 08.

Raise your hand ...

Look magazine, December 27, 1955

The Big Bank Robbery

Detail, The Big Bank Robbery, undated acrylic on board, ca. early 1960s

complete work reproduced in The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

P.S. Another detail:

CCA train and bull

Detail, "Ohio," illustration for Container Corporation of America

Fortune magazine, 1947

Lord Buckley fine art print

Edition of ten, one of which is now being offered on eBay. After this print sells at the fixed price, the price will increase for the remainder of the edition, which will be offered thru JimFlora.com.

the icing on the cake

Ruth Seidler, of Brooklyn's JollyBe Bakery: "Devils food cake with hazelnut dacquoise and chocolate/hazelnut buttercream. Design inspired by the 1960's [sic] jazz record jacket designs of Jim Flora."

On the menu

rew Taylor "is a sucker for a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich." He's also keen on Jim Flora, as revealed in "Knoxville Showcases Pop Art Icon," from the March 30 issue of Vision, an arts publication of East Tennessee State University.

Flora exhibit opens Friday

... at the Lake County Discovery Museum, Wauconda IL. Original paintings and drawings, fine art prints, and Flora artifacts will be displayed, along with a collection of antiquarian Little Man Press chapbooks.

Barb and I will be in-house for the opening reception, Friday evening, April 4. Flora books, prints, and merch will be on sale in the LCDM gift shoppe. The exhibit runs thru August 31.

To find the museum, follow the signs on Route 12: