Kim Thompson - An Appreciation

Gary Groth (left) and Kim Thompson

On Wednesday we noted the death at age 56 of Kim Thompson, co-publisher (with Gary Groth) of Fantagraphics Books, under whose imprint we've graced the world with three Flora anthologies. (A fourth, The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora, arrives in September.)

Kim served as the company's editor and point person for my (and Barb Economon's) Flora books. He conferred with us and designer Laura Lindgren during development and production, ensured we met deadlines, proofread and edited the final manuscripts, and shepherded the books through the crucial printing process. These tasks sound clerical, but without the involvement of Kim (and Gary), these books would not exist. Book publishers—especially in the arts—don’t last 30+ years by luck; they endure because of leadership. Kim co-helmed the company, and the success of Fantagraphics depends on artists and authors delivering quality material. Quality has to be nurtured, and sometimes imposed, from above. Kim and Gary held us to a high standard, and since we had immense respect for them—and for the reputation of the company they founded—we labored to meet their benchmark. That our relationship with Fantagraphics has lasted ten years and a quartet of books indicates we succeeded.

Kim would have supervised the development of The High Fidelity Art, but as research and writing ramped up earlier this year, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. (Gary stepped in and oversaw the project.) We received periodic reports from Kim's wife, Lynn Emmert, while he was in treatment at Seattle's Virginia Mason Hospital; some reports were upbeat, but the prognosis looked grim. On June 6, after five weeks of treatment, Kim returned home for hospice care.

In our communication (virtual, phone, face-to-face) over the years, Kim was a gentleman and a professional. He saw the big picture but could focus intently on detail. Once we were two weeks late on a deadline. We apologized, and his (paraphrased) response was, "Considering the deadlines chronically and widely missed by so many of our artists and writers, 'two weeks late' is early."

We never got the sense Kim was doing his "job"—he was doing what he loved, in a community of colleagues who shared his passions. He was unusually talented and singularly compelled—as such, perhaps something of an outsider. At Fantagraphics, he co-created a universe where he was an insider. Many people segue into make-work careers to bag a salary and justify themselves with 35 or 40 hours of weekly employment. That wasn't Kim. He had a vision and a mission. He wasn't at a desk; he co-piloted command central of an idiosyncratic publishing empire. Fantagraphics has outlived Kim; so intense was his dedication, we suspect he would not have contemplated the reverse.

We wish Gary the best, as he perseveres with the next generation of Fantagraphics staff, who are maintaining a legacy Kim co-founded. Gary has an energetic, committed team, but Kim will be irreplaceable.

Kim and Gary were always supportive and cooperative. They let us make the books we wanted to make, with no editorial interference and only helpful suggestions. Because our new book will soon be off the presses, it's too late to add a line of copy. So we'll publish it here:

The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora 

is Dedicated to the Memory of Kim Thompson

Kim Thompson, 56

Fantagraphics Books co-publisher Kim Thompson passed away this morning at age 56 after a four-month bout with lung cancer. Kim served as editor and point-person on our three Flora anthologies, and we missed working with him on our soon-to-be-published book #4. I'll post a detailed personal perspective on Kim tomorrow—which means I'll devote 50 times as many words explaining what a great guy he was to work with and how much we'll miss him.

Our deepest condolences to the Thompson family and to the Fantagraphics staff.

the hand as pillow

Untitled pen & ink drawing, 1942 (reproduced in our 

second book, The Curiously Sinister Art of  Jim Flora)

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.

Too Much Information - Part 1

One of our representatives will be with you shortly. Your visit is very important to us, and we look forward to answering your questions. Such as: What's up with the Flora blog, the website, and Jim Flora art in general? The paucity of new posts in recent months does not connote inactivity in the Florasphere. Here's breaking news—and news which has previously broken:

Flora co-archivist Barbara Economon and I have completed a new book—our fourth— for Fantagraphics: The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora. It's a dual-purpose volume: 1) it replaces our long out-of-print and highly sought book from 2004, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, which featured the Flora album covers known to us at the time (along with a bunch of other cool stuff); and 2) it showcases the Flora album covers we knew in 2004 and others we've since discovered, along with a plethora of vintage Flora music-oriented art, most of which has not been previously published in our Flora anthologies. It rocks, it bops, and swings from the chandeliers. Projected publication: August or September. The book, which can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com, includes cheeky back cover blurbs from Gary Panter, Arnold Roth, James Lileks, Georgia Hubley, and Joost Swarte.

The Double-E Company (Eva and Elsa) have teamed with Astek to create several designs of Jim Flora wall coverings. Above is an example (piano not included). Here's another. And another. And here's the entire collection. Our books and website are attempting to spread Flora across the planet. You can do your part by spreading it across your home.

Enchanted Lion has reprinted two early Flora children's books, The Day the Cow Sneezed (1957) and Kangaroo for Christmas (1962). English is our favorite language, but editions of these books have now been reprinted in Italian, French, and Spanish.

Artifact Puzzles has produced a 302-piece wooden jigsaw puzzle of Flora's mid-1960s painting Big Bank Robbery (above). It comes packaged in a pine wood box, which (when you complete the puzzle) can be re-purposed as a parakeet coffin.

And finally, next year marks the Flora (born January 25, 1914) centennial. We're exploring several exhibition locales, with a strong possibility at Silvermine Arts Center in the historic Silvermine district of Norwalk CT. Flora and his wife Jane were members of the Silvermine Arts Guild, so it would mark a homecoming of sorts for the artist's works. Details forthcoming.

That's TMI Part 1. We'll post more updates in a day or two.

Get in line ...

... a Cugat conga line, to pre-order the new Flora anthology, The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora. It features all of Flora's known album and EP covers (including back cover illustrations) from 1947 to 1961 for Columbia, RCA Victor, and their affiliated labels, along with music-themed fine art works, illustrations, and sketches. The book was completed last week and will head shortly to the printer. (Despite what it says at Amazon, the publication date will be sometime in August, not June 30. We dawdled a bit.)

As was the case with the previous three Flora anthologies, The High Fidelity Art was compiled and authored by Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, designed by Laura Lindgren, and published by Fantagraphics.

The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora

There's been little Florablogging in recent months. Not for lack of interest, certainly not for lack of fresh material. We could post something new every day for the next five years and still retain a cache of surprises. A few years ago we discovered a sketch album that contained 225 (artist-clipped and glued-in) pencil and ink drawings from the 1940s, very few of which were subsequently published or posted. That album alone could carry us through seven and a half months of daily posts.

Here's one:

Blogging neglect aside, we've been at work compiling, writing and editing our fourth Flora compendium to be published by Fantagraphics. The focus this time will be the artist's love of MUSIC.

Our first book, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora (2004), featured Flora's known album covers. (No complete discography existed.) Since that book's publication, more vintage covers have been found, as well as the artist's rough drafts and rejected designs. The Mischievous Art ... went through two editions, but is now out of print, highly sought and available only at high prices through rare-book sellers. So we decided to compile a complete collection of Flora record covers (including recent discoveries) and unpublished sketches in one volume, augmented by music images not included in previous volumes. The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora will be the definitive anthology of the maestro's visual compositions, reflecting jazz, classical, and Latin music. Regarding his jam-packed canvases Flora once said he "couldn't stand a static space." There's nothing static about the images in The High Fidelity Art: they wail, dance, bounce, and swing from the chandeliers. They hit notes that shatter glass. This is art to which you can tap your toes and snap your fingers. Flora had a knack for grooving with a paintbrush.

The book will feature a 1998 interview with Flora which I conducted at his home on Bell Island, in Rowayton CT, just a few months before he passed away from stomach cancer. The interview has not been previously published.

The book is scheduled to reach market in August 2013. Barbara Economon and I have provided the contents, and Laura Lindgren expertly designed it—the same team as the first three Flora anthologies. It's currently in the final layout stages.

Flora, Raymond and Takashi

We received a photo of this festive tableau from our good friend (and devoted Floraphile) in Japan, Takashi Okada. The greeting card, a vintage artifact ca. 1944, was purchased by Takashi from the Flora collection a few years ago.

Behind the card sits a demo of Takashi's forthcoming Raymond Scott Songbook, a 2-cd collection of rare Scott archival recordings and new cover versions by a variety of artists. Positioned to the right is a figurine of Raymond Scott, manufactured by PressPop of Japan in commemoration of the Scott centennial in 2008.

disjointed man

Untitled ink on paper, 1942, first published in The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora (2007, Fantagraphics).

Saturday Night In Stonington

Lisa Hirschfield visits the soon-to-be-relocated Flora collection in Norwalk CT, October 28. Work displayed: Saturday Night In Stonington, a previously unpublished original tempera on paper, ca. 1968. The collection, in storage since the artist's death in 1998, will be distributed to various parties for interim care. Works are for sale. Drop us an email to inquire.

The Big Bank Robbery Jigsaw Puzzle

NEW: the Jim Flora Big Bank Robbery wooden jigsaw puzzle by Artifact Puzzles. This 302-piece work features a mischievous and colorful 1960s Flora painting. The puzzle, which measures 10.5" x 16", was laser-cut from 1/4" thick wood and comes packaged in a pinewood case.

The irregular edges of each puzzle piece were inspired by Flora's art and themed to the image by puzzle artist Tara Flannery.

The Big Bank Robbery has long been available as a fine art print in a limited edition of 30, but only three prints remain. The work was first published in our second book, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora (2007).

any similarity between ...

... is purely coincidental.

Jim Flora, untitled and unpublished tempera draft, mid-1950s:

The Magnetic Fields, 2012:

summer fun

Illustration detail, "What is Automation," Collier's magazine, March 16, 1956. The optimistic take: "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." There was a counterbalancing pessimistic view, but in observance of the current summer heat wave, we'll stick with the sunshinier forecast. 

We're still looking forward to consumer helicopters with open-air cockpits.

The Fourth of July

The work isn't titled, and there's no specific reference to Independence Day, but this unpublished 1990s acrylic on canvas suggests celebratory patriotism and civic pride, so we'll offer it as tribute to our nation's founding 236 years ago today.

P.S. This non sequitur works too. Illustration from The Fabulous Firework Family, Flora's first (1955) children's book.

The Picasso of Jazz

Thanks to Clayton Walter for a nice little Flora gallery at his Claytonology blog:

"I think of Flora as the Picasso of Jazz; his other-worldly depictions of Jazz musicians capture perfectly the vibe of a certain era of the music—brash, swingin' and full of ecstatic movement. There's another side to Flora as well. If you look closely at his LP illustrations, beyond the exciting flash,  you see a cunning method to his cartoonish madness."

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.

traffic snarls

Miserable pedestrian—what part of "beep" don't you understand?

Untitled, unfinished tempera on board (detail), 1950s. Purpose unknown.

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.

"visual pop in an off-kilter story"

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.