Poster House

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

New Yorkers and tourists too can now visit a new museum entirely dedicated to the art of posters.The Poster House, located in Manhattan’s Chelsea district and which features an identity designed by Pentagram’s Paula Scher, will be the first museum of its kind anywhere in the United States.

The new museum is set to open to the public next month, it will house a staggering 7,000 posters sourced from around the world, covering everything from art nouveau romanticism , to 60s music advertising, to early Photoshop experimentation by young East Berliners in the early 1990s.

Poster House’s director Julia Knight says: “Design museums feature posters, but they’re used as supplemental materials. Here, posters are a focal point and not an accessory.”

The exhibition officially opens on June 20th, but look for preview events on the website.

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We Sing The Body Electric

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Today is Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday . This offers an important opportunity to reassess his tremendous contributions to American life and literature at a time when our country is so polarized. The University of Pennsylvania Libraries and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage have organized a region-wide series of cultural events to celebrate Whitman and underscore his continued relevance in American culture.

 Whitman spent the last two decades of his life in Camden, New Jersey. He frequently traveled by ferry to Philadelphia to visit with friends and enjoy the city’s cultural life. The Whitman at 200  project situates Whitman in Philadelphia and its neighborhoods, connecting him to the life and art of the city and exploring what Philadelphia and Camden were then and are now.

You can get more information about the dozens of special events that are being held throughout the anniversary year at this dedicated website.

 

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Writer’s Block

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

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All animals are equal…

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I recently ran across the wonderful 50th anniversary edition of the first U.S. publication of George Orwell’s Animal House. Issued in 1995, Animal House: A Fairy Story features 100 mindblowing illustrations by the inimitable Ralph Steadman.

Along with the addition of the brilliant illustrations, the commemorative edition included Orwell’s unpublished preface to the original edition titled “The Freedom of the Press.”

Sadly, the 50th anniversary edition from Harcourt Brace and Co. is no longer in print. However, there are quite a few reasonably priced used copies available from secondhand booksellers.

 

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For Readers

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

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Alternative Literary Mapping

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Map loving bibliophiles at In The Book designed this clever alternative London Tube map, replacing actual station names with titles from novels set nearby. Covering just zones one and two, the map features book titles from authors including Zadie Smith, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Graham Greene and many more favorites.

Tom Matthews  from In The Book said: “The map aims to give a comprehensive geographical guide to London’s diverse literary history.

“We’re all familiar with Charles Dickens, Martin Amis and Zadie Smith, but it’s also titles such as Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows that help colour areas of the city in their own unique way.

“It was created to showcase London’s rich literary history for both locals and tourists. As bookworms ourselves we feel that literature has a unique was of painting places like few other things can.

“For instance, we found it fascinating how certain genres and authors “owned” certain parts of the map: Dickens’ London dominates the Central Line, while Gothic Victorian works Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all haunt the Piccadilly Line.

via: In The Book

 

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Some Books

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Some books leave us free and some books make us free.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Cringeworthy but on the nose

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

If you stop by this humble blog on a regular basis, you are probably aware that I love good faux book cover art. I recently ran across this selection and thought that I’d share some. While they’re all amusing, they also have that cringey feel of verisimilitude.

 

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A view of nature in ascending regions

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

These illustrations are from Levi Walter Yaggy’s Geograpahical Portfolio – Comprising Physical, Political, Geological, and Astronomical Geography. Published by Western Publishing House of Chicago in 1887, the book features large educational geographical charts.

Using chromolithography, Yaggy created stunning colors and contrasts in his images of the world, its regions, and peoples. Yaggy intended his charts to be used in classrooms by students, and issued a teacher’s handbook to assist with instruction.

H/t to the David Rumsey Map Center at the Stamford University Library

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Banksy pranks Venice

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

So it seems that that lovable street art scamp known as Banksy has brought his personal commentary on overtourism, commercialism, and the art world to Venice on the heels of the pretentious Biennale.

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