French artist Silvia Radelli noticed that very few Paris Metro stations were named after women. Her clever project Métroféminin remedies the sexist situation with an alternative map of the Paris Metro system. Her renamed stations celebrate everyone from Josephine Baker to Eleanor Roosevelt (preempting FDR) and Jane Austen to Nina Simone. I love that she replaced the Pyramides stop with Nefertiti, how cool is that.
It’s rare to discover street art with such diverse influences as you’ll find from Montreal-based A’shop. The mural arts and advertising group has managed to incorporate styles that range from sinuous, fin de siècle Czech Art Nouveau to SoCal graffiti. You can catch more of their inventive work at their website or on their Facebook page.
Inspired by the Travoltafy name generator that lampooned John Travolta’s Oscar presentation flub, Visit Finland has launched the Finngenerator app which allows users to discover their “Finnified” names. Just chose a gender and type in your name and hit generator. My Finngenerator name is Touko Korpela, which means “spring seedtime wilderness”. Most of the Finngenerator names are derived from the 19th century Finnish epic poem Kalevala.
The only thing I love more than a cool map is a cool map with clever illustrations. The Cape Town, South Africa-based creative design studio MUTI illustrated this terrific map of Japan that includes lots of icons highlighting landmarks, architecture, flora, fauna and aspects of Japanese culture.
It’s been more than 20 years since the STA (Springfield Transit Authority) introduced its ill-fated monorail system, but even fictitious cities eventually need to upgrade their public transportation. Last Sunday’s Simpsons episode featured a hitherto unseen transit network complete with multicolored Vignelli-like maps.
The extensive system covers all of Springfield’s hotspots and hipster neighborhoods like Little Ethiopia, Albino Heights and Queasy Street. You can even reach Shelbyville—but who’d want to go there?
Commissioned by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Vincent is a moving and affectionate tribute to Vincent van Gogh in the form of a graphic novel, or rather a graphic biography. Part of publisher SelfMadeHero’s “Art Masters” series, the book was created by Dutch comic artist and illustrator Barbara Stok.
The book, which takes an espistolary approach based on correspondence between the artist and his always supportive brother Theo, focuses on Van Gogh’s time in the south of France during the late 1880s.
Graphic interpretations of the artist’s most beloved paintings are interwoven throughout the book. You can learn more about Stok and purchase the book and related artwork on the artist’s website here.
For most visitors to London, it’s all about the pubs, but for my part, I love me an old-school caff. In this short video by Rick Stanton, Nevio Pellicci, the grandson of the original founders of Bethnal Green’s renowned E. Pellicci Café, tells the tale of one of London’s greatest caffs.
The luxury retailer Louis Vuitton has been slowly rolling-out a collection of limited edition travel books that is being sold in its boutiques. Each of the guides is being illustrated by a different international artist.
The initial four books in the planned series cover Paris by Congolese painter Chéri Samba, London by Japanese artist Natsko Seki, New York by French painter and illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme, and Easter Island by American artist Daniel Arsham. There are plans for Manga artist Jiro Taniguchi to provide the artwork for a book on Venice and for Italian comic book author Lorenzo Mattottito do a Vietnam book.
Each artist brought their designated locale to life with a personal aesthetic and artistic style. Daniel Arsham’s vision of Easter Island is reminiscent of drawings by early explorers and archeologists, Natsko Seki’s London combines colorful, hand-drawn illustrations with images made with the digital and photographic tools. Delhomme uses gouache to bring to life the city life of New York, while Samba utilizes intense color blocks in comic-like drawings to animate Parisian life.
Lisa brown is a San Francisco-based author, cartoonist and illustrator who is probably best known for her art work in Lemony Snicket books. In her spare time, she creates the hilarious “Three Panel Book Review” comicfor the San Francisco Chronicle and her own blog.
Regular visitors to TBTP know that I’m inordinately fond of old travel guidebooks, whimsical book illustrations and tales of eastern European intrigue. Of course I couldn’t pass-up a crazy story that I ran across the other day that has all three elements.
New York: A Mod Portrait of the City was first published in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and was promptly suppressed by the secret police who destroyed the entire print run of the guidebook. Now more than four decades later, Universe, an imprint of Rizzoli, has revived the lost little gem with an English translation. Here’s what the publisher has to say about the project:
“Exactly half a century old, this timeless illustrated classic artfully captures the “Mad Men” era of New York City for readers of all ages. The unique essence of New York City is poetically celebrated in Vladimir Fuka’s brilliant, colorful illustrations and collages and Zdenek Mahler’s playful accompanying narrative. The book takes readers on a charming journey of discovery through the magnificent metropolis’s architectural landmarks, cultural hot spots, and neighborhoods, from uptown to downtown, from Wall Street to Coney Island, and the Guggenheim Museum to Yankee Stadium. Interesting historical fun facts about the city and its inhabitants are combined with descriptions of the reality of everyday New York. New York was created in 1964 and first printed in the former Czechoslovakia in 1968, but the entire print run was pulped by the secret police after Fuka escaped to the United States. The book was finally brought to life when Mahler’s grandson discovered a surviving copy in his attic. Fifty years later, it remains as fresh as ever and includes updated facts for today. This beautiful, vintage treasure will delight New Yorkers and tourists of all ages.
About the Author
Vladimir Fuka (1926-1977) is a Czech illustrator, graphic artist, painter, and sculptor. In the 1950s and ’60s, Fuka created a number of innovative books for both children and adults and has won numerous international awards. Zdenek Mahler is a writer of books for children and adults, and screenplays for theater, film, and television. He was an advisor in the preparations of Milos Forman’s film Amadeus and Goya’s Ghosts, and has been a writer and moderator of popular educational programs.”
Travel Between The Pages 