Happy Happy Joy Joy
Congas and Rhumbas, Columbia, 1941It’s the last month of winter! I am doing my happy dance – which is totally in keeping with these congas and rhumbas and calypsos. Even the colours of these vintage record covers – brought to you from the hands of vintage graphic designer Alex Steinweiss, and courtesy of my 2012 Taschen calendar – should give you a little pep. O happy day!
I didn’t know the proper definition of calypso music, but I learned (from that font of all wisdom, Wikipedia) that the Andrews sisters’ song Rum and Coca-Cola is an example. I love that song! Now I’m definitely in the mood for dancing. Go have a happy month.
Frank Holder Sings Calypso, London Records, 1957
Paper Rabbit
How quaint is this rabbit mask birthday card? I pounced on it (or should I say hopped?) a few weeks ago browsing in Bendigo’s Bob Boutique, a very pretty shop full of goods that made my friends and I exclaim in delight. I had to choose between bunny, fox and deer masks, but I discovered there are many more options online. They are available from TMOD, purveyors of quaint stationery goods, including cute scratchie cards like the one I received a little while ago. Hop to it!
Magic Lantern
Puppet Man :: Lucifer VI // Dylan // No flashIt was a freezing evening on Saturday night, but since it was the last night, Rapunzel and I stepped out to view the Gertrude Street Projection Festival.
The Festival, organised by the Gertrude Association, has been running since 2008. This year’s theme is Elements, and the work of guest artists and community groups is projected on buildings all along Gertrude Street, from the high-rise commission flats to the humble pub wall.
From the amusing – a life-size shadow of a man playing with dolls in a window, to the tiny – a little magic lantern with a creature astride the branch of a tree, to the monumental – geometric patterns flung up on the twin tall apartment buildings; they all provided a challenge to the dedicated Hipstamatic photographer, as did the freezing air. Quite a few shop windows caught my eye too. It was a fun evening.
Alphonse Mucha – The Founder of Art Nouveau
Sarah Bernhardt, 1896Art Nouveau is for many an instantly-recognised style, and the illustrations and graphic works of Alphonse Mucha are inextricably (much like the motifs) associated with it.
He was most famous for the sinuous lines and florals of his commercial art, and understandably so – no other artist has truly matched the lightness and joie de vivre present in his illustrative oeuvre, not even the pyschadelic art of the 1960s when Art Nouveau experienced a revival of interest.
Salon of the Hundred, 1896
Job, 1896Yet Mucha would have preferred to concentrate on more artistic projects. What has survived for over a century in the collective public imagination though, are his illustrations of the actress Sarah Bernhardt; ladies wreathed in the smoke of Job’s cigarettes and their own tresses writhing in the air; personifications of seasons and evening stars; and ladies advertising products from chocolate to champagne.
Champenois Imprimeur Éditeur, 1897Mucha (1860–1939) began his career painting theatrical scenery in Moravia (present day Czech Republic) and moved on to portrait painting. After studying in Paris, he achieved fame virtually overnight through a commission for a new advertising poster for a play featuring Sarah Bernhardt. He was simply in the right place at the right time, visiting a print shop just as the need arise. He took two weeks to produce a lithograph that thrilled Bernardt, and culminated into a six-year contract with the actress.
It also established him as an artist. He produced all kinds of graphic media in his distinctive style, as well as designs for jewellery, wallpaper, carpets and theatre sets. Initially dubbed ‘Mucha Style’, it was later known as Art Nouveau (French for ‘new art’), so it can truly be said that Alphonse Mucha was its founder.
The style was spread internationally by the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris – what an irony then that the founder of Art Nouveau struggled afterwards to disassociate himself from it. His frustration is comprehensible in light of his declaration that ‘art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, nothing more’. But surely there is still a place for lyrical beauty and a celebration of colour in this world.
See more of Alphonse Mucha’s work at Wikipaintings.
Chocolate Ideal, 1897
Chocolate Masson, 1897
Zodiac, 1897
(Left) Summer, 1897, and (right), Ruby
Spring and Summer, 1897
Stop and Snap
Here is a selection of Portuguese bill posters that I photographed last year on the streets of Porto. I’ve no idea what they are promoting, but I liked them. All utilise illustration and are so colourful and eye-catching. Quite a different style to the majority one sees here in Melbourne.
I remember one day in Porto when a particular poster caught my eye in passing. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to photograph it then, and thought I would come later or the next day. But when I returned it had already been plastered over, alas. I was quite annoyed. Always take the time to stop and snap on the spot, I say.
