Saturday, June 19, 2010

What have I here?

After a busy week a slow start this Saturday morning!
Waking up slowly,  looking out on a grey day ...quietly trawling a few saved links from the "in" box.

Oh, by the way, great show opening ...good buzz...almost too crowded to move really. Lots of good conversations though and the quiet and cool night air outside to draw breath. People seemed to really enjoy the show and Ill have some pics soon. Back today for a sitting and chats with people I've invited along!
My warmest gratitude to all well-wishers and locally to those who came along and were most responsive. Special thank you to Nicola! And to the lovely organisers - Thank you and well done!!
Many commented they would return at a quiet time for a viewing - a wise move as last night did not allow for that! More soon!

So...what have I here?

First up - from Container list - the blog of the Milton Glaser Design Study Centre and archives comes Dada, explained.




MILTON GLASER COLLECTION, BOX 112 FOLDER 24. PUSH PIN GRAPHIC, UNDATED.
Here’s an ironic instructional piece from early Push Pin Studios member John Alcorn. A highly accomplished designer and illustrator, Alcorn also designed the opening titles for several Fellini films.



I need to find the info on this one which I saved a while ago...its from this same blog!

As is this curious one below.
Quoting from the post Alan Fletcher's "Feedback" :

Starting in 1976, Alan Fletcher, a founder of Pentagram Partners London, began publishing an informal guidebook to interesting places to eat and stay around the world. Contributions were solicited from artists and designers, and compiled into sections organized by region, perfect-bound and fitted in a hard plastic outer binder. In the first edition, type was roughly formatted in Courier and there was no contents or index — the 1979 version expanded the range and gave the publication a more familiar Pentagram gloss, with Caslon set in a tight typographic grid.








THE HENRY WOLF COLLECTION, BOX 15. PENTAGRAM’S FEEDBACK 1976, MORE FEEDBACK 1979, ANOTHER FEEDBACK 1986, AND FEEDBACK 1992 AND 1996.
The contributors were an impressive bunch, counting among them Saul Bass, R. O. Blechman, Wim Crouwel, Rudolph de Harak, Lou Dorfsman, Bob Gill, Sheila Hicks, David Hockney, Armin Hofmann, Walter Landor, Herb Lubalin, Josef Müller-Brockman, and Maximo Vignelli in the first issue. Many of the designers whose archives we maintain — Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, George Tscherny, Henry Wolf — also contributed.
Here we have David Hockney's contribution;




From Olivier Mourge, Paris, designer followed by London film-maker Bob Gill;




Pentagram is still putting out Feedback:


Image of Pentagram Feedback

Feedback—now in its 8th edition—is a guide to interesting places around the world with contributions from colleagues and friends.
(1974-present)


This reminds me I have a wonderful book by Alan Fletcher still packed away. I particularly loved the idea of these personal anecdotes as a guide to places to visit. I guess blogging and the web provide this in buckets - but there is something particularly appealing about the idea of reading the recommendations of - say Hockney - to some out of the way place.

'Matisse as Printmaker' is a title from Pentagram;

Matisse02_sm.jpg


Matisse03_sm.jpg


Matisse05_sm.jpg

more on this one later....
DLWBk_Cover_350.jpg

Time to head off to the gallery...
ciao!

12 comments:

Altoon Sultan said...

I love the Dada Explained piece; it's absurd and reasonable at the same time, though perhaps the graphics are a bit tame for dada, except for #3, a marvelous human protractor.
Container List is a very interesting site for world of design; thanks for linking to it, Sophie.

Sophie Munns said...

Hi Altoon,
Yes ... that crossed my mind - the tameness -but I must say I enjoyed digging around this site and finding curious archival material that pointed to new ideas that were appearing over time.
Design is so revealing of an era ... and this archive is quite a classic!
You are no doubt very familiar with many of the names in design - for me...not so much..but still the styles and ideas yes!
glad you found value here!
S

Altoon Sultan said...

Sophie, I'm certainly familiar with the School of Visual Arts––SVA––the host of the site, but not so much with all the artists, except for a couple of them. Graphic design is an interesting world: when I taught at San Jose State University years ago, I had many design students in my drawing classes; they were very talented, with a different aesthetic sense from the fine arts majors.

Sophie Munns said...

Interesting to know a bit more Altoon!

I was watching Philippe Starck conducting a program with young design students over several weeks or months (?) - a competitive challenge each week to eliminate different ones until he finds the 'perfect candidate' to come and work with him for a time.

Its s interesting to watch for exactly the reasons you refer to when you were teaching the design students - very talented and yet coming from such a different aesthetic.!

The Starck program is probably the reason I was inspired to post this - it got me thinking about what they do a little more closely!
ciao,
S

Mlle Paradis said...

Sophie you come up with such great stuff! I started out trying to train as a graphic designer and it never ever clicked although I enjoy good design and think we should have more and more of it!

I good friend of mine's husband has worked with Glaser for like the past ten years. There is a link to his own site on my blogroll: Paradoxy Products.

Glad the show went well! Sounds like you still have a lot to cull from it in terms of conversations and feedback! Looking forward to what you have to share!

Sophie Munns said...

Hello MP...
interesting you gave design a go for a time..(i'm not suprised you have an interest from your trawling trips... but as you say it wasn't the place for you to linger over-certainly career -wise!
Part of why I like blogging so much is that you can give space to eclectic interests - the world is too vast and inherently fascinating to be one-tracked I think!
Shall look up your Paradoxy friend link for sure!

Thanks my friend - a good show for the fact I was able to work with the feedback and thoughts from the last one in a condensed, focused way - the group show requiring a lot less from me.
Perfect I now realise!
First show for the year was during the still hot days of our autumn when the pressures of establishing the residency were high - really this felt so much simpler and more workaday! Its been a big relief - and with the gallery only 15 minds from home!
so...what about dinner? are we all coming to LA - speaking virtually of course?
S x

Four Seasons in a Life said...

DEar Sophie,

I love coming to your site and seeing a world beyond my reach. Your bog is not only informative but also it inspires.

THank you for sharing.

Wishing you a grand smashing start to the new week,
Egmont

Caterina Giglio said...

wonderfully informative post Sophie, but the best info was about your show! I suspect a bit toasty with all the peeps loving your work!! xx's

Sophie Munns said...

Dear Egmont,
so nice to see you managing to fit in a visit over here today. I hope you are having a very good weekend there and that you have been taking things slowly of late - and finding a few pleasure amidst the things on your plate!
Funny you wished me a smashing start to the week...It does feel like brand new week...a few less things hanging over me than last and new things to begin!
I started today with a walk and ended up in a brand new cafe for coffee and some planning.
You've been missed...delighted youv'e popped in!
Sophie

Sophie Munns said...

Hi Caterina,
...with 10 artists showing and each artist inviting people along you can be sure there were many there! It was a lot easier to be casual about numbers this time round!
Everything was less stressful by far than the last show... 10 people make light work... so I did enjoy the ambience and when I returned saturday it was a quieter but steady stream of friends and visitors to chat with and enjoy the day
All lovely thank you!
caio bella!
S x.

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Sophie Munns said...

Oooops! accidently published one of those annoying spam comments.... is anyone else getting them flooding in of late?