Alvin Lustig : Illustrations (The Ghost in the Underblows)

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“Ghost in the Underblows” (1940) for Ward Ritchie Press, echoed Constructivist typecase
experiments from the early twenties yet revealed a distinctly native American aesthetic.

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‘The Ghost in the Underblows’
Typographical illustrations
Alvin Lustig
1940
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‘The Ghost in the Underblows’
Typographical illustrations
Alvin Lustig
1940
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‘The Ghost in the Underblows’
Typographical illustrations
Alvin Lustig
1940
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‘The Ghost in the Underblows’
Typographical illustrations
Alvin Lustig
1940
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‘The Ghost in the Underblows’
Typographical illustrations
Alvin Lustig
1940
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Alvin Lustig introduced principles of modern art to graphic design that have had a long-term influence on contemporary practice. He was in the vanguard of a relatively small group who fervently, indeed religiously, believed in the curative power of good design when applied to all aspects of American life. He was a generalist, and yet in the specific media in which he excelled he established standards that are viable today. If one were to reconstruct, based on photographs, Lustig’s 1949 exhibition at The Composing Room Gallery, in New York, the exhibits on view and the installation would be remarkably fresh, particularly in terms of the current trends in art-based imagery. Lustig created monuments of ingenuity and objects of aesthetic pleasure. Whereas graphic design history is replete with artifacts that define certain disciplines and are also works of art, for a design to be so considered it must overcome the vicissitudes of fashion and be accepted as an integral part of the visual language. Though Lustig would consider it a small part of his overall output, no single project is more significant in this sense than his 1949 paperback cover for Lorca: 3 Tragedies. It is a masterpiece of symbolic acuity, compositional strength and typographic craft that appears to be, consciously or not, the basis for a great many contemporary book jackets and paperback covers. [Extract : Born Modern by Steven Heller]

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Alvin Lustig : Website

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Azurebumble : ‘AI : Series’ (Photography Book)

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Recently, I’ve curated a number of image series by photographers from ‘Flickr’ on my blog ‘Aesthetic Investigations’. Subsequently, I thought it would be interesting to document these works in a book. Therefore, i’ve arranged a collection of ’39′ abstract and minimal photographic series by these ’32′ artists. A selection of pages from the book can be viewed below, a full book preview can be seen: HERE

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Thank you to everyone who contributed their images to this project.

All graphic content and curations by : Alan Wilson ( azurebumble )

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Book Cover
Front & Back Pages
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Introductory Pages
Copyright & Contents
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Introductory Pages
Tags, Artists & Series Thumbnails
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Photography Series
Gianni Galassi
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Photography Series
Teresa (Colourful Life) & roB_meL
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Photography Series
Camilo Todemann & Olli Kekäläinen
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Photography Series
Brancolina & Barbara Stumm
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Photography Series
Françoise Lucas & Leonie Polah
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Photography Series
Julian Gomez & Tom Mclaughlan
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Artists

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Alec Cheer……………………Annemie Hiele……………………..Azurebumble……………………Barbara Stumm

Brancolina………………….Camilo Todemann…………………..Daniel Molina…………………….Fernandoprats

Françoise Lucas…………….Gianni Galassi…………………….James Withey……………….John Kosmopoulos

Julian Gomez……………Krystina Stimakovits…………………Leonie Polah………………………….Lillykeeper

Lord Jezzer…………………..Lucie Bourassa…………………..Mark Valentine…………………..Olli Kekäläinen

Peter Moons…………………..Phédia Mazuc……………………..Rita Vita Finzi…………………………….roB_meL

Shari Baker……………………Steffen Tuck………………..Teresa (Colourful life)…………..Tom McLaughlan

Visualisarium…………………..Wilma Eras……………………Wouter Hogendorp……………………….Zel Nunes

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VIEW FULL BOOK PREVIEW AND PURCHASE HERE

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Kikuji Kawada : ‘Chizu – The Map’ Series (Photography Book)

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‘Scraps’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1959-1965
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‘The Japanese National Flag’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1960
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‘Scraps’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1959-1965
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‘Scraps’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1959-1965
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‘Atomic Dome, Ceiling, Stain of Blood’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1960-1961
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‘Atomic Dome, Scriblings by Tourists’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1960-1961
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‘Atomic Dome, Ceiling, Stain of Blood’
Chizu (The Map) series
gelatin silver print
1960-1961
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“No photobook has been more successful in combining graphic design with complex photographic narrative… [as its] various layers inside [are] peeled away like archaeological strata, the whole process of viewing the book becomes one of uncovering and contemplating the ramifications of recent Japanese history — especially the country’s tangled relationship with the United States… His photographs are a masterly amalgam of abstraction and realism, of the specific and the ineffable, woven into a tapestry that makes the act of reading them a process of re-creation in itself. In the central metaphor of the map, in the idea of the map as a series of interlocking trace marks, Kawada has conjured a brilliant simile for the photograph itself: scientific record, memory trace, cultural repository, puzzle and guide…”

[Extract : The Photobook: A History, Volume 1, by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger]

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Kikuji Kawada : SFMOMA

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William Eckersley : “Dark City” Series (Night Photography)

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Initially inspired by the stillness of London at night, photographer William Eckersley began experimenting in late 2007 and after four years of stunning large format photography, he’s published a book of these works called ‘Dark City’ which promise a compelling view of unseen London. –  view here

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‘Factory, Tree And Moon Behind Silhouette, RM9′
(c-type print / 2010)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Spotlit Steps From Fire Exit, SE1′
(c-type print / 2008)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Trolleys In Car Park, CR0′
(c-type print / 2010)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Bridge Over Canal, E15′
(c-type print / 2009)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Bend In Pedestrian Tunnel, SE1′
(c-type print / 2008)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Shopping Arcade, SE1′
(c-type print / 2008)
“Dark City” Series
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‘Lake And Four Housing Blocks, SE2′
(c-type print / 2010)
“Dark City” Series
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At night, a once flat world illuminated by dull, grey daylight is transformed under the cloak of darkness. Garish spotlighting casts deep shadows and silhouettes, with hues of pink, cyan and orange. The stage is devoid of its human players and seems to showcase the scenery’s forgotten beauty, revealing a stark and otherworldly aesthetic in a city drained of its occupants. The built environment, deliberately contrived to service the needs and desires of humanity, makes sense in the context of teeming human life – without this however, its inherent functionality no longer visible, our urban spaces appeared to stand forlorn, waiting to be judged on their genius or folly, beauty or ugliness… [Extract : Stucco Press]

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William Eckersley : Stucco Press

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Brancolina : ‘Urban Stories’ (Photography Book)

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‘The city is a symbol, and there is symbolization of the city, but
it is in the image itself, apprehended through and by discourse,
that what the city represents for man is revealed and expressed.’

Raymond Ledrut (‘The Images of the City’)

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“The urban environment is a genuine hub of activities and cultural expressions, ‘cityscapes’ conjure up multifarious visual associations, memories and experiences that together signal the distinctiveness of the city. For this series I photographed urban scenes with authentic details that triggered my thoughts and aesthetic feelings by geometric juxtaposition of urban elements and architectural semiotics.” [Ex-B]

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Urban Stories : Book Preview

Urban Stories : Book Details

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Krystina Stimakovits : ‘Thresholds’ (Photography Book)

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From the Series : Inside Out 14

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From the Series : Inside Out 01

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From the Series : Inside Out 07

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From the Series : Glimpsed 13

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From the Series : Inside-Out 02

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What is it within the life-less fragments of our physical environment that either stirs our psyche or leaves us indifferent? Is it the underlying patterns of geometric lines and forms as Kandinsky’s theories might suggest? Or is it the angle of fleeting light falling upon surfaces? Alternatively, is it simply whether or not objects and textures depicted manage to catalyse in us significant memories, however sub-conscious? It is these questions which led the photographer to hone in on the layered in-between worlds that materials such as fencing and glass often provide and, in doing so, explore the degree to which ‘straight’ photography may be able to reveal or metamorphose any of their evocative powers.

‘Thresholds’ contains ’38′ photographs chosen from several projects all of which involve glass. Although many months have passed since their beginnings, answers to these questions continue to elude her.

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Thresholds : Book Preview

Krystina Stimakovits : Website

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