Art for the Pop of It: 2018

John Alcorn

John Alcorn (February 10, 1935 – January 27, 1992) was an American commercial artist and designer, and an illustrator of children's books. In addition to his accomplishments in the areas of packaging, corporate and dimensional design, Alcorn designed the opening titles for several Federico Fellini films. During his career, Alcorn created numerous book jackets and paperback covers, and his work appeared in many major exhibits.

A native New Yorker, John Alcorn was born in Corona, Queens, in 1935. When he was five years old, his family moved to Great Neck, Long Island. He was educated in the local schools. He studied graphic arts at The Cooper Union. During his first two years at Cooper Union, he studied drawing, calligraphy, architecture, the mechanics of typography, and dimensional design. In his last year his studies consisted of illustration, graphics and advertising design.

Alcorn's early career included work in the art department of Esquire magazine, a brief stint with a pharmaceutical advertising agency, and sound training at the Push Pin Studios, the celebrated design studio founded by Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins, and Edward Sorel. In 1958 Alcorn joined CBS Radio and subsequently the CBS-TV art department, but a year later he decided to freelance exclusively. In 1962 Alcorn designed and illustrated Books! by Murray McCain, which was selected as one of the best fifty books of the year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Besides book illustrations, Alcorn designed numerous paperback covers, jackets, and promotion materials.

Following graduation from Cooper Union, Alcorn married and in 1962 settled in Ossining, New York, where he lived with his wife Phyllis, and their four sons. In 1971 he moved with his family to Florence, Italy. In 1977 he returned with his family to the United States, settling in Cold Spring, New York. In 1983 Alcorn and his wife moved to Hamburg Cove in Lyme, Connecticut.

Exhibitions and collections

Alcorn's work has been exhibited at the Louvre in Paris, the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, and the Venice Biennale. It was included in the Push Pin Studios Retrospective Show at the Louvre, in March 1970. Alcorn's works are included in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.

Awards

Alcorn received awards from the New York Art Directors Club, the Society of Illustrators, and Cooper Union. In 1968 he won first prize at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. He was the recipient of the prestigious Augustus Saint-Gaudens Medal from Cooper Union. In 1970, he was selected as the first graphic artist to be Artist-In-Residence at Dartmouth College. In 1987 he was Artist-In-Residence at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Other awards include:

New York Times choice of Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year

1962 for Books!

1966, for Wonderful Time

Fifty Books of the Year, American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1963, for Books!

first prize Bologna Children's Book Fair, 1968

Augustus St. Gaudens Medal, The Cooper Union, 1970

Illustration work

Books illustrated by Alcorn are all for children, except as indicated.

Murray McCain, Books! (nonfiction), J. Cape, 1962

Al Hine, Where in the World Do You Live? (fiction), Harcourt, 1962

Mary Kay Phelan, The Circus, Holt, 1963

Ogden Nash, Everyone but Thee and Me (adult poems), Dent, 1963

Hine, Money Round the World, Harcourt, 1963

Stella Standard, The Art of Fruit Cookery, Doubleday, 1964

Sesyle Joslin, The Petite Famille (French language reader), Harcourt, 1964

Television Note Book: 1964, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 1964

McCain, Writing! (nonfiction), Ariel, 1964. Hine, A Letter to Anywhere (nonfiction), Harcourt, 1964

Marie Winn and Alan Miller, The Fireside Book of Children's Songs, Simon & Schuster, 1966

Phyllis McGinley, Wonderful Time (poems), Lippincott, 1966

Joslin, La Fiesta (Spanish language reader), Harcourt, 1967

Jan Wahl, Pocahontas in London (fiction), Delacorte, 1967

Martin Gardner, Never Make Fun of a Turtle, My Son (poems), Simon & Schuster, 1969

One, Two, Three, Hallmark, 1970

The Great Book of Puzzles and Perplexities, 1978

He also illustrated and designed numerous book jackets and paperback covers, two print catalogs, and contributed illustrations to many periodicals, including McCall's, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated.

References

Biography by Stephen Alcorn

American Artist (Sept. 1958)

Graphis (Nov. 1958), Vol. 27, 1971–72

Newsweek (June 10, 1963)

Publishers Weekly (June 1, 1964)

Lee Kingman and others compilers, Illustrators of Children's Books, 1957-1966 (Horn Books, 1968)

Doris de Montrville and Donna Hill, editors, Third Book of Junior Authors (H. W. Wilson, 1972)

Keiichi Tanaami

Keiichi Tanaami, 82-years-old and one of postwar Japan's leading pop artists, is hailed as a magician of visual images and known for the absurdity of the fantasy worlds constructed in his work, ranging from paintings, installations to graphic designs.

An exhibition that reviews his work since the 1960s is now on at the K11 gallery in Guangzhou, a shopping and art experience mall, and will run through Sept 2.

His work transmits an overwhelming visual effect that is closely associated with his childhood experiences during the war, while the weird, sophisticated patterns and his distinctive vocabulary of creation are derivative of Japanese folk arts. His artwork blends dreams, memories and illusions into the imagery of pop culture.

1970s living room, maybe not pop but close to it

1961, GMC The Truck Triumph, General Motors Corporation

Comic Book eyes

Roy Lichtenstein -

Art History, Pop Art and Humour: A Major Retrospective of Christa Dichgan’s Paintings The Berlin-based German artist’s highly distinctive canvases at Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover BY KITO NEDO Since the publication of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Italian Journey in 1816, if not before, yearning for the south has been a classic topos in German cultural production. The state-supported residency programmes at Villa Massimo, Rome, and Villa Romana, Florence, founded over a century ago and still popular with artists, are not alone in reflecting this sustained fascination with Italy’s landscape, culture and history. This time-honoured game also involves a range of productive responses to the might of Italian art history: rejection, embrace, or both at the same time. When the Berlin-based German painter Christa Dichgans spent a year at Villa Romana in 1971, she packaged her Italian experience in highly distinctive pictures. As is illustrated by ‘No still life’, Dichgans’s retrospective at Kestnergesellschaft and her first major institutional show in Germany for over 30 years, these small-format paintings were heavily populated by salsicce, Italian sausages that have received less attention in art than in, say, pizza or pasta. Raub der Sabinerinnen (The Rape of the Sabine Women, 1971), for example, shows a snow-white figurine by the 16th-century sculptor Giambologna – one of the most enduring depictions of the titular myth – sinking into a heap of salsicce. The circular Würste vor Goldgrund (Sausages on Gold Ground, 1972) refers, in formal terms, to the tondo, making subtle links to the Italian tradition of painting saints. Christa Dichgans, Spielzeugstillleben (New York) (Toys Still Life), 1967, acrylic on canvas, 1.4 x 1 m Courtesy: © the artist; photograph: Jochen Littkemann This reference to Italian cuisine could be understood as an artistic allusion to the phenomena of globalization that affected western Germany in the postwar years. Firstly, the Germans’ ever-increasing appetite for travel in the period, which began during the ‘economic miracle’ of the 1950s and ’60s, was focused on Italy. Secondly, the arrival of the guest workers who helped bring about this period of commercial growth prompted the establishment of many Mediterranean restaurants across the country. While the curation of ‘Not a Still Life’ suggests that these sausage pictures were produced during a short but intense phase of the artist’s career, Dichgans’s first solo show at Galerie Rudolf Springer in Berlin in 1972 featured 40 of the works, while 30 years later she returned to the theme once more, painting pointillist sausages and a pair of frankfurters in oil on canvas Dichgans’s early focus on the world of things that populates everyday consumerist lives made her one of the few female artists involved in the ‘German Pop’ movement of the 1960s. ‘Not a Still Life’ begins with what may be Dichgans’s best-known works from this period: paintings of heaps of toys, rendered in such a way as to make various readings possible. They could be about the forces of entropy that reign in children’s bedrooms, much to the bafflement of parents. But these arrangements, which seem ready to slide out of the frame, also exude a sense of abandonment. The ten scenarios, which include Spielzeugstilleben (New York) (Toys Still Life, New York, 1967), Stilleben mit Seepferd (Still Life with Seahorse, 1969) and Häufung mit Gummirobbe(Accumulation with Rubber Rubble, 1968), feel as if playful disorder in a home environment may subsequently have turned into a real disaster. Grown-up clothes – a pair of red boots, for instance – make puzzling appearances amongst the chaos, as do practical household items. Is this a subtle way of dealing with the challenge, one that still exists today, of combining artistic production and family life? More recent art, from Mike Kelley’s eerie plucked soft toys to the sagging population of Cosima von Bonin’s 2010 exhibition ‘Fatigue Empire’, has spoken of the dark depths that may lie behind the cutest beady eyes. You don’t need these reference points to appreciate Dichgans’s rigorously composed pictures, shaped by art-historical sensitivity, an affinity with pop art and humour. But with this knowledge, it is easy to see the pioneering quality of her oeuvre. Main image: Christa Dichgans, Raub der Sabinerinnen (The Rape of the Sabine Women, detail), 1971, acrylic on canvas, 28 x 35 cm. Courtesy: © Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin; photograph: Jochen Littkemann

Art History, Pop Art and Humour: A Major Retrospective of Christa Dichgan’s Paintings

The Berlin-based German artist’s highly distinctive canvases at Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover

BY KITO NEDO

Since the publication of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Italian Journey in 1816, if not before, yearning for the south has been a classic topos in German cultural production. The state-supported residency programmes at Villa Massimo, Rome, and Villa Romana, Florence, founded over a century ago and still popular with artists, are not alone in reflecting this sustained fascination with Italy’s landscape, culture and history. This time-honoured game also involves a range of productive responses to the might of Italian art history: rejection, embrace, or both at the same time.

When the Berlin-based German painter Christa Dichgans spent a year at Villa Romana in 1971, she packaged her Italian experience in highly distinctive pictures. As is illustrated by ‘No still life’, Dichgans’s retrospective at Kestnergesellschaft and her first major institutional show in Germany for over 30 years, these small-format paintings were heavily populated by salsicce, Italian sausages that have received less attention in art than in, say, pizza or pasta. Raub der Sabinerinnen (The Rape of the Sabine Women, 1971), for example, shows a snow-white figurine by the 16th-century sculptor Giambologna – one of the most enduring depictions of the titular myth – sinking into a heap of salsicce. The circular Würste vor Goldgrund (Sausages on Gold Ground, 1972) refers, in formal terms, to the tondo, making subtle links to the Italian tradition of painting saints.

This reference to Italian cuisine could be understood as an artistic allusion to the phenomena of globalization that affected western Germany in the postwar years. Firstly, the Germans’ ever-increasing appetite for travel in the period, which began during the ‘economic miracle’ of the 1950s and ’60s, was focused on Italy. Secondly, the arrival of the guest workers who helped bring about this period of commercial growth prompted the establishment of many Mediterranean restaurants across the country. While the curation of ‘Not a Still Life’ suggests that these sausage pictures were produced during a short but intense phase of the artist’s career, Dichgans’s first solo show at Galerie Rudolf Springer in Berlin in 1972 featured 40 of the works, while 30 years later she returned to the theme once more, painting pointillist sausages and a pair of frankfurters in oil on canvas

Dichgans’s early focus on the world of things that populates everyday consumerist lives made her one of the few female artists involved in the ‘German Pop’ movement of the 1960s. ‘Not a Still Life’ begins with what may be Dichgans’s best-known works from this period: paintings of heaps of toys, rendered in such a way as to make various readings possible. They could be about the forces of entropy that reign in children’s bedrooms, much to the bafflement of parents. But these arrangements, which seem ready to slide out of the frame, also exude a sense of abandonment. The ten scenarios, which include Spielzeugstilleben (New York) (Toys Still Life, New York, 1967), Stilleben mit Seepferd (Still Life with Seahorse, 1969) and Häufung mit Gummirobbe(Accumulation with Rubber Rubble, 1968), feel as if playful disorder in a home environment may subsequently have turned into a real disaster. Grown-up clothes – a pair of red boots, for instance – make puzzling appearances amongst the chaos, as do practical household items. Is this a subtle way of dealing with the challenge, one that still exists today, of combining artistic production and family life? More recent art, from Mike Kelley’s eerie plucked soft toys to the sagging population of Cosima von Bonin’s 2010 exhibition ‘Fatigue Empire’, has spoken of the dark depths that may lie behind the cutest beady eyes. You don’t need these reference points to appreciate Dichgans’s rigorously composed pictures, shaped by art-historical sensitivity, an affinity with pop art and humour. But with this knowledge, it is easy to see the pioneering quality of her oeuvre.

'Godfather of Pop Art' Blake designs BAMB tote

Published April 24, 2018 by Katherine Cowdrey

Sir Peter Blake, often referred to as the "Godfather of British Pop Art", has designed the collectors' edition tote for this year's Books Are My Bag (BAMB) campaign, annually celebrating bookshops in the UK and Ireland.

Blake, 85, who co-created the sleeve design for the 1967 Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, has created the BAMB tote in his signature pop art style, using colours red, green, yellow and cornflower blue to spell out the word "read" with a fuscia border.

It will be made available in bookshops up and down the country from Bookshop Day, this year being celebrated on Saturday 6th October, when bookshops will also hold author talks, book signings and special events. Further details are to be announced later in the year.

The Bookseller Association's Alan Staton commented: “We are absolutely thrilled that Sir Peter has given his support to booksellers and the campaign in this way. His wonderful design will be loved by booksellers and their customers.”

The public vote for the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, curated by bookshops, will also open on Bookshop Day, with the awards themselves being presented on 13th November.

Meryl Halls, m.d. at the Booksellers Association, said: “Bookshop Day and the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards have both really captured the public’s imagination since they were launched in 2016, and they’ve both already become key dates in the publishing calendar. We’ve got lots of exciting things instore for this year’s Books Are My Bag campaign – watch this space.”

Over the last five years, over a million people have worn a Books Are My Bag canvas bag in support of the campaign. Booksellers can order the Peter Blake limited edition bags by visiting the BAMB website and logging into the BA member area between 10th April and 4th May.