Shakespeare For British photographer Mark Vessey it's all about creating art and order from everyday objects and for his ongoing series Collections, magazines and books take center stage. Says Vessey: My work is about trying to establish a sense of order. There is comfort in collecting things, studying things that people take for granted, grouping every day objects into such a way that they become something special, seeing how they fit together to become a thing of great beauty Keith Haring Vessey is always "searching for that elusive edition of a magazine; that one book that will make his collection complete" and...
Photoshoot in the Library: Benjamin Von Wong goes to work inside the world’s oldest monastic library
Think Beauty and the Beast and a library beyond your wildest imagination. Then think about how lucky photographer Benjamin Van Wong was to be able to carry out the first creative photoshoot held inside the library at Admont Abbey in Austria. Completed in 1776 Stift Admont is the oldest monastic library in the world, some have dubbed it the “eighth wonder of the world.” It holds 200,000 books and is adorned with priceless frescoes and needless to say made a perfect backdrop. Model Jen Brook, Clothes by Polish designer Agnieszka Ospia, Hair and makeup Bianca Kristin Woltsche More on the shoot at Benjamin Van Wong's blog, What...
Cream of Wheat and the Golden Age of Illustration
From 1903-1928 The Cream of Wheat Co. ran a national advertising campaign to promote their "breakfast porridge." The campaign featured American illustrators and appeared in the leading periodicals of the day. Lucky for them their campaign ran during the time of Americas Golden Age of Illustration. They hired the likes of N. C. Wyeth, James Montgomery Flagg, Jessie Willcox Smith and J. C. Leyendecker to help spread the word. By the time Cream of Wheat was acquired by Nabisco in 1962 the campaign was long forgotten. In 1980 Dave Stivers, the archivist at Nabisco Brands, hit the jackpot. In a group of metal lockers at the former headquarters...
R.B. Kitaj: First Series – Some Poets
Charles Olson R.B. Kitaj was one of the most significant painters of the post-war period. His collage-like figurative paintings were a major influence on the British Pop Art scene. Lucky for us much of his work also has literary underpinnings. Educated in the U.S. Kitaj spent most of his adult life in London. He returned to the US in 1967 to teach at the University of California Berkeley and then the University of California Los Angeles before returning to London in 1972. It was during his stint on the West Coast that Kitaj undertook, First Series - Some Poets, a series of portraits of mostly West Coast poets completed...
Happy Holidays!
Dear friends, Thank you for being a part of Book Patrol this past year. Your support is greatly appreciated. Wishing all of you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season and a peaceful new year. Yours in books, Michael Pictured: Merry Mirror (2010) by Michael Johansson