Tag: Books and Art

Take My Library, Please

Talk about wanting to move onArtist Robin Pacific has had a tough couple of years and is doing away with her library as a way to sever herself from her past.A biblo-cleanse if you will.Pacific, a former professor of English, Canadian literature, Theatre and Women's Studies, is exorcising her library of 30 years through an exhibit/installation at the Red Head Gallery in Toronto.Details:-All the books are free-Collection of 1670 books-Includes rare, out-of-print and general books-Books are hung laundry-like from their spines on string-Each book bears the inscription: "This book is a gift for you from Robin Pacific."-Disposable cameras available to...

Continue Reading →

Book Design Meets Album Design

Here is the dust jacket design for the new book "The Scientist as Rebel" by the seminal scientist Freeman Dyson: and here is the cover design for the American release of "Is This It" the 2001 debut album by the influential New York band The Strokes: A visual marriage of two distinct disciplines, united by an image of particle collisions.How is that for a new relationship in the arts.Music to my eyes!Thanks to Joseph at The Book Design Review for the lead

Continue Reading →

Literary Van Gogh & Still Life

"I have a more or less irresistible passion for books, and the constant need to improve my mind, to study, if you like, just as I need to eat my daily bread..."letter to Brother Theo, 1880A few years ago to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth Radio Netherlands broadcast a program entitled "Vincent's Bookshelf" by David Swatling.In Vincent Van Gogh's letters there are almost 800 literary references to work by more than 150 authors.Balzac, Poe, Goethe, Bronte, Dickens are among the vast array of authors Van Gogh read.One of Van Gogh's earliest paintings is a Still Life of...

Continue Reading →

Build It Where You Burned Them

One of the highlights of hosting a major global event is the money that pours into the city. Beside the huge investment in infrastructure sometimes there is some money invested in the arts. The World Cup was held in Germany this past summer and here is one of the treasures that was created. "Modern Book Printing" to commemorate Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of Modern Book Printing around 1450 in Mainz This sculpture resides less than 200 feet from where this Nazi book burning took place in 1933 Rising from the ashes...

Continue Reading →

Color Your Penguin: Book Design by the Masters and the Masses

One place the phrase 'Don't judge a book by its cover' doesn't work is in the publishing and bookselling world. One of the most important factors that determine whether someone browsing for a book buys one is how the book looks. Cover designs that important.Patrick Ness has a nice commentary on book design in the Guardian today Arthur Hawkins, Rockwell Kent, Lustig, E. McKnight Kauffer, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand and Chip Kidd are just a few of the names of artists and designers known for the their dust jacket cover art.Along these lines if you are going to be in...

Continue Reading →