The Holy Mountain of Contemporary Polish Posters

Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, El Topo poster, 2008
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl

Many thanks to Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun for sharing their posters with A Journey Round My Skull. I was delighted to find that contemporary artists from Poland continue to work in the tradition of the great poster artists of the 60s and 70s.

Click for larger views.

Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, El Topo, 2009
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Holy Mountain poster, 2008
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Holy Mountain poster, 2009
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Fando and Lis, 2008
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Fando and Lis, 2009
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Jodorowsky 2008 Polish fest
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Metropolis, 2008
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Driver for Vera, film poster
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun
2 in 1 - poster for two debut movies from Czech directors, 2008
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Movies from Czechoslovakia in Polish Posters
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Movies of the world 2008, film festival
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl



Joanna Gorska & Jerzy Skakun, Closely Watched Trains
courtesy of the artists: www.homework.com.pl

Dood in Ecstasy - Dutch Mystery Covers

Hermann Hilgendorff, Het duel der maskers, 1930s
Cover by Jac. da Costa
from the collection of twincovercollector

I discovered Uilke Komrij's flickr page (uk vintage) through Drawn's post about his Mitchell Hook book covers. When I contacted Uilke about featuring some of his Dutch covers, he kindly agreed and also turned me onto the collection of his brother Hillebrand, aka twincovercollector. It turns out Hillebrand recently joined flickr to showcase his goldmine of Dutch pulp covers from the 30s and 40s.

Hillebrand mentioned that he's been collecting these books for 35 years.

A huge thank you to this pair for sharing these rare covers with AJRMS.

Click images for larger versions.

F. de Sinclair, De Jazzband van den Duivel (The Devil's Jazzband), 1941
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



Stuart Palmer, Moordend parfum, 1930s
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



Helen Reilly, De doode hand, 1941
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



E.P. Oppenheim, De Burgemeester te Paard (The Mayor on Horseback), 1945
"Cover art by Ealo (?)"
from the collection of twincovercollector



C. Wells, Slapende honden, 1930s
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



George Simenon, De onbekende wreker, 1930s
Cover by Rein van Looij ps. Tanner
from the collection of twincovercollector



Havank, In memoriam de Schaduw, 1949
"Cover by Dick Bruna, one of his first Havank covers"
from the collection of twincovercollector



Havank, Lijk halfstok, 1948
Cover by Rein van Looij ps. Tanner
from the collection of twincovercollector



Helen Wills and Robert Murphy, De dood serveert, 1930s
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



Havank, Het Raadsel van de Drie Gestalten, 1940s
Cover by Rein van Looij ps. Tanner
from the collection of twincovercollector



M. J. Freeman, Vermoord door een goocheltruc?
"see the sign of the black hand"
from the collection of twincovercollector



Carolyn Wells, De drempelmoorden, 1930s
Cover artist unknown
from the collection of twincovercollector



The Aresby's, Het teeken van den dood, 30s
from the collection of twincovercollector

Hillebrand explains that though the above cover is signed by PH, most covers of this publisher (De Combinatie) were taken from US books & magazines. This cover actually feels very familiar though I can't track down why.



A.J.C. Vlaskamp, Hallo, Hallo, 1940
"published by Uitgeverij Helmond in the Speciaalserie in 1940 as number 87"
from the collection of twincovercollector



K. L. Pelikaan, De Melodie des Doods, 1938
Cover art by Lode Verhoeven
from the collection of uk vintage



Eva pockets, 1963, Strange Welcome
Cover art by Rein van Looij
from the collection of uk vintage



Villa Cascara, Mr. A. Roothaert
Cover art by Rein van Looij
from the collection of uk vintage



Atlas 15 The Glass Heart (De Vrouw met het glazen Hart by Marty Holland)
Cover art by Rein van Looij
from the collection of uk vintage



Pyramide 19, Dood in Exstase by Ngaio Marsh
cover by Guust Hens
from the collection of uk vintage

The Wonderful Wizards of Lodz 2

Kid's Books from Poland, part 2:

J. M. Szancer's Insect Armies

(detail)

Click images for larger views.







(detail)



(detail)



(detail)







(detail)



(detail from endpapers)



one side of endpaper











(detail)







(cover)

All illustrations by J. M. Szancer for Jan Brzechwa's Za Krola Jelonka.
Poland, 1950.

The Wonderful Wizards of Lodz: Part 1
(This series will hopefully have at least ten parts. Stay tuned.)

Previously:

All Sorts of Remedies

Herbert Pfostl, the sky still farther away
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]

Herbert Pfostl's new exhibit "All Sorts of Remedies" kicks off at Observatory in Brooklyn this Saturday, Nov. 21. (Opening is at 7PM; exhibition runs until January 8, 2010.)

Herbert -- creator of Blind Pony Books and the Paper Graveyard and a friend of AJRMS from the beginning -- kindly shared this preview of the show. Here's a description:

Small paintings as parables of plants and animals and old stories of black robbers and white stags. Fragments on death like mirrors from a black sleep in the forests of fairy tales. All stories from the dust of the dead in fragments and footnotes like melodies of heartbreak and north and night and exploration – breakdowns. About saints with no promise of heaven and lost sailors forgotten and the terribly lonely bears. The unknown, the ugly – and the odd. Collected grand mistakes, noble errors from many sources. Sinking signals – conscious or not – sonatas and last letters and great insults. The impossible tears in landscapes of ocean or stranded whales. A going far back to coals and cruelties and sobbing like songs in whiskey and blood. Of soldiers' last letters and all seven seas. With pirates and wars and prayers in holes in the ground. Of fallen women and orphaned children and drowned slaves and burned saints.

About the venue: "Observatory is a new presentation and exhibition space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. The space seeks to present programming residing at the interstices of learning and amusement, art and science, and history and curiosity."

See you there if I can drag my ass out of Philly for once.

Herbert Pfostl, i only want that i never had a friend
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, wir sind nicht zum bleiben gezwungen
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, confirmed superstitions



Herbert Pfostl, charms
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, all things of this world
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, 2 sonnen
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, the fish in the water will move through your head
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, many die, it may be, on the road
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, Little Care I Take
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, les animaux des poles
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, it makes no difference, if you never return again
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, and that it lived with nothing done and nothing made to last
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, aweary, aweary
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, ewig...ewig
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, will never return
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, winter house
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, if you are not lost
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, kommst nimmermehr aus diesem wald
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, companions
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, Since I saw my grave, all I want is to live
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, the walls are covered with tattoos
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, stiefmuetterchen
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, clearing
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, the things of this world
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, animals are little children dying
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]



Herbert Pfostl, the invite image of framed work before the show
[artist's sites: Blind Pony and Paper Graveyard]

In the silver moonlight growing thou wilt see a pale-eyed flower

Photograms by Antonia Flowerville

photogram, poppy, by Antonia Flowerville

In the silver moonlight growing
Thou wilt see a pale-eyed flower;
Shunning day, and only blowing
At the silent midnight hour.
--William Fox Henry Talbot, The Presentiment, 1830

I want to thank Antonia Flowerville for sharing her beautiful photograms on AJRMS. She also provided the quotes and descriptions found throughout this post. Antonia's work has been featured on a book cover and next year a photogram book comes out.

William Henry Fox Talbot, who invented the process in the 1830s, describes it in "The Pencil of Nature":

This done, it is placed in the sunshine for a few minutes, until the exposed parts of the paper have turned dark brown or nearly black. It is then removed to a shady place, and when the leaf is taken up, it is found to have left its impression or picture on the paper. This image is of pale brown tint if the leaf is semi-transparent, or it is quite white if the leaf is opaque. The leaves of plants thus represented in white upon a dark background, make very pleasing pictures, and I shall probably introduce a few specimens of them in the sequel to this work. (Quoted in The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot by Larry Schaaf)

And more poetically: "The plates of the present work are impressed by the agency of Light alone, without any aid whatever from the artist's pencil. They are the sun-pictures themselves, and not, as some persons have imagined, engravings in imitation."

You can read about the historical development of photograms (Talbot called them "photogenic drawings") here.

Antonia describes her process:

In general this is actually a dead simple technique, you just place a plant on photopaper (and sometimes a glass on top of the plant in case the exposure time is long and wind might interfere with the results), expose it to light for various lengths of time, and then put the photopaper in (developer and) fixer.

Most of my photograms have all been exposed to artificial light for only a few seconds. One can influence the color a little bit by the amount of time the photogram is exposed to light, by the sort of paper one uses and the amount of time the paper stays in the developer bath -- from a grey purple to a dark purple and black. Other colors are possible with other chemicals or other sorts of paper.

The principle is the same, but it isn't exactly as Talbot had been doing this, making photopaper himself and using various silver salts. Though that is possible and I plan to do it one day, the chemicals are expensive and not easy to get.

My images are not computer manipulated. I crop some a wee bit, but never substantially.

The more frail or tender a flower is the more difficult it is to do. Poppies for instance are difficult because of their thin flowers.

photogram by Antonia Flowerville



photogram by Antonia Flowerville



photogram by Antonia Flowerville



photogram (hydrangea) by Antonia Flowerville



photogram (bellis perennis) by Antonia Flowerville



photogram (grass) by Antonia Flowerville



photogram by Antonia Flowerville

"The photograms with the rather pinkish or brownish colour have been exposed to sunlight on my windowsill. Here one needs a much longer exposure time like at least ten minutes or a few hours or so, and I did this one (above) with 16h. They are in general less contrastive, but the browns are very pretty."

photogram by Antonia Flowerville



photogram (fern) by Antonia Flowerville



photogram by Antonia Flowerville



photogram (clutter) by Antonia Flowerville



photogram ("universal") by Antonia Flowerville



photogram ("your consequence is gravity") by Antonia Flowerville




photogram (grass) by Antonia Flowerville




photogram ("horizontal") by Antonia Flowerville




photogram ("crinkly") by Antonia Flowerville




photogram by Antonia Flowerville




photogram ("The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit") by Antonia Flowerville




photogram ("implosion") by Antonia Flowerville

Michelle Duckworth's Forest Party

Michelle Duckworth, Fishman, 5.5" x 3.5" [blog / etsy shop]

Michelle Duckworth's work will be familiar if you follow this blog regularly. She won the Evil Orchid Garden bookplate contest and I also featured her art two weeks ago.

Michelle is now selling her plaques in an etsy shop. I asked her if I could feature some of them and she kindly agreed.

They are original ink drawings on wood plaques, colored with wood stain. I bought one and it is cool as hell.

Click to see larger than their actual sizes.

Michelle Duckworth, Encounter, 5" x 7" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Hairfaring Vessel, 4" diameter [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Skeleton Music, 5" x 7" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Monster Party, 5" x 7" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Dandypeople, 4" diameter [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Beneath the Island, 9.5" x 6.5" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, High on a Mountain, 4" diameter [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Owl and Pussycat, 5" x 7" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Fish Bones, 4" x 4" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Forest Party, 4" x 4" [blog / etsy shop]



Michelle Duckworth, Sunday Best, 3.5 x 5.5 [blog / etsy shop]

Sing Swan Song

Keizaburo Tejima's Swan Sky (1983, Japan) was published in the US in 1988. In fact, publishers brought out a handful of books by this masterful writer-illustrator in the 80s.

Book description: "Despite the devoted attentions of her family, a young swan is unable to accompany them on the journey to their summer home."

Swan Sky is physically huge, and the woodcuts at such a size are breathtaking. My scrappy stitch-jobs do not do them justice. (Note that the next two images are halves of larger spreads.) The book's culminating image (above) is magic.

Keizaburo Tejima's books are currently out-of-print in the US, but I have the feeling they will keep being rediscovered and reprinted here and around the world.

From Owl Lake by Keizaburo Tejima