A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Illustrators
The Modern Poster by Will Bradley (1895).
A selection from the NYPL Digital Gallery. There’s more by the great Will Bradley (1868–1962) here.
Abstract design based on peacock feathers by Maurice Verneuil (1900?).
Pavo; Lophophorus (1834–1837).
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Rene Beauclair
• Elizabetes Iela 10b, Riga
• The Maison Lavirotte
• Whistler’s Peacock Room
• Beardsley’s Salomé
Edgar Hayes (Beach) (1957).
Bruce of Los Angeles is a new exhibition of beefcake photos from the Fifties and Sixties at Wessel + O’Connor, NYC, which opens today and runs until December 20, 2008. Bruce’s name is a very familiar one to aficionados of physique photography and I imagine some of these prints will be pretty familiar too. There’s a couple of guys with swords among the selection but as a break from that particular obsession I picked out cutie Edgar Hayes instead.
Born Bruce Bellas in 1909, he was a chemistry professor from Nebraska who would wind up in Los Angeles as the top “Beefcake” photographer of the 1950’s.
He started out there in the 1940’s, shooting bodybuilding contests and met many of his models while working for Joe Weider’s muscle magazine empire, which chronicled the physical culture movement sweeping across America following WWII. Bellas photographed some of the most important figures of this era; bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Ed Fury, and George Eiferman, as well as models such as Joe Dallesandro, Mark Nixon, and Brian Idol.
Physique Pictorial cover by Tom of Finland (1961).
Meanwhile, and a bit closer to home for me, the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool has been running an exhibition of drawings by Tom of Finland, another very familiar name in the world of gay art and erotica. Twenty-five works are on display there until November 30th.
• From Finland with lust | Mark Simpson looks at the artist’s legacy
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Philip Core and George Quaintance
The 1970 screen adaptation of Dorian Gray by Massimo Dallamano is one film version I’ve yet to see. Given that it’s a production of notorious schlock merchants Samuel Z Arkoff and Harry Alan Towers I wouldn’t expect too much although it does have Helmut Berger as the star when he was at the height of his pulchritude. And I really like this Klimt-esque poster, a typical piece of Seventies design with an illustration that resembles many of the trendier European comic strips of the period. I’ve no idea who the artist was despite there being a scrawled signature. If anyone has a clue, please leave a comment.
Update: The artist is Ted Coconis.
• A lengthy review at Cinebeats
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The Oscar Wilde archive
Oz #45, November 1972.
This large-format issue of Oz magazine with John Hurford’s cover was one of the last published and is also one of the few issues I own. Hurford provided many interior illustrations for Oz and other magazines, as well as producing poster art and other graphics. Unlike many artists of the period he’s still active and has his own site with examples of recent work. For more Oz covers, go here.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Bertrand
• Barney Bubbles: artist and designer
• Oz magazine, 1967–73
La belle sans nom (1900).
An illustration by French artist Manuel Orazi (1860–1934) from Figaro illustré for a story by Jean Rameau. Via NYPL Digital Gallery. It’s good to see something else by Orazi other than advertising illustration. His astonishing work for Austin De Croze’s 1895 Calendrier Magique (below) can be seen in full at the Cornell collection. Great graphics for Halloween.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Feminine Sphinx
• Le Monstre
• Carlos Schwabe’s Fleurs du Mal
• Empusa