Sunday Safari - Taiga

Diana Sudyka, Taiga

Today's post was inspired by the chilly northern winds sweeping through Florence,

and by Werner Herzog's documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, about a group

 of fearless and resourceful people who really know how to survive in the cold.

Just like these wonderful animals...

Feodor Rojankovsky, Panache l'ecureil, 1939, thanks to The Visual Telling of Stories

T. Kapustin, The first sun, 1987, thanks to polny_shkaf's amazing visual library 

Nathalie Lete, Le Jaseur

Kate McLelland, thanks to Kickcan & Conkers 

Mikhail Belomlinsky, Wonders under the feet, 1967, thanks to bookvart

Ene Pikk, Kärp, 1981, thanks to vaula

V. Kanevsky, Winter Poems, 1984, via Hanna Rivka

Nikolai Tyrsa, Snezhnaya kniga, 1926

Gwen Keraval, Le fils qui sauva son père

Georgy Nikolsky, Year in the woods, 1978 and

Nikita Charushin, My first zoology book, 1984, thanks to Book Graphics

Animalsleepstories, The Old Caribou

Beastly Dilemmas

I fell in love with Harriet Russell's work through her charming children's books

published in Italy thanks to Edizioni Corraini. It's not just the delightful 

illustration style; her surreal humour, visual puns and creative concepts

make her a very special author and illustrator...

A Colouring Book for the Lazy is full of black and white images,

for those who don't like to color in.

"Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’

‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it 

for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." 

from ‘Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There’ by Lewis Carroll

This delightful conversation between Alice and the White Queen is the starting point for

 'Sixty Impossible things before Lunch', a book full of impossible pictures and questions such as

 
'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?', 'Where is the middle of nowhere?',

and 'What does the universe look like?'

Harriet studied art in Glasgow and completed her MA at Saint Martins College in London.

 Since then, she has authored six illustrated books and worked for many commercial clients

 including The New York Times and Channel 4. She regularly exhibits in London and New York.

Animal Follies

Seymour Chwast, Master & Dog Issue, 1972

In 1954 Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins and Edward Sorel started to publish and send 

to advertising agencies the Push Pin Almanack to promote their skills and creative

perspective. Three years later, the Almanack evolved into Push Pin Monthly Graphic, 

an innovative publication that led to the birth of Push Pin Studios and lasted until 1980.

Its 86 themed issues showcased eclectic and groundbreaking work by the studio and 

a group of talented illustrators including Paul Davis, Isadore Seltzer, John Alcorn, 

James McMullan and Emanuel Schongut. Even though it was mainly a promotional 

venue, the magazine often tackled powerful social and political issues. 

 Seymour Chwast, Master & Dog Issue, 1972

  Stanislaw Zagorski, All Blue Issue, 1979

 Seymour Chwast, Eleven Nursery Rhymes Issue, 1961

  Milton Glaser, The Circus Issue, 1960

Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast, Bertrand Russell on Peace, 1959

  Seymour Chwast, Flora and Fauna in Wood, 

premiere issue of Push Pin Graphic, 1957

  John Alcorn, About Fishing Issue, 1957 

  Seymour Chwast, Back to Sleep Issue, 1978

 A bit of advertising

Isadore Selzer, The Calendar Christmas Issue, 1979

Many thanks to AIGA Design Archives for uploading these beauties and more.

And of course, if you like Push Pin Graphic, you should get this book!

Try a Little Tenderness

 I have recently fallen in love with Kyoko Okubo's small sculptures, 

delicately handcrafted from traditional japanese washi paper.

Okubo is a self taught artist who began playing with washi as a child, 

and in her mid-30s began making dolls for herself. After sharing 

her works with family and friends, she first exhibited them on a 

sidewalk Tokyo’s Harajuku district. Since these humble beginnings, 

she has gone on to show internationally and is currently represented 

by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge Massachusets.

Okubo's miniature scenes realistically portray intimate moments from her poetic 

dream world, a soft universe inhabited by gentle and enigmatic wild animals

mysteriously bonding and interacting with lovely girls and young children. 

"Washi, meaning “Japanese paper”, is a crisp, sturdy material created from fibers 

from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub or the paper mulberry. 

While today the material is often mass-produced, it is still handmade 

in rural communities throughout the country."

From an article about Okubo at American Craft Magazine.

You can also read a nice post on her work at Art Found Out.

Stay tuned for more January in Japan findings!