L'Animal dans la Décoration

The color of autumn leaves reminds me of this beautiful folio created by M. P. Verneuil at the height

 of the Art Nouveau's ornamental frenzy. Verneuil was one of the most talented pupils in Eugène Grasset's

 Parisian atelier, and executed many designs under his direction for the 1896 portfolio

La Plante et ses Applications Ornementales. One year later he produced his own series 

of 60 lithographic plates containing hundreds of decorative depictions of animals 

and dedicated it to Grasset, whose realistic, detailed and romantic style clearly inspired him. 

 

Thanks to the New York Public Library for the gorgeous scans.

A Nation at Play

Utagawa Yoshifuji, Toy zukushi, 1858

These images comes from the beautiful and fascinating Japanese popular prints 

by Rebecca Salter, kindly given to me by the lovely Susan Kelly. 

Susan is a former colleague and good friend of mine who currently lives 

in London and works at A &C Black, where she was the book's project's manager.

All the quotes in this post come from the author's very informative texts,

which explore various genres of popular prints and the social

and historical background from which they originated.

Utagawa Kunisada III, Kōshi Bath, 1882

"In this charming antrhopomorphic scene, mice replace humans

for a visit to the bath. Bathhouses were not only places to get clean, 

but also popular social venues and in some cases operated as brothels."

Utagawa Yoshifuji, Cat's Variety Show, early Meiji period

"A cast of cats attend a performance of a puppet ballad drama in a typical small 

playhouse – a contrast to the much grander (and more expensive) kabuki theatres."

Utagawa Yoshifuji, The Mysterious Cat from the 53 Stages, 1848-49

"Based in a scene from the Edo period playwright Tsuruya Nanboku's 1825

play of horror and ghosts Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan ... The cat's face is made up 

from other cats, the bulging eyes from bells and the tongue from a cat's collar."

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Cat Lover's Animal Puns of the Tōkaidō, 1847-52

"In this print, Kuniyoshi allocates a cat and a pun to each of the 53 stages of the Tōkaidō.

Puns have been made on each place name (some of them rather forced) and the cat

 illustrates the pun. ... Most of the cats shown are of the short tailed variety particularly 

popular with artists and courtesans in the Edo period."

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Substitute Character Cats, c. 1844

"A combination of cats and blowfish (fugu) spell out the word 'fugu'. The well-known 

cat lover Kuniyoshi produced many works featuring cats, but this calligraphic series 

counts as one of his best. The final touch is the cat's collar complete with bell decorating

 the cartouche shiwng the artist's name and a fugu and fishnet device for the title."

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Fish with Human Characteristics, early 1840s

"These fish portraits are Kuniyoshi's response to the clampdown on actor's portraits.

A well-known actor's face was grafted onto a fish body. In the presentation of these fish

 there is an echo of European natural history compendia which were known in Japan."

Kuniyoshi is believed to have created as many as 10,000 print designs.

See more of his wonderful works at the ongoing Kuniyoshi Project.

Anon., Parlour Shadow Pictures, 1885

"This toy print shows how to make simple hand shadows 

which any child could imitate."

Utagawa Yoshifuji, Horse zukushi, late 19th century

"Zukushi is not an easy word to translate, the best description perhaps

would be 'an enumeration of things. ... Zukushi are highly visual and consist

of single sheet prints with an arrangement 0f similar/related objects, 

sometimes with no words other than a simple title. They are like early 

pictorial encyclopedias and for children in particular, zukushi 

were an attractive and enjoyable way of absorbing information."

Utagawa Hiroshige II, Insect zukushi, 1848-53

"A classic zukushi-style enumaration of named insects. Even though it was 

designed for children, setting the insects against a woven bamboo background 

results in a sophisticated composition worthy of adult appreciation.

At the time, frogs and lizards were classed as insects."

 See more Zukushi prints at Ephemera Assemblyman.

Coloring with Andy

Before becoming a Pop Art icon, during the 1950s Andy Warhol worked as a successful illustrator

in New York producing hundreds of drawings for advertising, record companies and fashion magazines. 

In 1961, right around the time of his first Campbell Soup paintings, the Edelman company commissioned 

Warhol to create a large format coloring book to give as a gift to its clients' children for Christmas. 

Andy drew a series of delightfully whimsical illustrations using his typical blotted line technique, 

which he claimed to have discovered accidentally when he spilled ink onto a sheet of paper 

and reproduced the stain motif by applying a second sheet onto it.

A Coloring Book was reprinted in 2007 by the French Editions Palette.

Blu Big Boom

Blu's latest creative opus, just posted on Vimeo, is spreading like wildfire all over the web, 
and deservedly so, since it's another huge and fantastic work of genius by Italy's greatest street artist. 
Enjoy!

Monday Matticchio – Lounge Lizard