Vlad Type is Just Fun

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VLADIMIR KONCAR IS A DESIGNER AND TYPOGRAPHER who, from time to time, likes to break up the (sometimes) grind of commercial work with these unusual typographic explorations. Vladimir calls these fonts his “personal typographic diary—a work in progress.”

Vladimir’s work was found via Behance.

Looking In: “The Americans” at SFMOMA

(Above) An installation view of Looking In: “The Americans” at the National Gallery of Art which closed in April. The exhibition opens next at SFMOMA.

(Above) The route of Robert Frank’s photographic journey across the United States in 1955-56. I wonder if a photographer has ever retraced this photographic route?

(Above) Installation view of “Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans” at the National Gallery of Art.

(Above) Robert Frank, Charleston, South Carolina 1955; Susan and Peter MacGill; Photograph © Robert Frank, from “The Americans.”

(Above) Robert Frank, U.S. 90, en route to Del Rio, Texas, 1955; Private collection, courtesy Hamiltons Gallery. Photograph © Robert Frank, from “The Americans.”

(Above) Robert Frank, Trolley—New Orleans, 1955; gelatin silver print; 8 5/8 x 13 1/16 in.; Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005; © Robert Frank. (Click on image for larger view)



SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is about to close the exhibition: Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans,” the most comprehensive and in-depth exploration of Frank’s groundbreaking book to date. The show has been on view since May 16 to and will close this August 23, 2009. The exhibition coincides with the 50th anniversary of The Americans, arguably one of the single-most important photography books published since World War II. The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Its San Francisco presentation is overseen by SFMOMA Associate Curator of Photography Corey Keller and is made possible by generous support from the Bernard and Barbro Osher Exhibition Fund and Bob and Randi Fisher.

The Book:
In 1955 and 1956, Swiss-born American photographer Robert Frank (b. 1924) traveled across the United States to photograph, as he wrote, “the kind of civilization born here and spreading elsewhere.” During his nine-month journey, he took 767 rolls of film (more than 27,000 images) and made more than 1,000 work prints. He then spent a year editing, selecting, and sequencing the photographs, linking them thematically, conceptually, formally, emotionally, and linguistically. The result was The Americans, a series of photographs that looked beneath the surface of life in the United States to reveal a culture on the brink of massive social upheaval.

When it was first published (in France in 1958; in the United States in 1959), The Americans revealed a country that many knew existed but which few had acknowledged. The book showed Americans as a people plagued by racism, ill-served by politicians, and numbed by a rapidly rising culture of consumption. But in addition to exposing a darker side of the United States, Frank shed light on the beauty of overlooked corners of the country. In his photographs of diners, cars, and even “the road” itself, Frank helped to redefine the icons of America.

The Exhibition:
Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans” is grouped into four sections. The first section examines the roots of The Americans, not only in Frank’s earlier handmade books—including 40 Fotos (1946), Peru (1949), and Black White and Things (1952)—but also in other sequences of photographs he made at this time, such as People You Don’t See (1952). The first section also present books by his contemporaries and influences, such as Bill Brandt, Alexey Brodovitch, and Jakob Tuggener.

The second section displays Frank’s original application to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (which funded his primary work on The Americans project), along with vintage contact sheets, letters to photographer Walker Evans and author Jack Kerouac, and two early manuscript versions of Kerouac’s introduction to the book. Also exhibited are three collages (made from more than 115 original rough work prints) that were assembled under the Frank’s supervision in 2007 and 2008, revealing his intended themes as well as his first rounds of images selection.

The third section is composed of all 83 images from The Americans in their original sequence, often in the form of rarely exhibited vintage prints.

The fourth section addresses the impact that The Americans had on Frank’s subsequent career and includes a film Frank made in 2008 especially for this exhibition.

Catalogue:
The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans,” produced in two different editions (a softcover and an expanded hardcover) and published with assistance from The Getty Foundation. Published by the National Gallery of Art—in association with Steidl and distributed by D.A.P.—the catalogue will be available at the SFMOMA MuseumStore.

The softcover edition includes reproductions all of the works in the exhibition, along with essays by Sarah Greenough, Anne Wilkes Tucker, Stuart Alexander, Martin Gasser, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Michel Frizot, Luc Sante, and Philip Brookman. Priced at $45, it comprises 396 pages with 6 four-color, 168 tritone, and 210 duotone images.

All of the copy above via Art Daily.

The Beautiful Curiosity of Joshua Klein

A LOT OF PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE CROWS. I DO. I THINK WHAT I LIKE MOST IS THEIR SILHOUETTE, THEIR SHAPE AND DEEP BLUE-BLACK COLOR. I don’t especially like their call, or their aggressive nature with other birds. For me though, it’s the aesthetics of the species, their flight patterns, and more obscure things like the fact that the crow (or raven) is represented so much in art and literature.

Joshua Klein likes crows too. So much so, that he has actually discovered some exciting new things about the birds that has the world of science sitting up and taking notice. A speaker at a recent TED conference, Klein has discovered that crows are extremely teachable. Not to give away what he has done—you will be amazed his results, and what he hopes they will be able to do.

From TED: “TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The TED Conference, held annually in the spring, is the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend, the event sells out a year in advance, and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.”

“The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

TED works closely with TED sponsors, attendees and the online community to obtain pledges of support for the TED Prize winners. These pledges can take the form of business services, hardware and software, publicity, infrastructure, advice, connections … Any and all pledges of support are welcomed. Major support for the TED Prize has come from AMD, Sun Microsystems, AvenueA/Razorfish, Hot Studio, Nokia, IDEO, Kleiner Perkins, @radicalmedia, Adobe and Photosynth. This is in addition to the funding and support from the Sapling Foundation and TED staff.”

Pimped Out Vintage Rides

(Above) Anonymous vintage snapshot, c. 1930. Child in pedal car.
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c.1940 Original French Bentwood Pedal Roadster

France circa 1940’s Awesome unrestored French 40’s bentwood roadster pedal car.


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Detail of inside of French Pedal Roadster
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Mid-20th C. Folk Art Wood Biplane Pedal Car Toy

USA 1950’s Custom made Mid-20th C. Folk Art wood biplane pedal car toy – purchased from an engineer’s estate, made for his grandchildren in the 1950’s.


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Detail of inside of Bi-Plane Pedal Car
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The Ultimate Pedal Car American Art Deco

USA circa 1935 This American Art Deco steel pedal car dates from the 1930’s, is painted in salmon and ivory with gleaming chrome and a Persipex windshield … and a caboose that can carry a picnic lunch, toys or refreshments. It measures 63” long including the caboose.
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Vintage Peugeot Toy Race Car

France circa 1960’s Peugeot Decorative or functional children’s race car.(Above)

Vintage Metal Toy Peddle Airplane / Car

USA circa Mid-20c Vintage Metal Toy Peddle Car

(Above) Another view, for scale.
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“Hypnotic” Scooter

USA 1940’s/1950’s Wonderful, graphic and visually stimulating, vintage child’s scooter. Great folk art sculpture. Easily at home in either a modern or casual country home; makes a bold and playful statement.

MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT I COLLECT VINTAGE SNAPSHOTS. Over the years I have seen many pictures of kid’s pedal toys. I always envied most of them, because they were so beautiful. I had a tricycle and a bike, but the expensive pedal toys were not so often found in my neighborhood. But check these out! Just the fact that these scooters and pedal toys have survived to be enjoyed today make them rare and… expensive. But for the right collector, they would be important additions to a serious collection.

All of these toys were found on1stdibs

Broadsides of Murders in 18th and 19th Century England

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JUST AS “PROGRAMS” ARE SOLD AT SPORTING EVENTS TODAY, “BROADSIDES” — styled at the time as “Last Dying Speeches” or “Bloody Murders” — were sold to the audiences that gathered to witness public executions in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. These ephemeral publications were intended for the middle or lower classes, and most sold for a penny or less. Published in British towns and cities by printers who specialized in this type of street literature, a typical example features an illustration (usually of the criminal, the crime scene, or the execution); an account of the crime and (sometimes) the trial; and the purported confession of the criminal, often cautioning the reader in doggerel verse to avoid the fate awaiting the perpetrator.

The Harvard Law School Library’s collection of more than 500 broadsides is one of the largest recorded and the first to be digitized in its entirety. The examples digitized here span the years 1707 to 1891 and include accounts of executions for such crimes as arson, assault, counterfeiting, horse stealing, murder, rape, robbery, and treason. Many of the broadsides vividly describe the results of sentences handed down at London’s central criminal court, the Old Bailey, the proceedings of which are now available online at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org.

Conservation and digitization of the broadsides was made possible in honor of Harvard Law School alumnus S. Allyn Peck by a generous grant from the Peck Stacpoole Foundation, a charitable endowment for the support of genealogical, local history, and other museum and library collections.

All images © Harvard Law School Library.

Custom Lettering is Very Much Alive!

(Above) Shoe Meulman; click image for larger view.
(Above) Sarah King; click image for larger view.

(Above) Ryan Thurlwell; click image for larger view.
(Above) Peter Horridge; click image for larger view.

(Above) Rikki B.; click image for larger view.
(Above) Nate Williams; click image for larger view.

(Above) Marian Bantjes; click image for larger view.

(Above) Linzie Hunter; click image for larger view.

(Above) John Gray; click image for larger view.

(Above) Jermaine Rogers; click image for larger view.

(Above) Claude Mediavilla; click image for larger view.

(Above) Adrian Johnson; click image for larger view.


HERE’S A WONDERFUL SITE THAT ENCOURAGES AND RECOGNIZES CUSTOM TYPOGRAPHY. By this, they mean “built from scratch.” This includes calligraphy, sign painting, graffiti, stone carving, digital lettering, hand lettering, paper sculpture, and type design (they prefer to feature new/original type over, say, revivals). In today’s world of point and click fonts and 24-hour signs and banners, it’s really wonderful to see typography being treated like the art form it is.

Custom Letters is an evolving category promoted by a very cool Web site called LetterCult.com, and if you love typography you will want to check them out. LetterCult is the work of Brian Jaramilloa and Ray Frenden, with contributions by Jonathan Selig and David Hubner.