Japanese Anatomical Diagrams that utilize 19th-Century Kabuki Actors as Models

The opening of Japan in the 19th century after its isolationist Edo period caused an influx of foreign influence, including Western approaches to medicine. Woodblock prints from this era, often in the vibrant ukiyo-e style, captured this transition, with kabuki actors representing internal processes, and Buddhist deities battling cholera and measles.

The University of California, San Francisco, has a particularly rich collection of over 400 of these works in the UCSF Japanese Woodblock Print Collection. The illustrations are similar to work by famed ukiyo-e woodblock artist Utagawa Kunisada, depicting the workings of internal organs. According to Sotheby’s, which sold one example last December, the tiny samurai on the body of a man drinking a cup of tea with a bowl of fish are miming everything from the gall bladder controlling the order, to a scholar situated in a flaming heart, the mounds of books alongside helping his guidance of the life processes. Another print, believed to be by a student of Kunisada, has a smoking courtesan with annotated figures representing “sexual life rules.”

https://hyperallergic.com/312158/human-anatomy-as-portrayed-in-woodblocks-of-19th-century-kabuki-actors/ https://japanesewoodblockprints.library.ucsf.edu

The Celestial Atlas of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, ca. 1776, published in 1795

Flamsteed was born into a prosperous family and was largely self taught as he did not attend University due to poor health. His extensive studies in astronomy resulted in his being appointed the first Astronomer Royal by King Charles II, with the Royal Observatory at Greenwich being built for him to continue his observations of the heavens.

Flamsteed was the first astronomer to sight Uranus in 1690, naming it 34 Tauri, as he believed it to be a star. He accurately calculated the solar eclipses of 1666 and 1668. In 1677 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and was a peer of such illustrious scientists as Newton, Moore and Halley, with whom his relations were contentious. His Celestial Atlas was published ten years posthumously by his wife. It set the standard in professional astronomy for almost a century, with the positions of over 3,000 stars given more accurately than ever before.

https://panteek.com/Flamsteed/
https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-celestial-atlas-of-flamsteed-1795

Alchemical and Rosicrucian Compendium ca. 1760 at the Beinecke Library

Alchemy entered into European popular culture in the late middle ages, with the translation of Greek and Arabic texts into Latin and the European vernaculars. Based on the tenets of the Corpus Hermeticum, a body of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and meant to date to the age of Abraham, alchemy, or al-kimya in Arabic, can be summarized as the attempt to decipher a divine presence in the material world. Hermetic philosophy taught its practitioners to look to the natural world to discover the meaning of the macrocosm.

The Yale University Library collections of alchemical literature reflect the continuing presence of alchemical works in any well-furnished library, from the first donations of the alchemically inclined Bishop George Berkeley to a fledgling Connecticut college, to the gift to Yale in 1965 of Mary Conover Mellon’s collection of alchemical books and manuscripts. https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/book-secrets-alchemy-and-european-imagination-1500-2000

Eduardo Recife: A Contemporary Master of Typography and Collage

Eduardo Recife explains the origins of his remarkable art and design output as follows: "I´ve been drawing since I was little. At school I had notebooks filled with drawings instead of notes. I used to tattoo my buddies with a black ink pen. I used to draw on any kind of surface when I was bored... I believe it's what I do best. It's also the best way for me to communicate things I can't find words for... It's a therapy, it's a hobby, it's a job, it's what makes me happy."

Eduardo Recife is not only a master collagist and draftsman (make sure you do not miss his drawings on his website), but also a font designer, specializing in retro, script and handwritten fonts which he also integrates into his collages, combined with vintage clip art and doodlings. See more of his beautiful work on his website: http://www.misprintedtype.com

Edward Bawden's Fortnum and Mason Catalog Illustrations

The first Christmas catalogue Edward Bawden (1903 - 1989) created for Fortnum's was in 1955. The 1958 catalogue is an extended pun on the word 'cat', and is full of witty and playful drawings. Cats were a passion of his, as they strut, dance, and grin their way through these remarkable pages.

Part of his enduring appeal is his combination of modernism and tradition. He always believed that a good piece of design was as valuable as a painting (he was endearingly self-effacing and never took anything too seriously), and his work took in everything from iconic London Transport posters in the 30s, to film posters, illustrations for books, as well as book jackets, linocuts, war time watercolours, even wallpaper. He’s one of those artists you will have come across endlessly, without actually knowing it was him.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/stories/christmas-and-edward-bawden

Between New Wave and PostModernism: April Greiman

April Greiman is widely recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool. According to design historian Steven Heller, “April Greiman was a bridge between the modern and postmodern, the analog and the digital.” “She is a pivotal proponent of the ‘new typography’ and new wave that defined late twentieth-century graphic design.” Her art combines her Swiss design training with West Coast postmodernism.

Greiman finds the title graphic designer too limiting and prefers to call herself a "transmedia artist". She is also credited with having coined the term "Visual Communication Design" which has increasingly replaced "Graphic Design" in recent decades. Her work has inspired designers to develop the computer as a tool of design and to be curious and searching in their design approach. Her style includes typelayering, where groups of letterforms are sandwiched and layered, but also made to float in space along with other 'objects in space' such as shapes, photos, illustrations and color swatches. https://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/april-greiman

Vintage Labels from the State Library of Queensland

More can be seen here > > > The entire collection of the Queensland Library on Flickr is a treasure trove. There is some graphic design, but the bulk of it is memorabilia and photographs, so nice that it is certainly worth a visit > > >.

Located in Brisbane, Australia, the State Library of Queensland’s mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible the state’s documentary heritage. The State Library holds approximately 1.5 million photographic resources – negatives, slides, original photographs, copy prints and original albums dating back to the birth of the State of Queensland in 1859 to the present day. In 2003, the State Library launched its digital image library, Picture Queensland, with 6 000 images and now provides online access to more than 150,000 historical and contemporary images: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au

Surname-ı Hümayun: Ottoman Empire Chronicles of Fesitivities

The Surname-ı Hümayun is the first masterwork of the Ottoman surname tradition. Sur (Imperial Celebration) and Surname (Book of Imperial Celebration) are traditions unique to the Ottomans. The first officially recorded imperial celebration is the imperial wedding of the daughter of Sultan Osman I, in 1258. Pictorial depictions in Surnames begin with a particular Sur, namely the circumcision feast of Sultan Murad's son Mehmed. Adorned by the miniatures of the master court painter, Nakkaş Osman, the scenes in the Surname-i Hümayun depict the circumcision feast of the son of Sultan Murad, which lasted fifty-five days.

The original text of the Surname is written by a court author, using the pseudonym Intizami and is edited by the official chief secretary of the Imperial court, Seyit Lokman. The miniatures depict the various stages of the ceremony in constructed story line and portray the prosperity of the 16th century Ottoman Empire.

The images here are from the Book of Festivities that was commissioned under Sultan Murad III in 1582/83.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Surname-ı_Hümayun

When Mucha gives you a box of biscuits

Mucha was a regular artist for Lefèvre-Utile, the major French biscuit company founded in Nantes in 1846. He designed publicity posters and calendars for them and in 1896 was the first artist to utilise the company’s initials ‘LU’ as a decorative motif with his design for the advertising calendar for 1897. Around 1900 Mucha’s task was expanded to packaging design, which included labels, box tops and the decoration of biscuit tins.

For Mucha, packaging design meant the decoration of objects (products) by applying art to their forms in order to enhance their charm and character. Therefore, as he wrote later, he thought that art should serve as a language to the object to be decorated. This idea is demonstrated in the message carried by the biscuit boxes: the moment of happiness and comfort, as illustrated in the insets, as well as the quality of the products, which is enhanced by the box decorated with the borders emphasising solidity and dignity. Also Mucha produced a ‘brand’ with the use of a consistent font, logo and decorative formula, which linked the packaging with the publicity.

http://muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/themes/theme/packaging-design/object/56

Bradbury Thompson

The pictures are from my own collection. They are scans from a book that I bought for the university years ago when I was putting together material for the history of visual communication course. Not exactly legal, I know, but I am very glad I had the foresight to do it anyway, since when I made a search for Brad Thompson's work online just now I was astonished by how slim the pickings were. Definitely one of the greatest graphic designers of the last 100 years, and very relevant in his style to graphic design today. And yet it seems that he is slowly being forgotten. Am I very surprised? Sadly no. So much of what was relevant only a few years is now being relagated to the ranks of "Curio", little oddities to soon be forgotten about entirely. So, why not a giant like Brad Thompson also?

There is a good text on his life and work that you can read here: https://www.rit.edu/carycollection/bradbury-thompson