Detail, untitled tempera, ca. 1950-51. Above are eight of about 65 individual modules arrayed on the entire work. The elements are stylistically reminiscent of the Railroad Town woodcut, and cubicle art is a recurrent Flora motif.

… is now open. Jim Flora hand-printed notecards, fine art bookmarks, and 2009 letterpress calendars at affordable prices. We’ve also released a number of new fine art and album cover prints over the past few weeks but haven’t had an opportunity to alert our mailing list. Here’s two, but there’s more over at JimFlora.com: Self-Portrait, ca. 1947 Gunfight on the Roof, 1951

Untitled tempera with pencil on board, ca. 1942-43. Disjointed face atop a tin-toy windup key torso. No problem with that.

Illustration, “When the Night Wind Howls,” by W.S. Gilbert, anthologized in A Red Skel(e)ton In Your Closet: Ghost Stories—Gay and Grim, selected and edited by actor/comic Red Skelton. The cover of this 1965 children’s book was illustrated by the great Al Hirschfeld. The dozen-plus interior illustrations are unsigned and uncredited, but they reflect the unmistakable mischief of Mr. Flora.

Commercial illustration, late 1950s, publication unknown. Tempera mechanical found in the Flora archives. The illustration’s theme has contemporary resonance in the wake of the subprime meltdown.

“The Great U.S. Freight Cartel” (detail), Fortune magazine, January 1957. The full original 14″ x 5-1/2″ tempera work was preserved by the artist and is stored—in great condition–in the Flora archives. It’s one of the earliest extant original commercial illustrations in the collection. Of the hundreds of works-for-hire rendered by Flora for dozens of magazines during the 1940s and early 1950s, all that remain are periodical reproductions. From the late 1950s on, a sizable number…

Untitled tempera illustration for unknown magazine, March 1958. Stamped on reverse: “kill” — which doesn’t refer to the dragon or the knight-in-a-necktie. It refers to the drawing, which was rejected for unknown reasons. An earlier throwdown:

Another vintage Flora illustration adorns a record cover: Charles Wuorinen‘s Duos CD (Albany Records, January 2009 scheduled release). The untitled tempera of pink, green, and brown criss-crossing pedestrians dates from the early 1960s. The CD joins a growing gallery of new releases carrying the Flora album cover tradition into the 21st century. Thanks to Howard Stokar, executive producer of the CD, for requesting the cover image. Update (Jan. 12): CD now available.

This untitled tempera from the mid-1960s is currently in production as a silk-screen print by Aesthetic Apparatus, based in Minneapolis. It will be released with a companion print—different theme, but identical color palette. Both works, previously uncirculated, were discovered in a sketchbook in the Flora archives. We’ll post the other print shortly. Aesthetic Apparatus produced our Mambo For Cats and Pete Jolly Duo LP cover screen prints, as well as our Primer for Prophets series.

Pen & ink with tempera, year unknown (ca. early 1990s). One of countless water’s edge works in the collection. Flora lived on Long Island Sound, loved boats, loved the seaside, and drew inspiration from all. Head Harbor Lighthouse, built from heavy timber in 1829, sits on Campobello Island in New Brunswick. It was the summer home of FDR.