A number of Floraphiles have alerted us to a new US Postal Service stamp commemorating Latin Jazz (issued September 8, 2008). They assert that: 1) the artist is, to put it kindly, “imitating Flora,” or 2) Flora himself designed the stamp. The stamp was illustrated by Michael Bartalos, a talented artist who would not deny a Flora influence — in fact, he was friends with Jim. Arguably it is Bartalos to whom we owe the…

The Jugglers woodcut limited edition was completed last May, but we’ve been too preoccupied with other Flora business to release the work. A Jugglers page has finally been posted at JimFlora.com and the first five numbered prints are now available. In the next week or two, we hope to enact an official launch. The print was produced by Bryan Baker at Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress, Knoxville. The work appears on page 58 in The Curiously Sinister…

Detail from “Ohio,” full-page illustration commissioned by Container Corporation of America, 1947. The montage (fully reproduced in The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, page 167) originally appeared in several nationally distributed magazines, including Fortune and Time. A detail previously posted here came from a scan of the magazine tearsheet. The above detail originated from a higher-resolution color print issued in 1948 by CCA. As their name implies, CCA manufactured containers. The one pictured in cross-section…

One of a dozen woodcuts by Flora depicting New Orleans landmarks, historical vignettes, and social settings. The series was commissioned around 1940 by the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati for their Agency Bulletin. The whereabouts of the original blocks are unknown. At the time, having recently completed studies at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Flora was a struggling freelancer. “Soft-spoken and unassuming,” the Bulletin proclaimed, “James happens to be the sort of artist…

Cover, Columbia-Okeh Popular Records new release monthly, March 1943. (The sepia tint is an aging artifact.) Flora had designed these foldout booklets — covers and interiors — over the second half of 1942. Columbia appointed Flora art director, succeeding Alex Steinweiss, in late 1943, and he continued illustrating these monthlies through 1944. Three full 1942 spreads were reproduced in The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora.

Our next Flora compendium is being compendicated. Target publication: September 2009, by Fantagraphics. Cover design by Laura Lindgren. UPDATE (1 June 2009): Publication announced first week of August.

Cover artwork (typography removed) of Sidney Bechet 78 rpm set (Columbia C-173), 1948. Flora had a particular fondness for early New Orleans jazz, especially the recordings of legendary soprano saxophonist/clarinetist Bechet (1897-1959).

unidentified sketchbook scene, early 1950s

Japanese TV stars use odd commodities for dislodging food particles.

Illustration detail, “Long Day’s Journey Into the Insomniac’s Night”New York Times Magazine, October 1, 1967