Filed Under: "1930s"

“Oldtown,” pen and ink drawing, late 1930s, unpublished work. Oldtown (or Old Town?) is presumably a neighborhood in Cincinnati, where Flora lived at the time he rendered this drawing. We were unable to locate this community in a rudimentary search on our Google Machine. If any locals have the answer, please leave a comment below. 

One hundred years ago today, James Royer Flora was born in the quaint village of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Above, possibly making its first public appearance, is the artist’s earliest extant work, a pen & ink with pencil (or charcoal) entitled First Steps, dated June 8, 1935, around the time Flora enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Whether the work is intended to be autobiographical shall forever remain a mystery. To observe the centennial, we have two…

Untitled, undated, unsigned woodcut print from Flora’s Little Man Press days (1939-1942). The original block cannot be located, and we have no idea of the image’s original context. It does not appear in any LMP publications.

Another rare (and previously unseen) print acquired from a recent estate sale in Cincinnati. As with all prints from Flora’s productive post-Art Academy period, the original block cannot be located (possibly having been destroyed or discarded by Flora’s LMP partner Robert Lowry). The above water-damaged print is unsigned, untitled, and unnumbered. No documentation exists regarding the work’s purpose (e.g., publicity, ad, edition print, chapbook page). The faded vertical center section (and lack of signature) implies…

Woodcut print, ca. 1938-1940, rendered when Flora lived in Cincinnati and was working with Robert Lowry producing Little Man Press publications. Title, edition run, and location of original block unknown. The print was discovered in the estate of a Cincinnati collector who passed away at age 93 several months ago. The collection included about a dozen vintage Flora prints, most previously unseen by us. We’ll publish others soon.

Above: rejected attempt at a Little Man Press logo, ca. 1939-1940, discovered in early sketchbook. The experiments continued: Eventually Flora and his LMP partner Robert Lowry settled on this design:

Flora woodcut print reproduced in Murderpie, a chapbook written by Robert Lowry, published by their struggling Little Man Press, Cincinnati, 1939. Many Little Man publications featured bizarre, meticulous cuts by Flora, but none of the original blocks are known to exist. This is one of the few extant signed LMP-era prints. From Lowry’s text: I WILL HAVE TO BAM THEM NOW, he said. He began to push them down with his two hands. He pushed…

Robert Lowry (1919-1994) would turn 90 today. Don’t expect a presidential proclamation in commemoration of this troubled man’s legacy. However, we salute the Little Man Press writer/editor for changing the course of Flora’s career, and probably for influencing his art. It all began one day in 1938 when the volatile literary turbine accosted Flora on the Art Academy of Cincinnati campus and demanded the undergrad illustrator serve as art director for his fledgling independent press…

Rasputin-strength, dismembered and trepanated zombie. Spot illo (woodcut, one of many), Murderpie, Little Man Press, 1939. Publication written by Robert Lowry. Whereabouts of original woodcuts unknown.

Mount Adams Winter Scene (1937) was painted by Flora while studying at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and is the only existing color work from his academy days. It may, in fact, be the earliest existing Flora work—period. (There are undated student-era sketches.) The style, of course, does not reflect Flora’s future direction. At the academy he was training to be a fine artist, and such were his aspirations. It’s ironic that in the depths…