Filed Under: "1940s"

Spot illustration, Gup: 3 Adventures, Little Man Press, 1942

Detail from The Rape of the Stationmaster’s Daughter, an undated early 1940s tempera on paper. Elements of this work were adapted by designer Laura Lindgren for the cover of The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, and the complete painting was featured in the book. On the production schedule for March 2008: the fine art print.

untitled pencil sketches, early 1940s

A new Flora archival-quality fine art print has been released by Jim Flora Art LLC. The untitled 1943 work, which depicts five colorful musicians, is unofficially referred to as “Jazz Quintet.” An edition of ten (10) has been produced. One print (#9/10) is now listed on eBay at a Buy-It-Now price of $200 (+ s/h). After this print is sold, prices on remaining prints will increase (starting at $300) until the edition is sold out….

Detail, Joel Flora birth announcement, July 1947Image courtesy Richard Loffer

A Tribute to Alex Steinweiss, The Creator of the Album Cover, opens today at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica. In 1939, during the era of 78 rpm discs, Steinweiss revolutionized how record albums were sold by inventing the illustrated album jacket. At the time he worked for Columbia Records, a struggling label based in Bridgeport, CT. Previously albums were shelved in shops with only the spine lettering exposed. Steinweiss’s vivacious color illustrations inspired…

Detail, March 1943 Columbia-Okeh Popular Recordsmonthly flyer; panel: Harry James

Self-Portrait, tempera on paper, ca. mid- to late-1940s. Update OCT 2008: Now available as a limited edition fine art print.

Detail, March 1943 Columbia-Okeh Popular Records monthly flyer panel: Okeh Country Dance, Folk Songs, and Blues

Now on eBay: The “Bubbly Buddies” design (above, adapted from an early 1950s Christmas montage painted by Flora), and “Bix and Tram” (below, featuring caricatures from a 1947 Columbia Records album cover).

Jim Flora Art LLC just launched the latest in our line of upper body haute couture: the Jim Flora “Happy Horns” t-shirt. The illustration—a jazz buff making cozy with a clarinet and sax—originally appeared on a 1942 record shop retail banner showcasing “Columbia Album Favorites.” Our previous shirts were digitally printed. The “Horn Buddies” shirt is our first silk-screened piece of fashionwear. We also modified a previous shirt: the “Hot Notes” design (featuring a 1941…