Filed Under: "1950s"

Jim Flora Art LLC has listed on eBay a vintage hand-colored relief print of a 1954 Flora woodcut entitled Manhattan. The print was color-filled (with either tempera or watercolor), signed, titled, and matted by the artist. The cityscape depicts many NYC landmarks, such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the UN, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, a NY public library lion, subways,…

A new limited edition, archival-quality, large-scale fine art print of Jim Flora’s late-1950s tempera 63rd Street is now on eBay for a 10-day auction. An edition of ten has been produced by Flora historian/archivist Barbara Economon. The print now listed (10/10) is the only copy from the edition that will be auctioned in 2007, and the sale price of remaining prints will be higher than the winning bid. If you’ve got questions about the edition,…

The August issue of Juxtapoz magazine includes a feature article on Jim Flora, written by someone named Irwin Chusid (who denies responsibility for the article’s poorly constructed sentences, mangled syntax, bad grammar, and blown punchlines; to quote Erich von Stroheim, it was edited by “someone who had nothing on his mind but his hat”). Regardless of the feature’s narrative flaws, the Flora works reproduced therein are magnificent, and include the late 1940s painting The Rape…

We’ve compiled a Railroad Town info page at JimFlora.com, commemorating the print’s official “launch.” If you’re curious to learn more about this 1951 Flora masterwork (detail at right) which can now be purchased as a numbered, limited edition relief print, visit Railroad Town Central. Besides the new edition of 50, there are a small number of proofs available in varying ink colors and papers (info on the RRT page). The current block of five released…

Production is complete: Flora carved Railroad Town in 1951 while living in Taxco. The trial proof relief print above was produced in December 2006. The June 2007 numbered edition (of 50), just completed at Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress in Knoxville, is even better (alas, no photo yet). Most of the “saltiness” (white flecking) visible above in the peripheries has been eliminated by printmaker Bryan Baker. The impression is solid—and stunning. The longer I stare at the…

Jim Flora Art LLC recently sold #100 of the Mambo For Cats limited edition screen print. As originally announced, the first 100 prints (of 200 produced) were sold for $150/ea., with the caveat that prices would be increased as stock was depleted. JFA is now releasing a block of 25 more prints at $175/ea. The 1955 illustration originally appeared on a 12″ x 12″ RCA Victor LP cover, but the print measures an outsized 20″…

Printed, matted and framed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress,Knoxville TN, exhibited at NYC Stationery Show May 2007,to introduce a limited line of Flora cards and calendars.Production underway, projected completion late July.

Artifact from the archives: 1954 RCA Victor requisition order for the {ahem!} legendary Mambo For Cats album cover illustration. The work was commissioned by label art director—and longtime Flora buddy—Robert M. Jones, who signed the PO (fee unspecified). The finished sleeve encased a 12″ slab of vinyl, we seem to recall. This iconic Flora design was featured in The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, and has recently been marketed as a t-shirt, a fridge magnet,…

In a design sense—and posthumously, anyway. Their professional paths nearly crossed: early in his career, composer-bandleader Raymond Scott recorded for Columbia Records but left the label in 1941, one year before Flora was hired by Columbia’s art department. I’ve long wanted to revive the Flora album cover tradition by adapting his art on new CDs. In 2006, Seattle’s Reptet released Do This!, whose cover was bedecked with a Flora three-eyed monster we call a “triclops.”…

It’s just weird that RCA Victor, releasing a 1955 narrative kiddie record of The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss, would assign cover art to Flora instead of using Ted Geisel’s original figures. Probably a copyright permissions—or lack of them—issue. Still, it’s weird. You’d think the Seuss rights owners who gave RCA permission to use the literary work would object to another artist’s commercial portrayal of the classic illustrations. Flora’s great, but Seuss…

Detail from Primer For Prophets, 1954 CBS-TV trade publication,an alphabet booklet with each page illustrated by Flora

Above is a rare Flora mid-1950s cover. (Granted, not one of his more spectacular illustrations.) We don’t recall where we obtained this lo-res gif, but it’s the only proof we’ve ever seen of this 7″ EP’s existence. We’ve been trawling for it on eBay and thru online rare vinyl dealers for years, with no success. We’d like to own a copy. We don’t care about the condition of the disc—it can be scuffed, gouged, or…