Filed Under: "Coda"

Spot illustration, Columbia Coda, December 1945

Paris had this unnamed gargantuan invader. In the foreground, a Van Dyke-bearded, top-hatted anatomical spare part flees from impending carnage, his method of self-propulsion unknown. Spot illustration, Columbia Coda, Nov-Dec. 1943, having something to do with composer Frederick Delius—but after reading the booklet’s accompanying text, we’re not certain what.

Spot illustration by Flora Columbia Records Coda booklet, June 1943 Production still (actor Tommy Rettig)The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. Tthe only non-animated motion picturebased on characters created by Dr. Seuss(who was born on this day in 1905)

Detail, Peter and the Wolf album promotion,Columbia Coda, January 1953. Wolf on lunch break.

Part of Flora’s is alsopart of Columbia’s.

Spot illustration, Coda, June 1943

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:

This is a test. Go here. In the green menu at the left, click “request a song.” Select a letter (or a number) at the top — any one. Select an artist — any artist. One you know, one you don’t — it’s just a drill. (Caveat: a band whose name begins with “The” appears under “T.” Hence, there are more “T” artists than any other letter.) Click on album title (not cover thumbnail). Request…

You will buy Jim Flora fine art prints. You are powerless against our superior weaponry. We hope.

Illustration, Coda, March 1944, for Columbia Records release By the Sleepy Lagoon, by Eric Coates conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra—available on a 12″ platter for the princely price of one buck.

montage by IC using early 1950s Flora details Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Merry Saturnalia, Happy Festivus—whatever.

D.B. Dowd (Professor of Visual Communication, Washington University, St.Louis) opines: The modernist drive to split representation from its subject (that is, to open up a space between them, at the very least) included the ransacking of pre-modern art historical conventions, often to excellent effect. Jim Flora’s 1945 Coda cover draws on spot color printing and the use of spatial registers, a la Egyptian art, to deliver a strong graphic narrative with clarity and visual independence…