Filed Under: "reviews"

Flora at BlissTopic Arte

January 20, 2014

For our Spanish-speaking (-reading, actually) Floraphiles, here’s a lengthy profile of our upcoming centenarian (Jan. 25) by Esther B. Vigil at BlissTopic.com. The title, EXORCIZANDO DEMONIOS AL RITMO FRENÉTICO DEL JAZZ, translates as “exorcising demons to the rhythm of jazz,” which is an interesting take on Flora’s devilish creations. The images were borrowed from our website, except for a 1950s photo we provided of Flora at work in his studio. The article includes the 1959…

Continue Reading... Flora at BlissTopic Arte

Animation legend GENE DEITCH was a longtime friend of Jim Flora, a friendship that commenced in the 1940s and ended only with Flora’s death in 1998. Today Gene wrote to us: Pete Jolly Duo EP from back cover of The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora THE HIGH-FIDELITY ART OF JIM FLORA arrived!  This latest treasury of Jim’s art is the closest to my heart, as it covers the exact material that led me to him in the mid…

Continue Reading... Gene Deitch: Flora had an “overpowering influence” on my style

Pamela Paul in the New York Times reviews Enchanted Lion Books‘ new reprint of Flora’s Kangaroo for Christmas: Kangaroo for Christmas offered joy of an entirely different sort to the Sallys and Bobbys of the Mad Men era. First published in 1962, the story of little Kathryn’s astonishing gift from her Uncle Dingo showcases the marvelous period illustration of James Flora, a giant among midcentury commercial artists. Working in riotous bursts of carnation pink and…

Continue Reading... “visual pop in an off-kilter story”

After Uplift, Ka-Chow!

November 29, 2010

In the Nov. 20 Wall Street Journal “Bookshelf” column, Meghan Cox Gurdon reviews Flora’s 1957 The Day The Cow Sneezed, recently reprinted by Enchanted Lion Books: “Flora’s style is about as goofily retro as it’s possible to get, with wide-eyed men in suits, amazed-looking wild animals, and an old-fashioned matte palate of red, pink, green and gray. In the story a series of wild events unfurls when a boy neglects his cow, which catches cold…

Continue Reading... After Uplift, Ka-Chow!

Sweetly Diabolic: a review

September 3, 2009

Rave review for Sweetly Diabolic from Joe Bendel of J.B. Spins. “Chusid and Economon once again prove to be wise stewards of the Flora archives. Sweetly Diabolic reveals many largely unknown aspects of his work, but also fruitfully revisits his classic Columbia-era work. Thanks to the quality of the reproductions and design of the book itself, the vitality of Flora’s art comes through on each page. An effective introduction to Flora’s art and a satisfying…

Continue Reading... Sweetly Diabolic: a review

Today’s Daily Heller

November 25, 2008

Journalist/author/design historian Steve Heller brings a nicey to the Flora stora on his PRINT Magazine blog. Heller, who penned the 1998 New York Times obit for Flora, also wrote the Foreward in our first book, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora. P.S. If the guy on the right at left looks familiar, here’s why.

Continue Reading... Today’s Daily Heller

On the menu

April 3, 2008

rew Taylor “is a sucker for a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.” He’s also keen on Jim Flora, as revealed in “Knoxville Showcases Pop Art Icon,” from the March 30 issue of Vision, an arts publication of East Tennessee State University.

Continue Reading... On the menu

irk Sillsbee in the “Design 2007” issue of Los Angeles City Beat: “Where the Peanuts gang was congenitally static, Flora’s graphics positively exploded with energy, color, and behavioral abandon. His was often giddy imagery that bordered on visual mayhem. A mopey depressive like Charlie Brown would have no place in Flora’s oeuvre, which was populated with clowns, ecstatics, intoxicants, psychopaths, and exultant maniacs. Flora was the rare graphic artist whose work looked like a two-dimensional…

Continue Reading... You’re a flaccid weenie, Charlie Brown

Eloquent, music-skewed review of The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora over at J.B. Spins, a blog devoted to “jazz and improvised politics.”

Continue Reading... “Baroque and subversive”

Artist Ward Jenkins reviews The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora at his Ward-O-Matic blog. Our friend Ward had previously posted about Flora’s 1957 kiddie caper, The Day The Cow Sneezed, showcasing some rarely seen draft illustrations.

Continue Reading... “a mid-century deconstructive rebel mindset”
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  • The Mischievous and Diabolic art of James Flora (1914-1998). Glimpses of rare works from the archives and news about Flora-related projects.

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