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Japanese Historical World Maps

A wonderful collection of vintage Japanese World maps can be found at

ephemera assemblyman blog.

Happy Thanksgiving

NEW YORK CITY—Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon, 1986.

© Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

 

 

"Process may be an impetus, but no one tool or technique is sacred. It is our quest for the final arrested image — not the means to its capture — that sets us in motion."

 In recent years, a new breed of photographer has emerged: the camera-less photographer. This new generation — many of whom self-identify as collectors — has reinvented the process once again: theirs is a practice which might be best characterized as hunting, appropriating and editing to obtain a certain kind of image. Such idiosyncratic makers/collectors have evolved as a sub-genre within the ranks of the amateur, whose collective output has spawned a revolution in the creation of a kind of new, tactile imagery. Without fanfare and well beyond the purview of what most people believe constitutes an artist, this new pioneering practice creates from an already existing body of work. 

Following in the modernist tradition of the readymade, the practitioners of this form of photography hunt and seek images in much the same way as photographers did long ago, with one big exception: they don’t actually need a camera. The image has already been taken, and a full arsenal of photographic tools have been employed — but all of this has been achieved by someone else. The image has been processed, but lies dormant, like unexposed film in the can. Not unlike a print awaiting its expected gestation (which occurs only when submerged it in a chemical bath), such images remain unformed, until these new image makers — no longer selecting from a day’s shoot, a contact sheet or a digital file — uncover and choose from existing prints. Tirelessly scouring the marketplace — both online and on foot — their goal is to fix an image (untethered to an author) by plucking it from the past and, in a very real sense, recontextualizing it. Through this new breed of photographer-hunter-artist, found snapshots become a rich resource for self-expression.

To mount its 2007 exhibition, “The Art of the American Snapshot: 1888–1978,” the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. drew entirely upon the resources of collector Robert E. Jackson. Jackson is an avid and prolific compiler of vernacular photography, who lays claim to a breadth and depth of material rivaled by few (if any) in this emerging field. Jackson worked with the National Gallery in selecting images for the landmark show — an overview of the changing perspective of the amateur photographer in America over a period of nearly 100 years — culling over 200 photos from a collection that then numbered approximately 8,500 images. His aesthetic approach to the snapshot acts as portal to the lyrical, humorous and transcendent nature of the medium. Delving into the images he has amassed, one discovers a highly evolved creative process and logic at work.  ~ Michelle Hauser

via: Design Observer

 

Exhibition Reveals Sol Lewitt's Passionate Commitment to His Carefully Defined Practice

As a major figure in both movements, Sol LeWitt (1928–2007) was one of the first artists whose work graced the Barnes building. LeWitt and the Walker enjoyed a relationship that spanned more than 35 years. It began with the museum’s purchase of sculptures (LeWitt called them “structures”) in the mid-1960s and includes approximately 200 pieces donated by the artist during his lifetime. His work is featured prominently in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and his enduring wall drawings have graced the Walker’s public spaces since the early 1980s. 

The exhibition at the Walker Art Center Sol LeWitt: 2D+3D, on view November 18, 2010 (from 5–9 pm)–April 24, 2011, presents for the first time the full range of the Walker’s LeWitt holdings, highlighting the artist’s three-dimensional structures, wall drawings, models, unique works on paper, prints, and artist’s books. 

Carefully conceived geometric arrangements were the basis for LeWitt’s earliest work. In 1966, he wrote: “The most interesting characteristic of the cube is that it is relatively uninteresting. Compared to any other three-dimensional form, the cube lacks any aggressive force, implies no motion, and is least emotive. Therefore, it is the best form to use as a basic unit for any more elaborate function, the grammatical device from which the work may proceed.”

In 1967, Artforum magazine commissioned LeWitt’s now-legendary statement on his work, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art,” in which he coined the term for a movement that would tip the scales from an orientation toward objects to an idea-based art. He proposed that “when an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art.” His radical pronouncement defined a new mindset and way of working that continue to be profoundly relevant to a current generation of artists. 

'Where Cinema and Biology Meet'

N*E*R*D's "Life as a Fish"

Doisneau in the Desert

ROBERT DOISNEAU: PALM SPRINGS 1960 is a previously unpublished collection of Robert Doisneau’s rare color photography, providing a unique opportunity to revisit the early years of one of America’s legendary holiday destinations. In 1960,

Robert Doisneau was invited by Fortune magazine to cover Palm Springs, the hottest travel destination of the day. Renowned as a playground for the rich and famous, as well as for a silver-haired and well-heeled clientele, it was a world of swimming pools awash with bobbing beehives, martini-fueled parties, and relaxed games of golf, all unfolding against a breathtaking desert backdrop.

There, Doisneau took hundreds of photographs, twenty-three of which were published in the magazine. The rest have been rediscovered in his archives, and one hundred are featured here for the first time.

via: photography blog 

 

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.  

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Matisse’s little-known drawings of men.

Henri Matisse–Writers on Paper: Selected Drawings and Prints from The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to Matisse’s little-known drawings of men.

The exhibition, on view at New York University’s Maison Française from Nov. 2 through Dec. 21, includes a selection of intimate drawings and prints of writers, including Matisse’s friends, colleagues, and a young poet and martyr, Roger Bernard, whom Matisse admired. Several of the works in this exhibition, created between 1937 and 1946, are being shown for the first time.

The images in this exhibition offer insights into the personalities of these writers. Indeed, Matisse’s spontaneous portraits are like frames from candid documentary films. Rendered in his hallmark stenographic style, the artist’s observations are imbued with clarity and elegance.