Saul Bass, Movie Poster and Film Magician
( photo by John G. Zimmerman)
Saul Bass was born on May 8, 1920, in New York City. He studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan until attending classes with Gyorgy Kepes at Brooklyn College.
He began his time in Hollywood doing print work for film ads, until he collaborated
with filmmaker Otto Preminger to design the film poster for his 1954 film Carmen Jones.
Preminger was so impressed with Bass’s work that he asked him to produce the title sequence as well.
This was when Bass first saw the opportunity to create something more than a title sequence,
but to create something which would ultimately enhance the experience of the audience
and contribute to the mood and the theme of the movie within the opening moments.
Bass was one of the first to realize the creative potential of the opening and closing
credits of a movie. He also designed matchbook covers and childrens’ books.
And in turn inspired a whole series of imitators to his style.
You can read more about Saul here.
Fishink Fashion
From time to time I try to mix up some of the photographic images I take for models, with my graphic
prints for cards and textiles. Here’s a few more ideas. What do you think ?
Sorry these aren’t going to appear in the shops sometime soon, they’re just for fun.
Lisa Larson, Swedish Ceramic Designer.
Lisa Larson was employed at Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory between 1954 and 1980.
During her time there she created several hundred different designs, many of which
became design classics and sought after by antique dealers and private collectors.
She became an important PR personality for the company during the 1960’s and 70’s as her products
were immensely popular, and it’s easy to see why.
There’s more about Lisa and her amazing characters here and in her shop here.
Manchester, Art, Graffiti and New Exploration.
Yesterday I had an hour in Manchester going spare before a meeting. I decided to explore
some of the side streets and alleyways that I’d never been down, with a few pleasant
surprises. Amazing graffiti and beautiful ceramic gallery spaces and New York style
fire escapes, all leapt out at me and said ‘Here I am, where have you been all of this time ?’.
Here’s some of my findings. Beginning with architectural animals and fashionable felines.
Great graffiti and placid packmen.
And I loved this Bear and Wolf break in.
It’s amazing to discover what’s around us, when we chance to look in a different direction,
or at least, above our usual eye level.
Linzie Hunter, Illustrator and Creative Genius.
Originally from Scotland, Linzie Hunter now lives in North London. A graduate of Glasgow
University, she was a theatre stage manager before studying illustration at Chelsea College
of Art and Design. Here’s some examples of her hand rendered lettering and quirky humour.
Her freelance illustration work is created digitally but when away from the computer she enjoys
traditional print-making and book-binding.
Apart from lettering, Linzie can also hold her own with a unique and creative illustration style.
With a very impressive Client list, like this work for Orange….
She clearly knows where she’s heading.
You can even pick up a 2-colour screen print for your wall from her site here.
Keep up the great work Linzie.
Raymond Savignac, Illustrator of the Perfect 1950’s Posters.
Since I mentioned Hervé Morvan the other day, it seemed only fitting to talk a little about his good
friend as well as his competitor, Raymond Savignac. I came across a fantastic write up on Raymond
here by Iconofgraphics that I couldn’t better, so here’s a few more images to go with their story.
Thanks to Iconofgraphics for such great research.
Fishinks’ Wintery Walks.
I had spent a few days in the south of Manchester where the snow and ice had more or less
disappeared altogether. I then came to the north of Manchester ( a 20 minute car drive) and
was amazed to find there was a wintery wonderland, with frosted trees and heavy snow.
A Mancunian Narnia of my very own lol. Here’s a few snaps from both areas.
Lisa Hooper. Artist in Nature
Lisa Hooper was born in Hampshire and has lived in north east Essex, mid Wales, Gloucestershire
and Dumfries and Galloway where she has now settled. Lisa has always painted, exploring a variety
of media and subjects. The turning point in her artistic development came in 1992 when she joined
an evening class in etching at what is now the University of Gloucestershire.
Over successive years her commitment to printmaking grew and in 1998 she bought her own press
and started working from her basement studio in Cheltenham. Lisa began to sell her work at first
locally and then further afield.
In 1999 a significant corporate sale was followed by a small solo exhibition and acceptance onto the
AA2A scheme in September. This scheme, designed to give practicing artists access to
art college facilities, enabled Lisa to spend 100 hours in the University studios developing a portfolio
of work on barns for a final exhibition early in 2000.
Lisa’s work has been marketed by galleries in Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, Bath, St Ives
and Appledore. Her work is varied both in terms of technique and subject matter but her passion
for landscape and natural history is evident in much of her work. Recently Lisa has been
working on a number of artists book projects and experimenting with batik on paper,
both of which possess some synergy with printmaking.
Those of you fortunate to be around Edinburgh this month should pop along to
The Scottish Gallery and take a look at the Collage artwork of both Angie Lewin and Mark Hearld.
On til the 24th December, have a visual treat !
Some beautiful autumnal scenes and colours here too.
Hervé Morvan, Poster Artist from the 1950’s.
Hervé Morvan (1917–1980) is a great French poster artist and designer who became well-known
for his advertising poster for Perrier in 1950.
He drew increasing attention from his following works for Vittel, Evian, Danone, and Esso.
Along with Raymond Savignac, who was his good friend as well as his competitor,
Hervé Morvan is still quite popular. Morvan’s works are relatively soft in touch compared
with Savignac’s, and lovely characters often appear in his pieces.
He created ranges for advertising posters for kids, food/drink, household, fashion, travel,
campaigns, alcohol, cigarette, film and music, and greeting cards.
There is a lushly illustrated book featuring his work here It is like a step back in time
right into a quaint advertising era. I also like the way illustrator Red Coulter has used Herves’ idea
to create a new piece for the ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ inspired Terrible Yellow Eyes site.
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