ART & ARTISTS

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Neo Rauch - part 1

This is part 1 of a 2-part post on the works of contemporary German painter Neo Rauch.

Rauch, born in Leipzig in 1960, is a protagonist of the "New Leipzig School". On the one hand artists of the "New Leipzig School" are united by their place of study, the "Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst" (Academy of Visual Arts) in Leipzig, on the other hand by their teachers, among them Bernhard Heisig, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Werner Tübke or Arno Rink, which, in return, are members of the first and second "Leipzig School".

Neo Rauch's artistic career and the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts are inseparably interwoven: This is where he studied painting from 1981 to 1986, until 1990 he was in the master class of Bernhard Heisig, from 1993 to 1998 he worked there as an assistant and was appointed professor in 2005. He held the post until 2009 and taught painting and graphic art. He is also an honorary professor of the Academy.

Neo Rauch's works are highly esteemed by the international art market. Additionally, they attract great numbers of visitors in large one-man shows, for instance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2007, in 2010 in the twin exhibition "Begleiter" (Companions), which was shown simultaneously in the Museum of Visual Arts in Leipzig and the 'Pinakothek der Moderne' Munich, or in the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden in 2011. Works by Neo Rauch are in possession of renowned international museums and collections like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

All images © Neo Rauch / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

1996 Winter
oil on paper 162 x 105cm

1998 Die Wahl (The Choice)
oil on canvas 300 x 200cm

1998 Fang (Catch)
oil on linen 200 x 300cm

1998 Front
oil on canvas 120 x 90cm

1998 Vorrat (Stock)
oil on canvas 250 x 200cm

1999 Fuller
oil on paper 214 x 148cm

1999 Leider (Regrettably)
oil on canvas 200 x 150cm

1999 Stoff (Material)
oil on canvas250 x 200cm

1999 Strecke (Route)
oil on canvas 122 x 90cm

1999 Takt (Stroke)
oil on canvas 225 x 195cm

1999 Tal (Valley)
oil on canvas 200 x 250cm

2002 Harmlos (Harmless)
oil on canvas 250 x 180cm

2002 Hatz (Hunt)
oil on linen 210 x 250cm

2002 Hausmeister (Caretaker)
oil on canvas 250 x 200cm

2002 Kühlraum (Cold Store)
oil on linen 210 x 300cm

2002 Quiz
oil on canvas 250 x 210cm

2002 Schöpfer (Creator)
oil on canvas 210 x 250cm

2003 Haus des Lehrers (The Teacher's Home)
oil on canvas 250 x 200cm

2003 Scheune (Barn)
oil on canvas 190 x 250cm

2004 Höhe (High)
oil on canvas 210 x 270cm

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Penguin Book covers – part 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part post on paperback-book designs from Penguin Books. For background information on Penguin and for more covers see part 1 below. Over the years covers have been undertaken by many famous artists and designers - see Ben Shan, Eduardo Paolozzi, Paul Hogarth, and Milton Glaser (originator of the 'I (heart) NY' logo). Where known, I have shown the date of publication and name of the designer/illustrator:

1970 Tony Meeuwissen

1971 Donna Brown

1971 Milton Glaser

1971 Minale / Tattersfield / Provinciali

1971 Omnific

1972 David Pelham

1973 (unknown)

1973 Tony Meeuwissen

The above design is a clever take on the iconic design of the British cigarette packet for "Wild Woodbine":

1974 David Pelham

1976 Tony Meeuwissen

1977 Ben Shahn

1977 John Carrod (and Harry Beck, designer of the original tube map)

1978 Paul Hogarth

1983 Carroll and Dempsey

1999 Pentagram

2008 (unknown)

(unknown)

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Penguin Book covers – part 1

I’ve been concentrating on painters for quite a while now, so thought I’d take a look at something a little different today – some graphic design featuring iconic and quintessentially British paperback-book cover designs, all from Penguin Books.

Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large audiences existed for serious books. Penguin also had a significant impact on public debate in Britain, through its books on politics, the arts, and science. Penguin Books is now the flagship imprint of the worldwide Penguin Group.

In 1935, if you wanted to read a good book, you needed either a lot of money or a library card. Cheap paperbacks were available, but their poor production generally tended to mirror the quality between the covers.

Penguin paperbacks were the brainchild of Allen Lane, then a director of The Bodley Head publishing house. After a weekend visiting Agatha Christie in Devon, he found himself on a platform at Exeter station searching its bookstall for something to read on his journey back to London, but discovered only popular magazines and reprints of Victorian novels.

Appalled by the selection on offer, Lane decided that good quality contemporary fiction should be made available at an attractive price and sold not just in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores. He also wanted a 'dignified but flippant' symbol for his new business. His secretary suggested a Penguin and another employee was sent to London Zoo to make some sketches. Seventy years later Penguin is still one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

The first Penguin paperbacks appeared in the summer of 1935 and included works by Ernest Hemingway, André Maurois and Agatha Christie. They were colour coded (orange for fiction, blue for biography, green for crime) and cost just sixpence, the same price as a packet of cigarettes. The way the public thought about books changed forever - the paperback revolution had begun.

"We believed in the existence in this country of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price, and staked everything on it" Allen Lane

Penguin became a separate company in 1936 and set up premises in the Crypt of the Holy Trinity Church on Marylebone Road, London, using a fairground slide to receive deliveries from the street above. Within twelve months, it had sold a staggering 3 million paperbacks. Traditional publishers tended to view Penguin with suspicion and uncertainty, as did some authors. The rest, as they say, is history.

I have chosen covers that show a broad spectrum of Penguin's output over the years (I have done at least half a dozen covers for Penguin myself, as have other painters - see Duncan Grant, Peter Blake and Alan Jones below). Where possible I have shown the date of publication and the designer/illustrator's name: