Vintage Japanese Book Covers

1928
1927

1928

A Journey Round My Skull Blog (one of my favorite blogs) has posted some incredible specimens of early 20th century Japanese Book Covers. The worn-out quality only adds to the appeal of these designs. I needed some inspiration today and this is it. The 1920's is my favorite period of design, illustration, music and fine art. Even in Japan, surrealism and art deco were flourishing. "These covers come from Bookcover Design in Japan 1910s-40s (ISBN 4-89444-426-7) edited by Masayo Matsubara. Published in 2005 by PIE Books, this incredible book is already out-of-print and becoming hard to find."

Please follow this link to view more extraordinary book covers from Japan:

A Journey Round My Skull

The Art of Amy Crehore

Big-Eyed Art

Click images to enlarge

Here we have some big-eyed, bug-eyed art. In the first one, the eyes may have been painted on the eyelids before taking the photo? Or maybe it's a doctored photo.

(images from wackystuff's flickr set)

Nick Cave, Visual Artist

Soundsuit by Nick Cave
Soundsuit by Nick Cave

Soundsuit by Nick Cave

My favorite artist right now is Nick Cave. He's the sculptor/fashion designer/performance artist who created dozens of gorgeous outfits called "soundsuits" made with all kinds of materials like sequins and collections of antique objects (children's tops, knick knacks of birds and flowers). James Prinz photographed this little film. There are a couple of other films on YouTube as well- one with an interview of the Chicago artist.

Above, I posted a few stills from his recent show at

Jack Stainman Gallery

in NYC. Follow the link to see more. That exhibit also included sculptures made from lawn jockeys and little mammy figurines. There is another exhibit in S.F. going on right now at

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

called "Meet Me at the Center of the Earth" which runs until July 5, 2009. I might just have to make a trip down there to see this amazing art.

P.S. NIck Cave also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey and is the director of the fashion design graduate program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Man, they are lucky to have him. His talent and vision are nothing short of miraculous.

NICK CAVE, Visual Artist

Posada - Yes!

Jose Guadalupe Posada (2 February 1852 - 20 January 1913) was a Mexican engraver and illustrator. Confetta has created a nice page on Posada here: http://www.squidoo.com/Posada

or check out her amazing flickr set on this man's art. I posted a couple of my favorites. This guy was the best.

The Art of Amy Crehore

David Lynch's Interview Project Starts Today

Every three days for a year, the Interview Project will be posting a new episode. First episode: They found Jess sitting by the side of the road in Needles, CA.
Here's the link to the video interview:
DAVID LYNCH INTERVIEW PROJECT

David Lynch also just opened a show of photographs at Michael Kohn Gallery in L.A. over the weekend called Dark Night of the Soul (a visual interpretation of the album by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse).

Dorthea Tanning's Long, Creative Life

Max Ernst and Dorthea Tanning 1948

Bayou

Beyond the Esplanade 1940

Both of these paintings are by Dorthea Tanning. I love them. The first one looks like it may have been a costume design and the second one reminds me of Picasso. I know that Dorthea Tanning married Max Ernst in 1946 and that she drove Peggy Guggenheim crazy. I have her book "Birthday" in my book shelf. Maybe I should re-read it. I found these images on the Frey Norris Gallery website in their annex which houses a nice collection of surrealist art: here is the LINK

Some of her surreal works I don't like quite so much. But, these show a more classical sensibility. I just looked her up on wikipedia and it looks like she is still alive at age 98(!?) and she is still producing books and poetry. She has had museum retrospectives and designed costumes and sets for theater and ballet. She was with Ernst for 36 years.

Dorthea Tanning

The Art of Amy Crehore

Doctor Jesus

"Painting on the wall of a traumatologist's clinic waiting room in Guatemala." From Xeni Jardin's set of photos from her recent trip to Guatemala on flickr. Thanks, Xeni.

LINK

(This is for you, Raleigh.)

John King -Spanish Fandango

The late John King demos the Spanish Fandango in June 2008 for his students at the Portland Ukulele Festival held at Reed College in Portland, OR. (Thanks silvacox YouTube)

He was only 55 - gone too soon. Read about him: NYTIMES link

Fossil News

A new fossil find links humans and lemurs. Okay. Lemurs are cute.

Especially lemurs with black and white striped tails.

Story:

National Geographic

J J Grandville in Black and White

Click to enlarge

I took a little hiatus, but I'm back now. I blogged about illustrator J J Grandville before: his flower women. Born in 1803-died in 1847...he wasn't around very long, but he left a cleverly surreal body of work behind.

Try this LINK to view more.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Musical Saw Engraved with Your Name

You can buy this musical saw and get your name engraved on it for a reasonable price here:

Musical Saws

If you want to read a history of saw-playing go here. LINK

Thanks, Shelley Rickey for link, who can be seen playing one in a photo on her blog.
The Art and Music of Amy Crehore

New Encyclopedia of Surreal Art, German Edition

"The Caged Wonder" painting 2008 by Amy Crehore

My art has been published in "Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler" by Gerhard Habarta.
It's an international encyclopedia of fantastic & surrealistic & symbolist & visionary artists (living and dead). The German language edition has just been released. I am honored that Mr. Habarta selected my biography, plus an additional reproduction in colour of "The Caged Wonder" painting.
There are 1122 artist biographies from 69 countries, 462 pages, 950 b/w + 458 colour reproductions. ISBN: ISBN: 9 783837 084276
www.lexikon-surreal.com

The Art of Amy Crehore

2 Cool Blogs

Painting by Amy Crehore 2009

A couple of really nice blogs featured my paintings recently.

Lost at E Minor had an interesting review written by Gerry Mak. LINK

And Cool Hunting : here. A big thank you from me.

Both of these blogs publish excellent articles daily about art and design.

And we are all on twitter, too. :)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Frantisek Drtikol, Photographer

Frantisek-Drtikol-The-Soul--1930-250160
Originally uploaded by Confetta

"The Soul" 1930
Strange and beautiful.
Read more about this photographer
on Confetta's squidoo lense:
http://www.squidoo.com/FrantisekDrtikol

Ukulele is in the Lead...

I am offering two new artist-signed limited edition prints for $50. each ...with small, signed pencil drawings tucked into at least ten of the orders (at random) for good measure. So far, the "ukulele" prints are leading the "guitar" prints in sales, 2 to 1. We shall see, as the days go by, which one sells out first. One image has two girls, a uke and mostly monkeys. The other has an allegorical feel to it with lots of different characters and one girl with a guitar. Thanks, boingboing.net for mentioning them here. And thanks, Creep Machine.

For more details, to purchase a print (with a chance at receiving a lucky pencil drawing):

Click HERE (new prints)

Before they are gone. Only 75 prints in these editions.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Special Deal: 2 New Crehore Prints-a Ukulele and a Guitar

"Monkey Love Song" by Amy Crehore
"Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore

It's been almost a year since I released a limited edition, signed giclee print. (The last one was called "The Creature".)

Here is a special deal for music and art lovers -

two new artist signed prints for only $50. each (plus shipping). "Monkey Love Song" features a ukulele and "Deja Vu Waltz" has a guitar in it.

There are only 75 prints in each edition.

Printed on Hahnemuhle acid-free photorag 308 gsm paper with the absolute finest quality printer using superior ultrachrome inks (by Sterling Editions). Comes in archival sleeve with free postcards and a certificate of authenticity. Each print is signed and numbered by artist Amy Crehore.

Ten customers will receive small, signed pencil drawings tucked in his or her order (numbers will be chosen at random).Follow this link to buy either of these two new prints (or both):

2 NEW PRINTS by Amy Crehore

P.S. I am also having a sale on all the other merchandise on my site. Ask about purchase plans for my original art.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Knitters Sell Off Whole Town

Watch this video from BBC News. A group of women knitted an entire town. It took them 23 years. Now they are selling it off.

LINK

(thanks, mika)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Steve Lodefink's Cigar Box Guitar

cbg2
Originally uploaded by steve_lodefink

Saw this on http://www.boingboing.net/ (thanks, Mark Frauenfelder) today which led me to Steve's flickr page (click on photo). I like the body and I really like the tuner buttons which are squiggly around the edges.

Which reminds me, my Tickler Uke #2 is actually done now, except for the tuner buttons which are being hand-carved out of blackwood.

For Steve's home-made telecaster go to http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/

WWI Flag Flower Postcards

Japan
Great Britain

France

Here are some unusual WWI postcards from the collection of

wackystuff on flickr

I love the drawings of flowers as flags and soldiers as insects. Two of them are smoking pipes. There's a frog with a helmet- that's cool, too. Follow the link to see more cards.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Rare Crehore Piano for Sale

This beautiful piano was made by Benjamin Crehore, an ancestor of mine (I think), who manufactured the first pianos in the U.S. in Milton, MA. (1915 article from the Boston Globe attesting to this: here.) Look at the pretty decoration and hand-lettering on this piano! I know there are other instruments by Benjamin Crehore in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (bass viol and piano). This rare Crehore piano is among the items the Boston Public Library will offer at auction (Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers) in the coming months.
Here's the Globe article.

They are also selling off their Audubon prints.

The Art of Amy Crehore

San Francisco Gets to See These

" Murmur of the Innocents"-a new series of paintings by Gottfried Helnwein. More photos HERE . Fascinating shots of the artist painting large, emotionally disturbing, photorealistic portraits of a pale little girl with a baby-powdered face and giant toys, a gun and... covered in blood (The Disasters of War, Part II). The paintings will be at Modernism Gallery in S.F., CA on May 7, 2009. www.modernisminc.com

The Art of Amy Crehore

My Newest Work in Slideshow Format

In case anyone missed my show in L.A. last month, here it is in mini slideshow format.

LINK on flickr if you want to see larger images.

Contact amy@amycrehore.com for information about acquiring my original art.

The Art of Amy Crehore

March Hares

Another goodie from Steve Chasmar via flickr

Click to enlarge. Just what is going on here? Two colors of rabbits, I see.

Must be a bunny dance of some sort.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Cigarette Cards

Girls-with-animals-and-things-on-top-of-their-heads. It's all the rage. I can't count the number of contemporary painters who have followed this fad. Is this where it all started? Here are just a few cigarette cards from the NYPL collection of over 700 hundred series (totaling thousands) from before 1900 to mid-20th century. You won't believe this collection.

NYPL Digital Gallery

The Art of Amy Crehore

Woman with Flowers and more

Woman with Flowers 2009 12" x 9"

acrylic and oil on panel by Tasha Kusama

Project Room: Tasha Kusama"Prismatic"

April 15-May 9, 2009 (opening Wed 7-9pm April 15)

with a Liz McGrath Solo Show, "Shadowless Summer"

at a sweet little gallery on 128 Rivington in NYC:

SLOAN FINE ART

The Art of Amy Crehore

Crehore Tickler Uke #2 Coming...

Here's a glimpse of my design for my fine art Tickler Ukulele #2. As you can see, it is a pineapple shaped uke. I am all finished painting it now, so it is almost there! Built from scratch by a luthier, it has beautiful ivoroid binding around all sides, neck and headstock! Sweet. The top is spruce, the back and sides are mahogany. The neck is carved walnut. The wood is aged to perfection. Gold tuners with amber-colored buttons (I think), mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard (pearloid), two rings of B&W rossette around sound hole, a thin strip of persimmon down the back of the neck. There is an end graft triangle of B&W ebony with an ivory border, plus an ivory "cloud" inlay on the bottom of the front (made from an old piano key). The bridge is ebony and there is an ebony cap on heel. It won't be long now (I know I promised it over a year ago, but who's counting). It just needs a few finishing touches and then I can photograph it and present it to you. I call it my hybrid Hawaiian/1920's Jazz design - featuring my trademark pierrot and a banana-skirted hula girl. My monkey in a sailor hat makes an appearance on the headstock.

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. Look for a spring sale of Tickler uke t-shirts and other prints on my website.

New prints are coming soon.

Jean Dupas (1882-1964)

This is one of my favorite Art Deco works. It was painted by Jean Théodore Dupas (born in 1882 -1964) a French painter, designer, poster artist, and decorator. He won the prix de Rome in 1910. In 1925, he showed this piece, at the Grand Exposition des Art Décoratifs in Paris. It is called "Les Perruches", one of his most famous oils on canvas. It's nice to see the preliminary sketch and a photo of the painting in it's location above a fireplace. Jean Dupas

The Art of Amy Crehore

Salvador Dali on "What's My Line"?

Thanks for the tip, Claudia Drake! :)

MAKE and the Maker Movement on Nightline tonight

If all goes according to plan (and there are no breaking stories to bump it), ABC's Nightline is running a segment tonight on MAKE and the maker movement. They taped a piece with Mark Frauenfelder and Mister Jalopy (Dinosaurs and Robots). There may be scenes from Maker Faire and Make: television as well. 11:35pm

MAKEZINE BLOG

The Cloudy Collection Letterpress Prints Go on Sale at 9am PST, 3/31/2009

My letterpress print (Amy Crehore)

Cloudy Collection, Volume 1, Edition 1 (limited to 100 sets). These beautiful images are pressed into ivory-colored bamboo paper using 100% vegetable-based inks. Printed by Boxcar Press in Syracuse, NY. "Cloudy Characters" art by Meg Hunt, Bill Fick, John Martz, Amy Crehore, Tom Kaczynski, Steven Weissman, and David Huyck. A percentage of the sales of the Cloudy Collection print sets will be donated to The Nature Conservancy. Only $35. with free shipping to the U.S. and Canada. These prints go on sale at 9am PST (noon, Eastern time) March 31, 2009. Brought to you by David Huyck.

THE CLOUDY COLLECTION

The Art of Amy Crehore

Louise Brooks and Ruth St. Denis on da beach

Photo of dancers on the beach includes Louise Brooks, second from right, as part of the Denishawn Dancers in Los Angeles, CA (Library of Congress). Click to Enlarge.

Top photo is of Ruth St. Denis herself in an unsual pose. (NY Public Library )
Read about Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, what inspired their dance companies, and see more photos on bobster1985's flickr.

I love seeing photos of Louise Brooks that I had not seen before. Those were the days!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mean Kitty

Okay...over 18 million views, but I hadn't seen this before.

This cat looks like my cat! I enjoyed this!