Remember when the worst thing that teenage gangs did was whistle obnoxiously at girls walking by…or maybe some knucklehead pulled a knife in the park? (IMP)
Brand Neiman.
Leroy Neiman, the popular sports artisté, passed away at the age of 91. Although his streaky, colorful, kinetic paintings were not everyone’s cup of tea, you had to admire the guy’s old-fashioned raconteur style — sporting his signature handlebar moustache — as he sat ringside at every major professional sports event, painting such athletic legends as Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, and Michael Jordan.
Le Kitchen Sink Poster of the Week
This Constantin Belinsky french action movie poster has it all — loaded firearms, a hostage/kidnapping situation with a girl in a bikini held by knifepoint, a tsunami wave about to hit the beach and wipe out a classic muscle car — and then to top it off, a bull’s eye target looming behind the tagline!
Bob Peak Back In Fashion?
Masters of Fashion Illustration, a new art book by fashion maven, David Downton (no relation to Downton Abbey), profiles some of the greatest fashion illustrators of the 20th Century — including a chapter dedicated to legendary poster artist, Bob Peak, who first penciled his beautiful lines for many high-profile fashion mags and commercial print ads.
The Bass-o-metrics…
If art is truly timeless, then compare and contrast these two Saul & Elaine Bass title sequences, completed over thirty years apart…
Bass Country…
Although Saul Bass is typically viewed as modern design’s urban sophisticate with his simple, savvy titles, he wasn’t afraid to put on his cowboy hat when he had to…
Saul Bass + Elaine Bass = All Class.
Okay, I’ve finally gotten through the 415-page blockbuster book, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design by Pat Kirkham and Jennifer Bass (Saul’s daughter) — and my eyeballs hurt. Wow, what a visual feast! Part biography, part loving tribute, this tomé features over 1,400 illustrations, spanning Bass’s iconic career in movies and corporate identity/commercial logos. It’s almost unthinkable what the 1950’s-1970’s would’ve looked like without Bass’s clean, colorful logos decorating everything from cereal boxes to 747’s.
Although the career highlights of Mr. Bass have been well-documented in Art of the Title and Movie Titles, this publication uncovers many lesser-known tidbits about the modern master, including how his Walk on the Wild Side titles influenced a young Stevie Spielberg to do an 8mm film with his diva dog, Thunder, as well as Bass’s work on such late 1980’s pictures as Broadcast News, Big, and Mr. Saturday Night.
The book also clarifies the vitally important contributions of Saul’s accomplished wife, Elaine. Much like the Eames’s close-knit relationship, Elaine Bass took over production on the title sequence for Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and their cool collaborations continued on with Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, and Martin Scorsese (their Casino titles no doubt inspired the Mad Men intro), all the way up to Saul Bass’s death in 1996.
Kim Novak Art Show
Don’t get dizzy, but Kim Novak, the star of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, is returning to the scene of the crime — in this case, San Francisco — to make a local appearance to celebrate her movies as well as donate the sales of her personal artwork to charity.
Black Widow Lake?
No doubt the new limited-edition Black Widow posters by indie UK artist, Olly Moss, (courtesy of Alamo Drafthouse) are all sold out by now…but perhaps Veronica Lake is still available?
Movie Poster Museum 