Eclectic Delights

poster for Overlook Press, early 1970s

When I started the Animalarium a little over four years ago, one of my first posts

was dedicated to Milton Glaser, who has been one of my heroes for a long long time.

As more of his works surface online, today I am even more impressed by the quality 

and variety of his immense artistic and graphic output. Having recently watched

the documentary Milton Glaser: to Inform and Delight and a number of his lectures and

 interviews, I am inspired to pay homage again to this giant of visual communication 

and overall gracious human being. The following images come from various 

online sources, but most of them were first featured on the website of the 

Milton Glaser Study Center and Archives.

Book covers, 1959-60

children's book, 1962

Eros magazine, 1962

Colorvision brochure, 1963

Show, The Magazine of the Arts, September 1963

poster to promote book, 1969 

bird for Unicef poster, late 1960s–early 1970s

Sans tabac poster, 1977

San Diego Jazz Festival, 1983

Night of The Snow Leopard, 1983

two sketches for the Buffalo Zoological Gardens, 1983

Illustration for Le Poète Assassiné by Apollinarie, 1984

Catskill Cuisine, 1990s

Lonely Cat, 2003

poster for Overlook Press, 2011

poster for the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, 2013

still going strong after 60 years...

An Alphabet of Animals

I couldn't find much reliable information on the web about the Scots-Canadian illustrator and painter

 Carton Moore-Park (1877–1956). According to different sources he may have been born in New Brunswick

 or the Hebrides, and studied under the direction of Francis Newbery at the Glasgow School of Art. 

Moore-Park specialized in animal subjects, and his artistic style was strongly influenced by Japonisme. 

In 1910 he moved to the USA, where he separated from his wife and had a relationship with, and maybe married, 
fellow artist and renowned dog painter Diana Thorne (a rather interesting character in her own right according 
to this article, complete with lots of mysteries and gossip). Anyway, if my dates are correct, Moore-Park created 
the lovely and whimsical illustrations for this alphabet book when he was only 22, which I find very impressive... 

Armadillo

Elephant

Ibex

Kangaroo

Mice

Otter

Porcupine

Unicorn

Vampire bat

Weasel

Yak

Moore-Park wrote and illustrated a variety of children's books centered on animals, including

 King of the Beasts, Biffel - A Trek Hox, The Wonders of the Insect World, The Children's Story of the Bee, 

Our Dogs, The Fables of La Fontaine and A Book of Birds (available online at archive.org).

Tuscan Clay

These modernist Italian ceramics were produced by Aldo Londi at  Bitossi.
The company was founded in 1921 by Guido Bitossi and is still run by his family. 
Its hometown, Montelupo Fiorentino, has been an important center of pottery production
 since the Renaissance. Numerous important and innovative designers have collaborated with Bitossi
 throughout its history, including Piero Fornasetti, Ettore Sottsass, Nathalie du Pasquier
 and Marco Zanini, but Londi was surely the most significant contributor to the company's identity.

Londi was born in Montelupo in 1911, and started working for a ceramics manufacturer
 when he was 11 years old. After being taken prisoner in South Africa during WW2, he returned
 to Italy and in 1946 was appointed artistic director at Bitossi. He held that position for over 50 years,
 and created thousand of designs for vases, jugs, animals, candle stick holders and other objects.

 Londi was a creative experimenter in both form and technique, who combined
great technical skills and traditional knowledge with a contemporary artistic sensitivity
and great curiosity for new sources of ideas and inspiration. His distinctive ceramic designs
 were decorated with a great variety of patterns, glazes and color combinations.

thanks to Mid-Centuria



Londi's most famous series, the Rimini Blu collection, was designed between 1953 and 1965.
 These vibrantly colored ceramics were individually decorated with hand embossed patterns
and painted with layered glazes in various shades of blue with a touch of green and purple.

In 2006 Bitossi started reissuing some Londi designs made between 1950 and 1970.
Miniature Rimini Bianco is a selection of ten figurines from the original Rimini Blu series
reproduced in small size and white color.

The last range designed by Londi was Arkitectura, a collection of elegant and quirky stylized animal figures
decorated with embossed lines and dots and a painted with a monochrome white, black or platinum color glaze.
It's still being produced and you can find it in various design shops around the web.

Etsy Beasts

So much to do, so little time... and yesterday all day in bed with the flu!

Here are a few sweet picks from some favorite etsy shops, still in time for Christmas

Star Belly underneath my bed limited edition print at firefluff

Blue whale book stickers at boygirlparty

Marcel Poisson at loulouandoscar

Crocheted seahorse at jpolka

Shirley print at kwilson544

Hen soft sculpture at whileshenaps

Small polar bear plate at oneblackbird

Raccoon costume print at Hisss

Baby porcupine fine art print at SharonMontrose

Pushmi-pullyu - Two Headed Lama signed art print at moonflygirl

Small Arctic Fox scarflette at PilliPillihandmade

Peace ladybug cotton tote bag at dindolina