Streamliners

When I'd seen Art Deco posters like the one above I had assumed that these were imaginative flights of fantasy - an idealised version of 1930s streamlined technology. Then, by complete chance, I found this picture on Tumblr:

 

This is a New York Central Railroad Mercury which operated from 1936 to 1959.

 

Wow - so they were real! A quick search on the web turned up plenty more photos:

 

 

This is a New York Central Railroad 20th Century Limited train operated from 1938 to 1945, also seen in this painting:

 

 

 

Below is The Aeolus from 1937 operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad:

 

 

 

The more I looked, the more I found. Streamliners were operated across the world.



 

In the United Kingdom the LMS Coronation Class locomotives were operated from 1937 until 1964 although their streamlining was removed by 1949 as it provided little benefit and was unpopular with maintenance teams:

 

 

 

In 1937 the Soviet Union introduced the IS20-16 Iosef Stalin which operated until at least 1962:

 

 

 

Below is the unique Soviet 2-3-2K which operated from 1937 to at least 1957:

 

 

 

Another unique streamliner was the US PRR S1:

 

 

 

Czechoslovakia had the ČSD 386 Series which operated from 1937 until 1948:

 

 

 

This is just a brief introduction to the myriad designs of streamliners which operated across the World from the 1930s to the 1950s and beyond.

 

For more information I'd recommend the following excellent websites:

 

http://www.dieselpunks.org/

 

http://lattercars.com/2015/01/the-most-beautiful-streamline-designs-of-locomotives/

 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-zeppelin-train-the-aerotrain-and-other-classic-str-1564713752

 

 

Catch You Later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

http://www.dieselpunks.org/

http://dev.fortwaynerailroad.org/page/4/?post_type=event

http://cruiselinehistory.com/1940s-and-1950s-the-golden-age-of-american-passenger-trains/

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-zeppelin-train-the-aerotrain-and-other-classic-str-1564713752

http://www.oil-electric.com/2012/03/rail-quiz-7-solution-city-streamliners.html

http://lattercars.com/2015/01/the-most-beautiful-streamline-designs-of-locomotives/

http://www.tumblr.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

 

 

 

 

Artists and Illustrators of Vietnem

My art posts seem to be more popular than any others so I thought I'd give you another one!

This one was a bit more tricky to research as there is very little information available on the web about Vietnamese artists when compared to artists of other countries. Consequently, the information here is brief but I'll add more if I find anything later.

Bùi Xuân Phái

(1921-1988)

http://www.buixuanphai.com/
 

 

(Hanoi street)

Huynh Kim Lien
http://killien.deviantart.com/gallery/

Lê Quang Đỉnh (Dinh Q. Lê)

(1968 -)

 

 

Do Bien Thuy

 

 

Kaa Studio
https://www.behance.net/kaaillustration

 

LeUyen Pham

(1973 -)

http://www.leuyenpham.com/

 

(The Twelve Days of Christmas)

 

 

Phuong Thai (Tamypu)
https://www.behance.net/tamypu

 

 

 

 

Raven Ngo (Nguyen Phuong Ngo)

https://www.behance.net/ravenngo

(Ordinary Day)

 

 

Thai Thanh Do

https://www.behance.net/dothaithanh

(from the Penguin Queen's Museum)

Thuy Com

https://www.behance.net/thuycom

 

(Girl in the Sunny Place)


Turine Tran
http://www.turinetran.com/

(The Meadow)

If you have any further information on the featured artists or if you know of any more please add a comment below.

Also, on behalf of Blogger may I apologise for messing up the font size and colours - I've tried to fix it but it's having none of it.

Catch You Later!

 

 

 

 

Credits:

http://blog.roomtoread.org/room-to-read/illustrators/
http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/TurineTran/view
https://www.behance.net/gallery/9298763/Penguin-Queens-Museum-Picture-book
http://www.buixuanphai.com/about.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B9i_Xu%C3%A2n_Ph%C3%A1i
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinh_Q._L%C3%AA
http://idiommag.com/2010/02/dinh-q-le-at-p-p-o-w/
https://www.facebook.com/kaaillustration/
https://www.behance.net/kaaillustration
http://www.leuyenpham.com/
http://www.noevalleyvoice.com/2007/May/Pham.html
http://fullscream.com/phuong-thai-a-k-a-tamypu-on-storytelling-and-childrens-book-illustratons/
https://www.behance.net/tamypu
http://blog.roomtoread.org/room-to-read/2015/10/how-a-boys-first-trip-across-the-mekong-delta-will-help-grow-childrens-book-publishing-in-vietnam-.html
https://www.behance.net/ravenngo
https://www.behance.net/thuycom
http://www.turinetran.com/
http://killien.deviantart.com/gallery/

Kobayashi Kaichi

Kobayashi Kaichi (real name Kobayashi Yoshikazu) was a Japanese artist specialising in designs for wood block printed postcards and envelopes.

Little is known of his life and career but I've tracked down some information (there were a few other details that I couldn't accurately translate them from the original Japanese so I've not included them here).

He was born in Kyoto in 1896 and studied at the Kyoto Municipal Painting School (now Kyoto City University). By 1922 he was working for the Kimono Time design house under the pen name of Song Jig. He also worked for the publisher Sakuraiya. In 1942 he married and his family eventually included one daughter and three sons. He died in 1968.

During the Taishō and early Shōwa periods (1912 to late 1920's) Kobayashi created designs for postcards and envelopes for woodblock printing which were heavily influenced by early Art Deco style then popular in the West and gaining popularity in Japan. It is estimated that he may have created up to 700 different designs.
 
Some of the postcards were sold as packs of four similar designs whilst many others were one-off designs.

From the series Youth

From the series Woman Waiting for Her Beloved

From the series Flowers of Darkness

 

 From the series Rain Falls

 

From the series Evening of Sorrow

 

Many postcards and envelopes amazingly survived the Second World War and collections of Kobayashi Kaichi's works are exhibited from time to time.

His style is still be seen influencing the works of modern illustrators such as Kaden on Pixiv:

 

If you're wanting to see more of Kobayashi Kaichi's works online there are plenty to see with Pinterest being a good place to start.

Catch You Later!

Credits:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/nostalgic_fmy/21717674.html
http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/period/222?page=442
http://www.gotokyo.org/en/event/exhibition/h25/026.html
http://thebluelantern.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/from-nouveau-to-art-deco-in-showa-japan.html
http://www.mfa.org/collections/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/小林かいちhttp://www.hoshina-museum.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/
http://www.pixiv.net/


tags:
#Kobayashi Kaichi
#japan
#postcard
#woodblock
#youth

Ball Jointed Dolls

If you spend any time on Deviantart, Pinterest, We<3it, Tumblr etc you'll probably have spotted exquisite looking anime-esqe dolls. These are ball jointed dolls or BJDs (also known as Asian Ball Jointed Dolls or ABJDs).

History
Dolls with articulated limbs have been around for more than 2000 years, first appearing in Rome and Greece and made of clay or wood and from the late 19th century French and German manufacturers were creating articulated bisque porcelain dolls.

Japan has a long history of doll making stretching back thousands of years. The more modern style of BJDs first appeared in Japan in 1999 when Volks began producing the customizable Super Dollfie made of polyurethane resin.

The Super Dollfie evolved from the Barbie sized 1/6 scale Dollfie and stands up to 60cm tall. At the time of writing they cost between $400 and $2000. They are fully customisable allowing their owners to change heads, hands, feet, hair, eyes, and clothes. The owner also carries out the 'faceup', which is the application of make-up.

Anime
Some BJDs are based on generalised anime and manga characters. There has also been a crossover from BJDs to anime and manga in the form of Rozen Maiden.

Clothes
BJDs can often be seen dressed in gothic and lolita style clothes. There is another crossover here as this style can be re-created for real people with BJD style tights from Tableau.

Global Following
There's a huge following of BJDs across the World with conventions being held in a number of countries including Japan, Korea, Hong-Kong, USA and UK.

One subtle thing I picked up whilst researching this post was that there appears to be a certain amount of elitism in the BJD world, with different communities keeping to themselves to the extent that a minor variation in doll style will exclude an owner from an online forum or attendance at an event. Apparently this is quite common on Deviantart and Tumblr. It reminds me of that Life of Brian sketch (contains bad language):
 



You can find a lot more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dollfie
and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball-jointed_doll#History

Catch you later!

Credits:
http://vikyvictim.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bjd-plastic-world.html
https://www.pinterest.com/rennegeraldine/doll/
http://kazezakura.deviantart.com/art/BJD-Kiiro-80822756
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/421157002625026089/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/533043305871140781/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/533043305871141358/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/327144360404871002/
http://www.zerochan.net/6426
https://www.flickr.com/groups/sd_harajuku_memories/pool/page2/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tifavii/10817086985/in/pool-sd_harajuku_memories
http://fyeahlolita.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/ball-joint-doll-style-tights.html

#bjd #BJD #ball jointed dolls #ABJD #Asian ball jointed dolls #dollfie

Pop-Surrealism

Los Angeles in the late 1970's saw the appearance of Lowbrow art which had its roots in hot-rod culture, underground comics and punk. By the late 1990s/early 2000s Pop Surrealism had become an offshoot of that movement. Different websites claim different sources for the first use of the name. Wikipedia cites the The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museums 1998 exhibition as the first use of the term and I've yet to find an earlier one.

What I thought would be a relatively simple post about a few artists has turned into a peek under the lid of Pandoras Box. The more I looked, the more I found. So I've decided to limit this post to a few artists who produce work in a style similar to Mark Ryden to act as a brief introduction and guide through this particular branch of Pop Surrealism. I've included the artists preferred medium so you can compare their styles (the featured work isn't necessarily in that medium).


The Artists

Mark Ryden
Born in 1963 in Medford, Oregon, USA
Oil on canvas
http://www.markryden.com/

The Meat Train

Ray Ceasar
Born in 1958 in London, England
Digital (Maya)

http://www.raycaesar.com/

 

The Healing Light

 

Marion Peck
Born in 1963 in Manilla, Philppines
Oil/encaustic/mixed media
http://www.marionpeck.com/

Lamb Land

 

Nicoletta Ceccoli
Born in 1973 in the Republic of San Morino

Acrylic on paper

http://www.nicolettaceccoli.com/

 

Girls Don't Cry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hsiao Ron Cheng
Born in 1986 in Taipai, Taiwan
Digital
http://hsiaoroncheng.com/

Little Mama Goes to Reading Class

Aniela Sobieski
Born in Twin Cites, Minnesota, USA

Oil on panel

http://anielasobieski.com/

 

Hush

 

Chen Hongzhu
Born in 1982 in Chongqing, China
Oil on linen

Thorny Road

Dilka Bear
Born in 1977 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan
Acrylic on wood

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Dilkabear

http://dilkabear.tumblr.com/

 

New Moon

 

Travis Louie
Born in 1968 in Queens, New York, USA
Acrylic on wood panel
http://www.travislouie.com/

Pals

Roby Dwi Antono
Born in 1990 in Ambarawa, Semarang
Acrylic on canvas

http://lobilob.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Cicada dan Cuaca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caia Koopman
Born in 1968 in Livermore, California, USA
Acrylic on canvas
http://caiakoopman.com/
 

Naoto Hattori
Born in 1975 in Yokohama, Japan

 Acrylic on board

http://www.naotohattori.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost fish (Elodie)
Born in 1983 in France
Digital
http://www.lostfish.fr/

Eat Me Candy

Jeff Soto
Born in 1975 in Fullerton, California, USA

Acrylic on panel

http://www.jeffsoto.com/

 

Car Crash

 

Victor Castillo
Born in 1973 in Santiago, Chile
Acrylic on canvas
http://victor-castillo.com/

I Wish... I Wish

Macsorro
Born in 1981 in Michoacán, Mexico.
Acrylic on Masonite

  http://macsorro.blogspot.it/

 

 Julious The Monkey Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mab Graves
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Oils and acrylic on Linen

http://mabgraves.com/

 

Alice in the Garden of Live Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juan Jose Surace
Born in 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Digital

http://jjsurace.com/

 

La Fuente

 

 

I hope you've found this little introduction useful. You may not agree with my interpretation of the similarities to each of the featured artists styles but maybe I just see things differently. I'm afraid I couldn't track down the titles of some of the works but I'll update this post as and when the information turns up and I'll add some more artists when I find them.

 

 

Catch you later!

 

 

Credits:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)

http://www.spacejunk.tv/v4/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=items&cid=38%3Aabout-spacejunk&id=500%3Apop-surrealism&Itemid=161&lang=en
http://www.voodoovelvet.com/supop2.htm
http://www.frankie.com.au/blogs/art/artist-interview-hsiao-ron-cheng
http://www.jamesfreemangallery.com/14/artists/chz/chz.htm#textandcv
http://www.augusteclown.com/artist-dilka-bear.html
http://www.skin-artists.com/exclusive-interview-with-dilka-bear.htm
http://hifructose.com/2013/10/28/the-unsettling-dreamy-paintings-of-roby-dwi-antono/
http://www.artchipel.com/post/26898802474/roby-dwi-antono-pilu-lalu-acrylic-on-canvas
http://artistaday.com/?p=1462
http://www.magriniartes.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CHEN020_thornyroad-1.jpg
http://www.wicked-halo.com/2010/01/naoto-hattori.html
http://www.aestheticcontradiction.com/art/artist-spotlight-lost-fish/
http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/?method=Exhibit.ExhibitArt&exhibitID=42AF4FA2-19DB-5802-E0AC75B05ECCA39F&artidx=10&artistidx=1
http://wwwcomcom.com/artist.html
http://year2megancox.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/artist-research-dilka-bear/
http://paintingswholesaler.com/artist.asp?artist=Caia%20Koopman
http://skywalker-terraincognita.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-pop-surreal-art-of-macsorro.html
http://fousiongallery.com/portfolio/artist-jjsurace/

Illustration Now 4, Taschen



 

#pop surrealism #lowbrow art #mark ryden #ray ceasar #marion peck #nicoletta ceccoli #hsiao ron cheng #aniela sobieski #chen hongzhu #dilka bear #travis louie #roby dwi antono #caia koopman #naoto hattori #lost fish #elodie #jeff soto #victor castillo #macsorro #mab graves #juan jose surace