The unique art that graced military aircraft in World War II and the Korean War. Applied by amateurs or professional artists like Vargas, the art typically featured alluring women whose charms belied the deadly cargo the crew hoped to deliver to its targets. Hundreds of examples are shown in a combination of archival photos from the wars and current photos of artwork in museum collections.
Judge these books by their covers! Get immersed in the definitive visual history of pulp fiction paperbacks from 1940 to 1970. The Art of Pulp Fiction: An Illustrated History of Vintage Paperbacks chronicles the history of pocket-sized paperbound books designed for mass-market consumption, specifically concentrating on the period from 1940 to 1970. These three decades saw paperbacks eclipse cheap pulp magazines and expensive clothbound books as the most popular delivery vehicle for escapist fiction. To catch the eyes of potential buyers they were adorned with covers that were invariably vibrant, frequently garish, and occasionally lurid. Today the early paperbacks--like the earlier pulps, inexpensively produced and considered disposable by casual readers--are treasured collector's items. Award-winning editor Ed Hulse (The Art of the Pulps and The Blood 'n' Thunder Guide to Pulp Fiction) comprehensively covers the pulp-fiction paperback's heyday. Hulse writes the individual chapter introductions and the captions, while a team of genre specialists and art aficionados contribute the special features included in each chapter. These focus on particularly important authors, artists, publishers, and sub-genres. Illustrated with more than 500 memorable covers and original cover paintings. Hulse's extensive captions, meanwhile, offer a running commentary on this significant genre, and also contain many obscure but entertaining factoids. Images used in The Art of Pulp Fiction have been sourced from the largest American paperback collections in private hands, and have been curated with rarity in mind, as well as graphic appeal. Consequently, many covers are reproduced here for the first time since the books were first issued. With an overall Introduction by Richard A. Lupoff, novelist, essayist, pop-culture historian, and author of The Great American Paperback (2001).
The Great Dinosaurs includes an overview of the discovery and study of dinosaur skeletons, as well as detailed information on their anatomy, their ability to adapt and other potential reasons for the great success of these bizarre creatures. The book also includes detailed coverage of the palaeogeography and climactic conditions which exercised tremendous influence on the origin of new species of dinosaurs. This book is packed with facts and information from the latest discoveries and research for readers who are already dinosaur enthusiasts and will stir the imagination of those who aren't yet.
Georgia O'Keeffe has dominated twentieth-century American art and proved herself one of its most original talents. Jan Garden Castro's The Art & Life of Georgia O'Keeffe offers the most complete account of both the artist's fascinating private life and her extraordinary career. In 1917 Alfred Stieglitz, pioneer photographer and impresario, organized O'Keeffe's first one-person exhibition, the last show at his famous gallery "291." She also became the subject of many of his finest photographic works and the center of his personal and professional world for the rest of his life. Her acceptance into the Stieglitz group brought her in touch with a wide circle of creative individuals, including Ansel Adams, Arthur Dove, John Marin, and Charles Demuth, to name a few. While learning from these colleagues, O'Keeffe also maintained a fierce independence from them. She had a certain mystique as a woman and an artist, and many of her contemporaries immortalized her in their work. She was the first woman artist whose face and life were of great interest to the public. Georgia O'Keeffe's career has spanned much of the history of modern art in America. Here are more than a hundred paintings, many rarely exhibited or reproduced, photographs of O'Keeffe at various stages of her life and of the landscapes that inspired her, and a text richly documented with letters and interviews. This material, combined with Jan Castro's insightful criticism, reveals O'Keeffe's legacy as an artist and the force of her intriguing personality.
A fresh, original look at George Washington as an innovative land manager whose singular passion for farming would unexpectedly lead him to reject slavery. George Washington spent more of his working life farming than he did at war or in political office. For over forty years, he devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture, which he saw as the means by which the American people would attain the Òrespectability & importance which we ought to hold in the world.Ó Washington at the Plow depicts the Òfirst farmer of AmericaÓ as a leading practitioner of the New Husbandry, a transatlantic movement that spearheaded advancements in crop rotation. A tireless experimentalist, Washington pulled up his tobacco and switched to wheat production, leading the way for the rest of the country. He filled his library with the latest agricultural treatises and pioneered land-management techniques that he hoped would guide small farmers, strengthen agrarian society, and ensure the prosperity of the nation. Slavery was a key part of WashingtonÕs pursuits. He saw enslaved field workers and artisans as means of agricultural development and tried repeatedly to adapt slave labor to new kinds of farming. To this end, he devised an original and exacting system of slave supervision. But Washington eventually found that forced labor could not achieve the productivity he desired. His inability to reconcile ideals of scientific farming and rural order with race-based slavery led him to reconsider the traditional foundations of the Virginia plantation. As Bruce Ragsdale shows, it was the inefficacy of chattel slavery, as much as moral revulsion at the practice, that informed WashingtonÕs famous decision to free his slaves after his death.
A beautiful and comprehensive celebration of the art and design of classic motorcycles, from the early twentieth century through the 1950s. This is the most beautiful book of its kind: celebrating the art and design of the luxury motorcycle by presenting forty of the best-designed and most enduringly iconic motorcycles ever made, spanning half a century. The book showcases forty rare and exceptional motorcycles, from 1905 to 1956, presented in chronological order, illustrated with stunning studio photographs that present the machines as works of art and wonders of design in themselves. An international roster is featured: a 1905 Peugeot Factory Racer, a 1916 Indian Power Plus, a 1929 Majestic, a 1936 Excelsior Manxman, a 1951 Harley Davidson 750CC WR, a 1951 Vincent 1000CC Black Shadow, and a 1955 Triumph Tiger Cub, among others. Written by a motorcycle collector and expert, the book presents the history of the motorcycle through the most significant makes of all time. Each is accompanied by detailed images and texts covering the bike's background, legends behind the machines, feats of design and engineering, and tales of classic races, rallies, and motorcycle shows. The book is enhanced with reproductions of period ads and historic photos, evoking a sense of time and place.
The Art of Vintage Cocktails features 50 recipes for classic cocktails, accompanied by the history and lore of the drink. Each libation is paired with a humorous illustration by artist Danielle Kroll, who puts a witty, sophisticated twist on the drink's name. This charming, small-format volume celebrates drinks from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s with a splash of the contemporary and a twist of wry humor, making it the perfect gift for home bartenders, history aficionados, and hosts and hostesses.
Tattoos have gone from badges of rebellion to fashion statements fully absorbed into mainstream culture. They are enjoying a renaissance, with graphic designers and artists creating specialty tattoos for a growing audience, unleashing a revival of interest in the bawdy vintage tattoo. Old school tattoos are being rediscovered (sometimes ironically, sometimes not) by a new generation. Originally embraced by rebels, sailors, and gangsters, these tattoos—broken hearts, naked girls, floral motifs, and maritime emblems—are now showing up on the fashion runway and in music videos. This book chronicles vintage motifs in thematic chapters interspersed with profiles of influential tattoo artists and their distinctive designs: Sailor Jerry Collins, Don Ed Hardy ("the Godfather of Tattoos"), Mike "Rollo Banks" Malone, Bert Grimm, Japan’s Horiyoshi III, and Shanghai’s Pinky Yun.
