Art, Music & Recreation Books With The Most Holds (October 2024)

Books about performing artists and entertainers usually dominate our most popular books lists. Memoirs by Al Pacino (Sonny Boy) and Lisa Marie Presley (From Here to The Great Unknown) rose to the top of today's list. Other related memoirs include Kelly Bishop's The Third Gilmore Girl, Earth To Moon by Moon Unit Zappa, director Jon Chu's Viewfinder. 

Drawn Testimony offers Jane Rosenberg's unique perspective as a 40 year courtroom sketch artist. What's Next, Melissa Fitzgerald and Marcy McCormack's memoir of The West Wing, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the television show. Emily Nussbaum's Cue The Sun looks at the popular phenomenon of reality TV.

William Finnegan's surfing memoir Barbarian Days has been circulating consistently over the past decade that we have offered the title. Danny Lyon's photo documentation of motorcycle culture, The Bikeriders, first published in 1968 and reprinted in 2014 remains a hot title.

Craft books often figure among our most popular titles, this time including Making Things, 15 Minute Art Watercolour, and Knitting for Olive. Works discussing the creative process like The Long Run and Assembling Tomorrow are also perennially popular.

Daniel Levitin's I Heard There Was a Special Chord explores the global looking at the relationship between music and healing. Paris In Ruins by Sebastian Smee ties the birth of French impression to its larger historical context. Memories of Home by decorator Heidi Caillier is a welcome addition to our interior decoration shelves.

Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino (Penguin Press, 2024).

From Here to The Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough (Random House, 2024).

What's Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service by Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack (Dutton, 2024).

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir by Kelly Bishop, with Lindsay Harrison (Gallery Books 2024).

I Heard There Was A Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel J. Levitin (W.W. Norton & Company, 2024).

The Bikeriders by Danny Lyon (Aperture, 2014).

Paris In Ruins: Love, War, and The Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee (W.W. Norton & Company, 2024)

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Penguin Press, 2015).

Making Things: Finding Use, Meaning & Satisfaction in Crafting Everyday Objects by Erin Boyle & Rose Pearlman (Hardie Grant North America, 2024).

15 Minute Art Watercolour: Learn to Paint in Six Steps or Less by Jola Sopek (Hardie Grant Books, 2024).

Earth to Moon: A Memoir by Moon Unit Zappa (Dey St., 2024).

The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry by Stacey D'Erasmo (Graywolf Press, 2024).

Drawn Testimony: My Four Decades as A Courtroom Sketch Artist by Jane Rosenberg (Hanover Square Press, 2024).

Cue The Sun: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (Random House, 2024).

Memories of Home: Interiors by Heidi Caillier (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2023).

Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu and Jeremy McCarter (Random House, 2024).

Knitting for Olive: Classic, Timeless Knitting Patterns (Interweave, 2023)

The Selby Comes Home by Todd Selby (Abrams, 2024).

Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future by Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley (Ten Speed Press, 2024).

Previous lists:

Most requested Art, Music & Recreation Center books (Dewey 700s) - March 2023

The Top Fifteen Most Requested Books in the Art, Music and Recreation Center, March 2022

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in November 2017

The Most Requested Art, Music & Recreation Center Books in January 2017

The Most Requested Art, Music & Recreation Center Books - December 2015

The 25 Art, Music and Recreation Center Books with the Most Hold in April 2015

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in 2013

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in May 2013

St. James Press Reference Dictionaries

Over the past 50 years, St. James Press has published dozens of excellent reference encyclopedias and dictionaries. Several of these heavy tomes are biographical encyclopedias of figures in the arts from the late twentieth century.

Contemporary Architects (1987, 1994 editions)

Contemporary Artists (1977, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2002 editions)
Contemporary Composers (1992)

Contemporary Designers (1984, 1990, 1997)

Contemporary Fashion (1995)

Contemporary Masterworks (1991)

Contemporary Photographers (1982, 1987. 1995)

Contemporary Women Artists (1997)

The Contemporary Arts Series includes a resume-like biography, exhibition history, list of works, list of publications (bibliography), and an introductory essay or personal statement. Because newer editions add and subtract entries on different artists, the earlier editions continue to have value for the researcher. 

Contemporary Masterworks is unique in focusing on individual works of visual art from the 20th century (including art, architecture, photography and design. It devotes one page to a black and white reproduction of the artwork and another page to a descriptive essay and bibliography.

The International Dictionaries published by St. James Press focus on a wider span of history and also provide listings of creative works and a bibliography.  The dictionaries for ballet, modern dance intersperse entries about performers, choreographers and works for the dance. Likewise the International Dictionary of Opera includes entries on individual operas, opera singers and composers.

The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, published across three editions, has separate volumes for films, directors, actors and actresses and writer and production artists.

The International Dictionary of Theatre is published in two volumes, one for plays and the other for playwrights. The International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture is divided into two volumes - one for architects, the other for works of architecture.

International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture (1993)

International Dictionary of Art and Artists (1993)

International Dictionary of Ballet (1993)

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (1984, 1990, 1997)

International Dictionary of Modern Dance, 1998

International Dictionary of Opera, 1993

International Dictionary of Theatre, 1992

The more recently published St. James Guide to Black Artists shares the same format as the Contemporary Arts Series volumes listed above, but is focused upon artists of Africa and of the African diaspora. Similarly the St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists profiles artists from Latin America or were active there. The St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture is unlike the other reference works discussed here in that it also discusses style and genre in addition to notable performing artists and producers.

St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture (2012)

St. James Guide to Black Artists (1997)

St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists: Profiles of Latino and Latin American Artists (2002)

Couperin record label art

 Les nations - Editions de l'oiseau-lyre SOL.60014 [1960]

 Les nations - Telefunken AWT 9476-A [1968]

Chamber music of François Couperin, Titanic Ti-39 [1978]

One of the vicarious pleasures of enjoying phono discs is appreciating the record label design. Throughout the history of recorded sound, the companies that release records have created trademarked identities for their products.  Unfortunately, there does not appear to be reference book that thoroughly documents this practice.  The Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound does include several black and white examples.

We still maintain a collection of several thousand long playing records.  Recordings of music by François Couperin, a French baroque composer and keyboard player, show us some striking examples of this artwork.  Baroque classical music is regarded as a refined art form and it has been released by some of the finer classical record labels.

The L'oiseau lyre logo features the distinctive lyre birds in profile as bookends.  The word Telefunken is of German coinage and is made up of the prefix "tele" (far-off) and "funken" meaning sparks.  Their logo features multiply symmetrical electrical bolts surrounding the brand name broken into three syllables inside a diamond.  Titanic is an American label that has specialized in baroque music.  The feature the eponymous ocean liner on their label art.

Our collection of long playing records is available to borrow from the Library.


Chamber Music of François Couperin (Titanic Records, p1978).

Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound by Frank Hoffmann, editor (Routledge, 2005).

Les nations / François Couperin (Oiseau-Lyre, 1960)

Les Nations: 1726 / François Couperin (Telefunken, 1969).

A Little about Logos

The Dewey numbers 740 – 749 are classified in Dewey-speak as “Drawing and decorative arts.” The drawing section spans 740 to 743.99. Hidden within the section, 741.6 are "graphic design, illustration and commercial art." This is one section for information about logos, but as with this title, Logo Life, one can also find the subject farther down the shelf in books with a call number of 741.67 (or 658, or 745.2...)

Logo life: life histories of 100 famous logos concentrates on the histories of 100 well known logos, showing the logo at its inception, and then depicting each new look. The contents page lists companies which will be familiar to most people.

 One of the more interesting histories is that of the Apple logo. In its first incarnation, the apple takes much less space. The intricate drawing shows an apple tree, with an apple illuminated, and a man sitting underneath. A quote from Wordsworth was used: “Newton…a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone.” Besides being difficult to reproduce, the logo hardly looked “forward thinking.” For the second incarnation, Steve Jobs' only instruction was that it should not be “too cute." Robert Janoff created an apple and placed rainbow colors within it. The bite was taken out of the fruit to distinguish it from a cherry. The typeface used was Motter Tektura, considered very stylish at the time. The lower case “a” fit very snugly in the bite space. Contrary to popular folklore, the bite did not represent a “byte,” nor was it a biblical reference.

 One of the most famous brand logos - Coca Cola - was created by the founder’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson. The Spencerian typeface, was the most popular script during the late 1800s. Robinson thought that the double “C’s” would work well for advertising purposes. The logo was first registered in 1887, with black script, but was updated with red type meant to attract younger customers. The logo of the 1940’s has stayed unchanged over the years, though additional copy or graphics may be added for specific purposes.

The concept of shipping, figures prominently in the choice of imagery for Starbucks, since coffee is is always shipped to the US from faraway places. The founders were looking through shipping books from the 16th century when they found a woodblock of a two-tailed mermaid. They liked the image and hoped that their product would be as seductive as the siren.  The founders borrowed the name “Starbuck,” from a character in Moby Dick. When Il Giornale merged with Starbucks, the stars in the ring, and the dark green were taken from that logo.  The mermaid's breasts which had been exposed in the first logo, were covered with hair, though you could still see the belly button. Another change came in 1992, when the mermaid was given more of a close-up where the two tails were partially out of the picture. To celebrate the 40th anniversary, the name was removed, and the brand recognition became dependent on the (now green) image.

Other books about logo design can be found here:

Designing B2B brands : lessons from Deloitte and 195,000 brand managers / Carlos Martinez Onaindia  and Brian Resnick.

How to design logos, symbols, and icons : 23 internationally renowned studios reveal how they develop trademarks for print and new media / Gregory Thomas


Logo Design Love : A Guide To Creating Iconic Brand Identities / from David Airey.

Logobook / by Ludovic Houplain ; Ed., Julius Wiedemann.

Masters of design : logos & identity : a collective of the world's most inspiring logo designers / Sean Adams.

Fashion Archives from Proquest

We are very pleased to announce the addition of the Fashion Archives from Proquest to our list of full-text databases! With high-resolution color and article-level indexing, the online archives provide unprecedented historical coverage of leading fashion and women’s magazines.  The Fashion Archives collection includes:

The Harper's Bazaar Archive

A comprehensive, searchable archive of every page, advertisement, and cover of every issue of Harper's Bazaar from its first appearance in 1867 to the current month. Reproduced in high-resolution color page images and supported by fully searchable text and indexing, this resource provides access to a chronicle of 20th century American and international fashion, culture, and society, supporting researchers by offering a cultural lens into the modern era.
Coverage: 1867 - current

The Vogue Archive

A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day. Coverage 1867 - current.

Women's Magazine Archive

An archival research resource comprising the full backfiles of leading women’s interest consumer magazines. Titles are scanned from cover to cover in high-resolution color and feature detailed article-level indexing. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period. Among the research fields served by this material are gender studies, social history, economics/marketing, media, fashion, politics, and popular culture.  SOme titles included are Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal and Redbook.

The Women's Wear Daily Archive

A comprehensive archive of Women’s Wear Daily, from the first issue in 1910 to material from within the last twelve months, reproduced in high-resolution images. Every page, article, advertisement and cover has been included, with searchable text and indexing. The Women’s Wear Daily Archive preserves one of the fashion industry's most influential reads. Key moments in the history of the industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers and advertisers are all covered in this publication of record.

Also included in this collection is the Design and Applied Arts Index which is not full text.  We do however own many of the journals and books in print.

Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI)

This database is the premier source of information for all aspects of design and crafts, from textiles and ceramics to vehicle design, advertising and sustainability. Covers journal articles, exhibition reviews and news items from 1973 to the present.
Coverage: 1973 - current

How to search:

Go to sfpl.org and hover over eLibrary then click on "Articles and Databases".  Choose "Topics" then click on "Art & Music".

 














Each of these databases can be searched individually or concurrently.  By clicking on "Fashion Archive" you are taken to a search screen that limits the search to only the five databases listed above.  There is a basic search screen which is a keyword search and an Advanced Search screen that allows for more focused searching and results.

In the Advanced Search it is possible to limit to document type such as advertisement, catalog, correspondence, fiction, interview and many more.  The advanced search defaults to a keyword search but can be narrowed down to author, title, publication name, document text, etc.

An Advanced Search for "Hemline" and limited to Advertisement reveals this 1928 Lord and Taylor advertisement from Vogue:

Advertisement: Lord & taylor. (1928, Jan 01). Vogue, 71, 34. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/904318506?accountid=35117

Another search limiting to "Article" reveals over 3,000 results including this 1928 article in the "Styles for Smaller Women" section of Women's Wear Daily.

Styles for smaller women: Afternoon frocks retain uneven hemline for spring. (1928, Nov 26). Women’s Wear Daily, 37, 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1653748519?accountid=35117

Learning From Each Other - The Reference Fair

Every year the San Francisco Public Library organizes a staff only reference fair so that Main departments and selected branches can highlight their collections and remind all staff what they do.

What treasures do big main libraries hold that even the librarians don't know about?  This fair gives all our departments the chance to share and explore.

At past Reference Fairs, the Art, Music and Recreation Center highlighted specific resources used to answer specific reference questions by patrons.  This year our goal is to illustrate a more subjective type of reference question. This is the kind of bibliographic brainstorming a visual artist might do using our collection. It could also be the kind of "forensic" reference work you need to do for the patron who doesn't know, or can't articulate, exactly what they're looking for. Our hypothetical artist needs to find images based on the elements of Color, Pattern, Graphic Lettering and Copyright Free Images.

We created four sample boards, one for each of the subjects above, filled with examples from our collection.

1. COLOR was further broken down into “theory”, “in combination”, “form and space”, “mixing pigments” and “psychological aspects”.  A few Library of Congress subject headings that can be used to find more books on this subject are: Color in art; Colors; Color guides; Color Decoration And Ornament; and Color In Art Exhibitions.

Selected sources used to create this board are:

Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color by Simon Jennings (San Francisco, CA : Chronicle Books, 2003)

Color Management: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers by John T. Drew (New York: Allworth Press, c2012.)

Color Index by Jim Krause. (Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books, c2010)

2. PATTERNS, PRINTS AND TEXTURES - Subject headings and keywords that can be used to find books on these topics are: Mosaics – technique; Tiles – history; Decorative arts – history; Patchwork – patterns; Repetitive patterns (Decorative arts); Symmetry (Art); Stencil work; Decoration and ornament; Design -- Themes, motives

Sources consulted for this board:

Mosaic Patterns: Step-by-step Techniques, Stunning Projects by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. (North Pomfret, Vt. : Trafalgar Square, 2006.)

Japanese Stencil Designs; one hundred outstanding examples collected and introduced by Andrew W. Tuer.(New York : Dover Publications, 1967)

Floral Design. Second series by Alan Weller designed by Juliana Trotta. (Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, 2011)

3. GRAPHIC LETTERING - Use subject headings and keywords such as: Graphic Design (typography); Type and type-founding; Calligraphy; Lettering; Alphabets; Printing; Letterpress printing; Signs and signboards; Electric signs; Posters; Graffiti; Words in Art; Illumination of books and manuscripts.

A selection of books used to design this board:

Vintage Neon by Len Davidson (Atglen, Pa. : Schiffer Pub. c1999)

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story by Paul Shaw (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2011)

An A-Z of Type Designers by Neil Macmillan.(New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, c2006)

4. COPY-RIGHT FREE IMAGES.  The main source of inspiration for this board was the library's own Etching and Engraving Picture File.  The list of subject headings can be found here and the actual etchings and engraving can be found in Art, Music and Recreation Center at the Main library.  Twelve items can be checked out at a time and there is a scanner and copy machine available at the library.  Also search the catalog with the keyword Dover Clip-Art Series.

Other books used to create this board:

Food and Drink: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources. selected by Jim Harter. (New York : Dover Publications, 1980.)

Ready-to-use Old-fashioned Music Illustrations: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. selected and arranged by Carol Belanger Grafton. (New York : Dover, 1990.)

Ready-to-use Art Nouveau Small Frames and Borders: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. designed by Ted Menten. (New York : Dover, c1985)

BURIED TREASURES:

Floréal Dessins & Coloris Nouveaux by E. A. Seguy (Paris: Calavas, n.d.)
Within the pages of this book you will find examples of a pochoir-illustrated book by the well known E. A. Seguy.

example of pochoir illustration

Color Papers [n.p.] 1930
sample book of Fat Shan, paper dealer, Canton, China.

example of paper for sale for 10 cents

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

display of color silk screens housed in individual folders

CAMIO - Catalog of Art Museum Images Online

The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is pleased to be able to offer CAMIO to our patrons.  CAMIO, which stands for Catalog of Art Museum Images Online, is a product of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) which also provides the popular WorldCat international database of library catalogs.

CAMIO is a digital collection of about 95,000 art images from 25 institutions.  These are primarily American and include some of the most important museums in the United States.  Two San Francisco collections are very prominently featured in CAMIO: the database includes 17,511 images from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the combined De Young and Legion of Honor collections) and 2,345 images from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Many of these museums include digital images on their own websites.  As those of you who consult and use reproductions in your work and research, the character and quality of reproductions can vary from source to source.

For example, the website for the Legion of Honor includes a reproduction of the Claude Monet painting Water Lilies.  This online reproduction allows one to see a thumbnail of the entire painting and additionally allows one to view portions of the painting at various magnifications within a relatively small frame.

The image of Water Lilies in CAMIO is also available to magnify or shrink within a larger frame.  Additionally it is possible to open a new window with a higher-resolution image, and to download that image.  CAMIO allows its images to be used for personal and educational non-commercial purposes.

In this instance the Legion of Honor website has one important feature lacking in CAMIO - a biography of Monet that may help one's understanding of the painting.  It is also evident that the two databases show the painting with differing color levels.  Of course, this often depends upon the lighting used when the image was photographed.  It's not always possible to say which reproduction is truest to an original that is probably impossible to capture in its full richness and beauty.

CAMIO has four search methods.  There is a simple keyword search box in the upper left hand corner of the homepage.  This search often gives a long list of results (in the case of Monet there are 115 works).  The left hand column of the results screen in this search mode also provides an opportunity for the user to further refine their search by the categories of format, creator, date and subject.

This homepage also provides a link for "collections of prominent museums" that allows one to browse by institution.  At the bottom of the homepage there are also links to a number of the art mediums that are represented in the database.  Finally there is the advanced search where it is possible to search by keyword strings in a variety of ways and also to limit the search by museum collection.

One final access point to CAMIO is through OCLC's WorldCat database.  All of the images in the database include a bibliographic record and provide a live link to the image for database users in the Library.
   

Articles and Databases at San Francisco Public Library

Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities

"Peach to Polypheme" from the Pictorial Webster's website

At first glance it's not readily apparent what to make of what the Pictorial Webster's actually is. At one level, it is simply, as the author writes, a collection of "fascinating little images." In some part it is an artist's book (it was originally published in this manner), but it is also a powerful visual reference and source of inspiration.

The Pictorial Webster's consists of illustratory images accompanying definitions in a number of nineteenth-century editions of dictionaries published by Merriam Webster such as the 1859 American Dictionary of the English Language or the later Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language. This was an era when the photograph had been invented but was not commonly or conveniently available in printed references. The original images were engraved on blocks smaller than an inch square and are very detailed with delicate lines and have an iconic quality.

This resource provides the reader with small, clean, simple images of all manner of miscellania. The author, John M. Carrera, describes the process of bringing the images together as one of discovery, assembly, cryptography, and archeology. His aim is for the reader to experience a “personal resonance” with the images.

Although the book has a largely alphabetic arrangement, the author has tried to arrange the images so the reader will try to form their own story. The result at times is almost reminiscent of dadaist collage.

At the end of the volume, Carrera has written a history of Merriam Webster dictionaries and their illustrations, and a section about the printing process. A small number of color photographs of the actual wooden blocks used to engrave the images in the book.

Pictorial Webster's can be used as a practical visual resource or a clip-art book. It is also a look back into history, a musing into the nature of image and story-telling, and a work of art in itself.

Mr. Carrera has a personal website that describes this project in some depth.


Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities with additional dissertation by John M. Carrera (Chronicle Books, 2009).

iVisual: The Art Dawgs Resource Guide for Design Media Professionals in Northern California 2009/2010

Image source: RKgrafx, R. Keith Marsalis

Looking for a vintage 1952 jukebox, a 1974 Ted Nugent pinball machine, or a 1984 Ms. Pacman video game to use in your band’s next music video? Need a forensic technical advisor? Or an authentic autopsy/morgue for a scene in your horror film? Wondering how to actualize your wedding day dream of a 1,000-count white dove release? Need bubbles, butterflies, snow, fog, laser-lights, fireworks and/or controlled fire? For whatever reason.

iVisual can help. iVisual, subtitled The Art Dawgs Resource Guide for Design Media Professionals in Northern California 2009/2010, is the The Reel Directory's Bay Area-focused prop supplement. As a 'prop' and services directory for locally produced film and media projects it a valuable addition to The Reel Directory: Northern California's Production Directory, and an alternative to the more LA/NY-centric guides such as The Blu-Book Production Directory and LA 411.

At a slim 144 pages, this first volume was compiled 'by art department professionals for art department professionals' and lists reliable companies familiar with the high pressure atmosphere and tight-deadlines of the media industry. Its introduction acknowledges that this is a fledgling work with the intention of growing over the coming years. To meet that end, its writers call for additional contacts and offer an incentive to companies that provide them. Additionally, to supplement the directory's listings, iVisual has published a prop support telephone line. (415-531-9758).

The directory has the following organization:

Located in the front is a Main Category Index linking broad categories to corresponding page numbers. Examples of these Main Categories are, 'Aircraft', 'Decoratives & Mouldings,' 'Ice Sculptures & Dry Ice,' 'Plants, Silks & Artificial Greenery,' 'Wardrobe,' and 'Wigs, Hair & Hats.' Following is the Subcategory Index which links narrower headings to the broader Main Category headings. For example, if you need caution tape, look under 'Street & Alley Dressings'.

After these two indices are the actual listings, including the company name, address, phone number, related company web site and an overview of each company's services.

The final pages of the directory include the Quick Call Index listing company names and their phone numbers in alphabetical order, as well as an alphabetical list of the personal names and phone numbers of the Bay Area Art Dawgs themselves--Production Designers, Art Directors, Propmasters, Set Decorators and Stylists, all working in the Bay Area.

Note that iVisual is supplement to the Reel Directory and does not have its own bibliographic record in our online catalog. We keep the latest edition at our reference desk under the call number: 791.4 R257 2009/10 SUPPL.

Graphis Design Annual

Graphis is a bi-monthly periodical first published in Switzerland in 1944 that ceased in 2005. Since then, Graphis Inc. has continued to publish annuals and monographs for all areas of graphic design. From their inception to the present, they have sought, in their words to present “the best in international visual communications.” In their early days, they not only showed the best examples of design, advertising, photography and illustration, but also presented work of fine artists. Since 1952 have published annual volumes for the best of the year in graphic design, originally called Graphis Annual and now named the Graphis Design Annual. Annuals for photography and posters came in 1966 and 1973 respectively.

In his introduction to Graphis 1960/1961 Leo Lionni highlights the difference in outlook between “Art with a capital A” and commercial art, quoting Mies van der Rohe statement about art: “I don’t want to be interesting - I want to be good.” For Lionni the fine artist must create work that is good, but the graphic designer must also create something interesting. The imagery of Graphis shows how designers achieve work that not only is technically accomplished, but grabs the attention of viewers.

The Main Library owns many editions of the Graphis Annuals. The latest edition, the Graphis Design Annual 2010 is located at the Art, Music and Recreation Center Reference Desk. The layout of this and all the annuals favors the artists’ work over editorial design flourishes. The contents page lists in small type the many sub-categories of design.

These annuals present the work that has won Graphis Gold and Platinum Awards in a variety of areas of graphic design. An opening section called “Commentary” gives several Q & A sections where design studios discuss their creative process. One of these interviews is with Office, a San Francisco-based studio. Here, the designers at Office speak about the genesis for the design of pirate products for the Pirate Store which benefits the nonprofit writing center, 826 Valencia. The pirate store offers such unusual items as “Peg Leg Oil,” “Scurvy Be Gone” and more. Here is the product description for “Blackbeard’s Beard Dye”:

Beards can get bleached by the sun. Beards can turn white from fear; in either case, Blackbeard’s Beard Dye imparts a midnight hue to your whiskers, leaving them shiny, conditioned and bristling with health. Next time you take it on the chin make sure it’s covered with a beard you can be proud of … a Blackbeard beard (p. 14).

This year’s annual also presents the exhibit spaces created for the California Academy of Sciences by another San Francisco firm, Volume Inc.

The work presented in the Graphis Design Annual is arranged by categories like animation, branding, brochures, editorial logos, music CDs, stamps, t-shirts, and many other subcategories. Each award winner is given its own page or pages, with the name of the design agency, its URL, the client name and the category of design at the bottom of the page. “Platinum” award winners are also noted here.

The Credits and Comments section provides background information about the visual work that makes up the Annual. This includes the names of the team who created the work from design firm to art director, print producer, writer, etc. The comments may also describe the requirements of the client and the concept behind the design. The Winners Directory lists all of the firms alphabetically. There is also an index of members of the creative teams, the design firms, and their clients.

The Graphis Annuals are a touchstone to the trends of the year in design. The consistent high caliber of art, combined with wit and sensitivity is a great source of inspiration for designers.

Index of American Design

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instigated programs like the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in order create jobs for the millions of unemployed. As part of the WPA, the Federal Art Project put America’s visual artists to work. Some local examples of work created by artists of the Federal Art Project include the murals at Coit Tower and works of sculpture by Beniamino Bufano.

While there were many opportunities for “fine artists” no projects were initially devised for America’s commercial artists. Realizing that there was yet no thorough visual survey of American design Romana Javitz, head of the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection and Ruth Reeves, a textile designer and painter conceived the plan for the Index of American Design. It was begun in December 1935 ultimately employed over 300 commercial artists who created primarily watercolor reproductions of traditional American craft. This included every form of craft made from the colonial period through the end of the nineteenth century from works found in museum collections.

The artists employed for this project were taught techniques by a curator from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts who insisted upon strict objectivity, accurate drawing, clarity of construction, exact proportions of objects and faithful rendering of material, color and texture. The exception to watercolor was the use of oil technique for tobacconist’s signs and Pennsylvania German folk art. Objects include ship figureheads, tavern signs, ceramics, coverlets, quilts, glass, tinware, weathervanes, retablos, costume, circus wagons, Shaker furniture, caballero suits, fire helmets, cornhusk dolls, kitchen equipment, etc...

The question begged, “Why not just photograph these objects?” Apart from the intent to employ commercial artists, another reason for not using photography was that the camera, except in the hands of its greatest masters, could not reveal the essential character and quality of objects as well as an artist. At that time color photography was an expensive process and perishable while watercolor remains one of the most durable of artistic mediums.Photography presented problems in distortion and lighting. As Holger Cahill wrote in the book's introduction: "The camera cannot search out the forms of objects deeply undercut or modeled in high relief, match color as closely as the artist, or render the subtle interplay of form, color and texture which creates the characteristic beauty of so many products of early American craftsmen."

The Index of American Design and subsequent expanded edition The Treasury of American Design remain the most thorough visual record of the rich, vast body of traditional American crafts. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has a webpage for the Index of American Design which includes an online tour.

Dress, rendered by Julie C. Brush, watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paperboard, 53 x 36.9 cm (20 13/16 x 14 1/2 in.) from the Index of American Design