My Town

London isn’t my town anymore, but it once was. So, I look on David Gentlemen’s book ‘My Town’ with great pleasure. Now 90, Gentlemen has lived in the city for nearly seventy years, over 64 of them at the same address in Camden and has devoted a part of his life to capturing its parks, …

Manhattan’s Babe

Frederic Beigbeder is not a name familiar to many but in France he’s a big deal. I discovered him accidentally wondering around Shakespeare & Co in Paris where I found his book ‘A French Novel’. It’s fun, irreverent and highly readable so when I heard about his novel ‘Manhattan’s Babe’ I was in. The story …

A Pen of all Work

Southern Californian Raymond Pettibon has been a counter culture artist since his days playing bass, albeit briefly, in his big brother’s punk band ‘Black Flag’. But it was with a pen rather than a guitar that he found the tool that would unleash his creativity His comic like drawings in black and white and color …

Sinfully Skilled

Perhaps it’s because I’m currently enjoying some time in France but the art of Bernard Charoy appeals to me. Part of his artistic output falls within the pin-up category and his illustrations of women remind me of a Gallic Gil Evlgren. Here’s a series from 1958 that’s pretty indicative of his style.  

Public Nudity

You know what you’re home lacks? I can tell you. It’s a picture of you naked, illustrated by Jill Kleinhans. Jill is a very obliging woman and for a small fee she’ll create a custom block print of you au naturel. All you have to do is send her a nude photo of yourself. Quite …

On the Road Illustrated

The original ‘On the Road’ manuscript was written on one continual scroll of paper. Illustrator Paul Rodgers has taken this fact and turned in his own scroll with an illustration for every page of Kerouac’s masterpiece. It feels appropriate somehow as you can see from this small sample

High Style

Fashions may come and go but Rene Gruau’s illustrations remain timeless. The son of an Italian Count and a French aristocrat his drawings of haute couture fashion in the forties and fifties remain as elegant as ever. If only many of the world’s fashion designers would follow his example.