Jim Flora
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Jim Flora
James Flora (January 25, 1914 ‒ July 9, 1998), best known for his distinctive and idiosyncratic album cover art for RCA Victor and Columbia Records during the 1940s and 1950s, was also a prolific commercial illustrator from the 1940s to the 1970s and the author/illustrator of 17 popular children's books. He was a fine artist as well, who created hundreds of paintings, drawings, etchings and sketches over his 84-year life. Life and early career Born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, Flora attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati from 1935 to 1939. In 1938, he met writer Robert Lowry (writer), Robert Lowry, then a student at the University of Cincinnati. They launched The Little Man Press, a letterpress series of limited edition publications, for which Flora supplied illustrations, design, and layout, and on which they collaborated until 1942. (Lowry later self-published many works under a revived Little Man imprint without Flora's involvement.) In 1941, Flora married his college sweeth ...
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SOAPBOX
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an wiktionary:impromptu, impromptu speech, often about a Politics, political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap, or other dry goods, from a manufacturer to a retail store. The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant, impromptu, or unofficial public speaking, as in the phrase, "Get off your soapbox." Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London is known for its Sunday soapbox orators, who have assembled at its Speakers' Corner since 1872 to discuss religion, politics, and other topics. Blogs can be used as soapboxes within the context of the World Wide Web, and are often used for promotional purposes. History Origins of the term Throughout the 19th Century and into the 20th, prior to the invention of corrugated fiberboard, manufacturers used wooden crates for the shipme ...
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Robert Lowry (writer)
Robert James Collas Lowry (March 28, 1919 – December 5, 1994) was an American novelist, short story writer, illustrator, and independent press publisher. Lowry was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a literary wunderkind who began writing at the age of 8; within a year, he had stories published in the ''Cincinnati Times Star''. He graduated from Withrow High School in 1937, after which he entered the University of Cincinnati. He was, according to biographer James Reide, a voracious reader of the literary works of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Guy de Maupassant. The Little Man Press In 1938, while enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, Lowry served as editor for a university-sponsored chapbook titled ''The Little Man'' (whose credits claim it "was established in the Fall of 1937 by some students," but the contents were copyrighted under Lowry's name). William Saroyan contributed the lead essay "A Word on Reading and Writing." The same year, with ...
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The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazine is noted for its photography, especially relating to fashion and style. Its puzzles have been popular since their introduction. History Its first issue was published on September 6, 1896, and contained the first photographs ever printed in the newspaper.The New York Times CompanyNew York Times Timeline 1881-1910. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. In the early decades, it was a section of the broadsheet paper and not an insert as it is today. The creation of a "serious" Sunday magazine was part of a massive overhaul of the newspaper instigated that year by its new owner, Adolph Ochs, who also banned fiction, comic strips and gossip columns from the paper, and is generally credited with saving ''The New York Times ...
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Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century, and had many notable editors-in-chief. The magazine was acquired by The Washington Post Company in 1961, and remained under its ownership until 2010. Revenue declines prompted The Washington Post Company to sell it, in August 2010, to the audio pioneer Sidney Harman for a purchase price of one dollar and an assumption of the magazine's liabilities. Later that year, ''Newsweek'' merged with the news and opinion website ''The Daily Beast'', forming The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. ''Newsweek'' was jointly owned by the estate of Harman and the diversified American media and Internet company IAC (company), IAC. ''Newsweek'' continued to experience financial difficulties, whic ...
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Fortune (magazine)
''Fortune'' is an American multinational corporation, multinational business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The magazine competes with ''Forbes'' and ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' in the national business magazine category and distinguishes itself with long, in-depth feature articles. The magazine regularly publishes ranked lists, including the Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500, a ranking of companies by revenue that it has published annually since 1955. The magazine is also known for its annual ''Fortune Investor's Guide''. History ''Fortune'' was founded by ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1929 as "the Ideal Super-Class Magazine", a "distinguished and de luxe" publication "vividly portraying, interpreting and recording the Industrial Civilization". Briton Hadden, Luce's business partner, was not enthu ...
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Taxco
Taxco de Alarcón (; usually referred to as simply Taxco) is a small city and administrative center of Taxco de Alarcón Municipality located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Taxco is located in the north-central part of the state, from the city of Iguala, from the state capital of Chilpancingo and southwest of Mexico City. The city is heavily associated with silver, both with the mining of it and other metals and for the crafting of it into jewelry, silverware and other items. Today, mining is no longer a mainstay of the city's economy. The city's reputation for silverwork, along with its picturesque homes and surrounding landscapes, have made tourism the main economic activity. History The name Taxco is most likely derived from the Nahuatl place name ''Tlachco'', which means "place of the ballgame". However, one interpretation has the name coming from the word ''tatzco'' which means "where the father of the water is," due to the high waterfall near the town center on Atat ...
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Ginnie Hofmann
Ginnie Hofmann (September 30, 1920 – December 29, 2014) was an American artist and illustrator most noted for her illustrations in the ''Joy of Cooking'' and her paper dolls in '' Betsy McCall'' magazine. Early years Born as Virginia Ritsman in Toledo, Ohio, she attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati from 1938-1942 with James Flora and Richard Staples Dodge. In July 1944, she married Edward Hofmann whom she remained married to until his death in 1990. Professional life In early 1944, at the request of Flora who had recently been promoted to Art Director at Columbia Records, she moved to Westport, Connecticut. She worked as an illustrator at Columbia Records for two years. Hofmann illustrated the ''Joy of Cooking'', beginning with the Fourth Edition from 1951. Closely associated with the ''Joy of Cooking'' aesthetic, her illustrations continue to be used through the current edition. For 27 years, between 1958 and 1986, Hofmann drew the paper dolls feature in Betsy McCall ...
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Richard Staples Dodge
Richard Staples (Dick) Dodge (January 18, 1918 – May 24, 1974) was an American illustrator. Early life Born in Sacramento, California in 1918, Dick Dodge attended several colleges on scholarship, including the Art Center School, Chouinard School, and Mills College Summer Session where he studied with Lionel Feininger and Frederick Taubes. He transferred to Cincinnati Art Academy beginning October 1939, attending on an out-of-town full scholarship from the Arts Students League. Dodge enlisted in the US Air Corps on October 27, 1942, serving at Patterson Air Field in Hamilton, Ohio for about 4 months before being honorably discharged due to health issues. Career Following his service, Dodge resumed studies at Cincinnati Art Academy in the 1943 school year. In August 1943 he accepted a position at Columbia Records in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where his friend James Flora had recently been hired by Alex Steinweiss. Recalling those early years at Columbia Records, Ginnie Hofma ...
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Art Director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision of an artistic production. In particular, they are in charge of its overall visual appearance and how it visual communication, communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements, what artistic style (visual arts), style(s) to use, and when to use motion graphic design, motion. One of the biggest challenges art directors face is translating desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery. In the brainstorming process, art directors, colleagues and clients explore ways the finished piece or scene could look. At times, the art director is responsible for solidifying the vision of the col ...
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Alex Steinweiss
Alexander Steinweiss (March 24, 1917 – July 17, 2011) was an American graphic design artist known for inventing album cover art. Early life Alex Steinweiss was born on March 24, 1917, in Brooklyn. His father was a women's shoe designer from Warsaw and his mother was a seamstress from Riga, Latvia. They moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan and eventually settled in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn. Steinweiss said he was destined to be a commercial artist. He studied under Leon Friend at Abraham Lincoln High School, and his classmates marveled that he "could take a brush, dip it in some paint and make letters," he recalled. "So I said to myself, 'If some day I could become a good sign painter, that would be terrific!"' Steinweiss earned a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design. Career After graduation Steinweiss worked for three years for the Austrian poster designer Joseph Binder, whose flat color and simplified human figures were popular at the time an ...
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Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Island Sound, it is from Manhattan and from The Bronx. It is bordered by the towns of Trumbull to the north, Fairfield to the west, and Stratford to the east. Bridgeport and other towns in Fairfield County make up the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, the second largest metropolitan area in Connecticut. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolis forms part of the New York metropolitan area. Inhabited by the Pauguseett Native American tribe until English settlement in the 1600s, Bridgeport was incorporated in 1821 as a town, and as a city in 1836. Showman P. T. Barnum was a resident of the city and served as the town's mayor (1871). Barnum built four houses in Bridgeport and ...
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