Friday, May 2, 2008

Flashback Fridays: A Portrait of the Artist


Wow. I think this cover dates back to 1964. I remember "reading" this book in honors English class, grade 10. We had a great teacher named Mr. Blouin, who taught us how to read critically by asking tough questions and then jumping up on his desk and screaming "There's so much bullshit in this room there's nowhere left to stand!". Oh wait, no, we read this senior year. Anyway, the book was published in 1916, and tells the story of a writer who is the alter ego of James Joyce. This cover seems so rooted in 60s psychedelia, and I respect it for that, in part because it looks like nothing I would expect. But if the design was transported to today's design aesthetic, what would it look like? And would a publisher allow the design to look modern, or would they want a hint of the time the novel takes place in, namely a hundred years ago?

2 comments:

Gould said...

Another mouthwatering cover from Knopf :-))

http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/25420000/25423757.jpg


I don't think it's Chip Kidd's. I'll bet on De Wilde. Can someone check? As for the photo Nan Goldin's??

cat said...

hey there's a Chuck Close designed t-shirt for The Gap that employs this same dot technique on the back of my New Yorker!