Vancouver in a bell jar - a souvenir kitsch sculpture of five landmark buildings; the Marine Building (1930), Harbour Centre (minus the Lookout, which appears to have vanished) (1977), BC Place (1983), Canada Place (1986), Science World (1986), and Library Square (1995). There’s not much in the way of an artists’ credit, except that it was made by Twinkle Globe, Canada. This is currently for sale on ebay, and though it looks tempting, I’m sure we’ll all be able to print this kind of thing at home on a 3D printer in a year or two. The current model on their website, if you search for Vancouver, features the same buildings plus it has a SkyTrain and appears to rotate and plays the tune Unforgettable. Tacky? Perhaps. But I still love it!
I recently posted the Project 200 brochure on flickr, the often discussed freeway and urban development that almost wiped out Chinatown. Gordon Price has mentioned it on many occasions; here in 2008 he agrees with John Atkin who states it was not only outspoken public opposition that ended the project; they also ran out of financing options, and the feds walked away with the money.
What I find most amusing about this photo is ironic juxtaposition between the iconic landmarks of the Woodward’s building, the Dominion Building, and the Marine Building, and the giant blocks of Lego architecture that look like badly designed hotels of the 70s. Never mind the fact that no one would have dared to imagine Woodward’s would no longer be in business some 30 years later…or that it would one day become the vibrant redevelopment that it is today. I’ll add another footnote to the story tomorrow.
A Souvenir Pillowcase of Vancouver, on glorious printed silk. I’ve covered the souvenir plate meme previously, and this vintage pillowcase is definitely inspired by the tourist art aesthetic. We may never learn who the artists involved were, but looking at the closeup images, the artwork really begins to resemble scenes from a comic book, and I can totally imagine Tintin suddenly blazing onto the scene! I’m having a hard time dating this piece, but I have a hunch or two. For more, plus a DIY contest challenge, check out the cross-post on VancouverIsAwesome.com
The Marine Building on Hastings, 1945, painted by Brian Croft. Note there is a public speaking engagement with artist Brian Croft at the Vancouver Public Library on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011. This event is open to the public at no charge.
Wednesday September 28
7:00 pm-8:15 pm
Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level
Central Library
350 West Georgia Street
The City and the Store, the cover art from a most excellent brochure from the golden age of the Woodwards Department Store, circa 1958, to commemorate British Columbia’s Centennial Year. The text in the brochure was attributed to Douglas E Harker (who incidentally was born 100 years ago), but it failed to credit the artist, who used coloured pencils or crayons to render period photographs in a precise and consistent way throughout the brochure. From the VPL Special Collections NW Hist Call #:658.871 W91ha.
Industry, a two-part mural painted for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Painted by Paul Goranson, E.J. Hughes, and Orville Fisher, the three “were known as The Three Musketeers of Art’ in reference to the fact that they were artists who had enlisted.” (source) The trio also called themselves the West Coast Brotherhood, echoing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. (source)
A total of 15 make that 12 murals in this series were painted, part of a project called “Art in Action”, which featured the murals painted on the walls of the exhibition hall. WWII caused the Expo to close early, but smaller versions of the murals survive in the BC Archives in Victoria. (source) These two murals are also seen in the book Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and BC by Gerald Truscott.
E.J. Hughes, described by Jack Shadbolt as “the most engaging intuitive painter of the BC landscape since Emily Carr”, he is truly an icon of modern day Canadian art. (source)
“Orville Fisher’s paintings of the Second World War constitute one of the most complete records of Canada’s day-to-day role in that conflict. Perhaps his chief claim to fame is that he was the only Allied war artist to land in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. This achievement is all the more extraordinary given the fact that he almost never made it overseas in the first place.” More
Orville Fisher’s mural featuring the figure of Mercury, god of messages and glad tidings, appears inside the post office building at 349 West Georgia Street, by the Homer Street entrance. He also assisted with the 1951 mural “B.C. Pageant” with Charles Comfort and 2 students.
“After the war, Goranson remained for two years with the RCAF in Ottawa, working up his pencil, charcoal and watercolour sketches into canvases. Then, finding no work in Toronto, he went to New York” (source) where “he became a display designer and then a scenic artist, joining the Metropolitan Opera in 1965. Here he worked under artists and designers such as Franco Zefferelli, Sir Cecil Beaton, and Marc Chagall. But he remained a Canadian citizen and, upon retirement in 1986 at the age of 75, returned to Vancouver.” (source)
Goranson is, without a doubt, one of my all time favourites.
Low resolution images PDP02285 and PDP02286 shown here are courtesy of the Royal BC Museum, BC Archives. Cross-posted to Vancouver Is Awesome.
A Preliminary Report upon the City’s Appearance : Vancouver, British Columbia, cover dated October, 1947. Part of the Harland Bartholomew reports for the Vancouver Town Planning Commission, digitized with assistance from Bing Thom Architects as a gift to the City of Vancouver for its 125th birthday.
Terra cotta relief, seen on the exterior of the Marine Building, illustrating an ambitious Vancouver of the future with Zeppelins, et al, seen via flickr.
