The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora

by Irwin Chusid, Irwin Chusid (ed), Jim Flora

This is the first collection of the marvelous, mischievous album art of Jim Flora (1914-1998). The book contains most of Flora's known covers (around 50), which command high prices on eBay. The gallery includes rarely seen illustrations and covers from Columbia's new release monthly, "Coda" (1943-1953), and some of Flora's post-WWII commercial magazine work. The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora also presents the first reprinting of Flora's fabled Little...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560976004
• ISBN13: 9781560976004
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 11.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

These images are awesome!

The artwork is original and inspiring. I love the Columbia Record covers from the olden days.

Popped my eyes out!

This book is a terrific introduction and overview of the beautiful, grotesque, familiar and yet shockingly fresh work of Jim Flora. It's pure eye candy, Flora's limited color palette illustrations are brilliantly reproduced in large scale. Essays by Irwin Chusid and others are both witty and informative. You'll come away from this book inspired and giddy.

Historical and Artistic Necessity

Full Disclosure: I am Art Director for the publisher, although this book was completed before I arrived. That said, this is an incredible and much-needed look into the work of one of the artists that defined the concept of record cover art. A darkly fanciful artist with explosive vision, Flora worked alongside Alex Steinweiss to conceive of what album art should be. There is no way to overstate how important his work is (then and now) and what a shame it is that it took so long to give him his due. Less restrained-in fact, more exuberant-than the revered Blue Note covers, Flora's art put a different face on jazz and classical. One just as accurate but with uninhibited joy in a shadowy world. If you enjoy the likes of the modern low-brow masters (most notably Tim Biskup) you must own this. If you want history on record cover art (which is painfully lacking on the bookshelves), you want an inspiring coffeetable read, or just want to look all hipper-than-thou, then buy it. Fantagraphics has made a beautiful collection in this book.