Category: Art

A Forthcoming Map Art Book About New York City

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

you-are-here-nycYesterday on her Facebook page, Katharine Harmon announced her next map art book: You Are Here: NYC: Mapping the Soul of the City is coming in November from Princeton Architectural Press. “It features 150 cartographic views of New York (which has to be the most-mapped city in the world)—including historical maps, cartoons, contemporary art, pictorial maps, hand-drawn maps, and more,” Harmon writes. Based on her previous books, You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination (2004) and The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography (2009), both of which I own, this will almost certainly be a book worth looking for. Pre-order at Amazon.

See also: Map Books of 2016.

New Book: Making Art from Maps

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

making-art-from-mapsJill K. Berry’s latest book, Making Art From Maps: Inspiration, Techniques, and an International Gallery of Artists, is out this month from Rockport Publishers. From the publisher: “With her cartographic connections, she takes you on a gallery tour, introducing you to the work of some of the most exciting artists creating with maps today. Designer interviews are accompanied by 25 accessible how-to projects of her own design that teach many of the techniques used by the gallery artists.”

(I reviewed Berry’s first book, Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking, back in 2011.)

Amazon (Kindle) / iBooks

The Great British Colouring Map

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

great-british-colouring-mapAnother map colouring book has just been announced, this one from the Ordnance Survey: “The book will take you on an immersive colouring-in journey around Great Britain, from the coasts and forests to our towns and countryside. Expect to see iconic cities, recognisable tourist spots and historical locations across England, Scotland and Wales via the 55 illustrations. The Great British Colouring Map also includes a stunning gatefold of London. We can’t wait to share it with you—it will be on shelves in October.” Pre-order at Amazon.

Previously: A-Z Maps Colouring Book; Albion’s Glorious Ile: A 400-Year-Old Map Colouring Book; City Maps: An Adult Colouring Book.

Nick Ross Helps Out

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

On Canada Day, Nick Ross drew a map of Canada to help Americans out:

On the Fourth of July, Nick Ross drew a map of the U.S. to help Canadians out:

A Fantasy Map of North America

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

aoraki-fantasy-north-america

The latest map of the real world done in the style of fantasy maps (remember: fantasy maps have a distinct style), at least that I’ve encountered, is this map of North America offered by Etsy seller Aoraki Maps. (They also have one of the southeastern U.S.) The style is very fantasy map, with cursive labels rather than the (older) Didone-style lettering. [Boing Boing]

Previously: Fantasy Maps of U.S. Cities; A Fantasy Map of Ireland; A Fantasy Map of Great Britain; A Fantasy Map of Australia; A Fantasy Map of the U.S.

A-Z Maps Colouring Book

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

az-maps-colouringThere are more map colouring books out there than I realized (I’m going to have to compile a list). For example, A-Z Maps’ Maps: A Colouring Book, which came out last October. From the publisher: “This adult colouring book includes a number of street maps from around Great Britain including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Manchester, together with some more unusual designs—contour lines around Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon and some fascinating map mandalas (intricate patterns created by repeating sections of mapping around a central point).” Buy at Amazon. [A-Z Maps]

Previously: Albion’s Glorious Ile: A 400-Year-Old Map Colouring Book; City Maps: An Adult Colouring Book.

USGS Topo Maps as Art

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

“For the past number of years, I have been collecting the U.S.G.S.’s maps, treating them as eminently affordable pieces of American art,” writes Tom Vanderbilt in the New York Times Magazine. “The beauty intrinsic to these maps is the byproduct of an entirely different mode of production, the last gasp of an antiquated way of representing the world.” [Gretchen Peterson]

Fuller Update

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
Fuller, London Town, 2005–2015. Black ink on archival cotton board, 91 cm × 116 cm.
Fuller, London Town, 2005–2015. Black ink on archival cotton board, 91 cm × 116 cm.

The Bristol Post reports on artist Gareth Wood (aka Fuller), whose iconic London Town—now acquired (as an archival print) by the British Library—was preceded by a similar map of Bristol. An exhibition of his work, called Get Lost, will run from 5 to 26 May at the Palm Tree Gallery, 291 Portobello Road, London, W10 5TD. [WMS]

Previously: Fuller: London Town.

Update: BBC News on institutions’ acquisitions of Fuller’s art.

20th-Century New York

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
manhattan-1920s
Charles Vernon Farrow, A Map of the Wondrous Isle of Manhattan, 1926. Pictorial map, 94 cm × 57 cm, David Rumsey Map Collection.

Gothamist looks at A Map of the Wondrous Isle of Manhattan, a pictorial map from 1926 created by Charles Vernon Farrow. [NYPL]

Mosaic map murals graced the Times Square Information Center when it opened in 1957. Now the building is a police substation, and there are hopes and expectations that an upcoming renovation of the substation will preserve the murals. [NYPL]

Bespoke Hand-Made Maps for Country Estates

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The Financial Times looks at bespoke hand-made maps for country estates:  map artists like James Byatt, Anthony Pelly and Simon Vernon are commissioned to create one-of-a-kind illustrated maps for fairly wealthy clients (prices start in range of thousands of pounds). [WMS]

Consider this another data point, along with hand-made, hand-painted globes and map collecting in general, showing that maps have become a serious luxury/wealth marker.

Beinecke Acquires Map of Harlem Nightclubs

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
E. Simms Campbell, A Night-Club Map of Harlem, 1932. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library has announced that it has acquired “the original artwork for a 1932 map of Harlem nightclubs drawn by E. Simms Campbell, the first African American illustrator to be syndicated and whose work was featured regularly in national magazines. The map, purchased at auction on March 31, provides a ‘who’s who’ guide of the nightclubs that drove Harlem nightlife during and after Prohibition, including the Savoy Ballroom, the Cotton Club, and Gladys’s Clam Bar. It was published in the inaugural edition of Manhattan Magazine and appeared in Esquire nine months later.” [WMS]

City Maps: An Adult Colouring Book

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

city-maps-coloring Gretchen Peterson has announced City Maps: A Coloring Book for Adults. Adult colouring books have rapidly become a Thing; Peterson once wondered why there weren’t any map colouring books (which is a damn good question: the closest I’d been able to find is Splendid Cities) so she made one herself. “I’m excited about this because normally I make maps that are more scientific, regulatory, or otherwise government oriented but this is a collection of maps for everyone. And what’s more, everyone can color them just the way they want to!” Available now from Amazon.

McCutcheon’s View

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Three years ago, the Newberry Library posted a note about a 1922 cartoon from the Chicago Tribune: “The New Yorker’s Idea of the Map of the United States” by John T. McCutcheon bears a strong resemblance to Saul Steinberg’s famous 29 March 1976 New Yorker cover, whose inspiration is often traced to Daniel K. Wallingford’s A New Yorker’s Idea of the United States (1937). See the gallery below.

John T. McCutcheon, The New Yorker’s Idea of the Map of the United States, 1922. Newberry Library.
John T. McCutcheon, The New Yorker’s Idea of the Map of the United States, 1922. Newberry Library.
Saul Steinberg, cover for The New Yorker, 29 March 1976.
Saul Steinberg, cover for The New Yorker, 29 March 1976.
Daniel K. Wallingford, A New Yorker’s Idea of the United States of America, 1937. David Rumsey Map Collection.
Daniel K. Wallingford, A New Yorker’s Idea of the United States of America, 1937. David Rumsey Map Collection.

Ellen Harvey’s ‘Network’ to Adorn Boston’s South Station

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

ellen-harvey-network

Ellen Harvey’s Network, envisaged as a hand-made glass mosaic depicting Boston’s transportation network, has been chosen as the permanent art installation to be installed at Boston’s South Station. From the proposal:

NETWORK will consist of a hand-made glass mosaic map of the surroundings of South Station juxtaposing the three principal forms of land transportation (rail, subway and road) with the older water-based routes into the city. Each form of transportation is coded a different color—black for subways, dark grey for rail, light grey for roads and silver for water. As travelers descend the stairs, they move towards the ocean where a small mermaid inset in the silvery sea of Boston harbor surveys (literally) the land. NETWORK imagines a world in which the mermaid escapes her destiny of romantic frustration and temptation and decides to take on the land, just as perhaps now we need nature to lead our transportation decisions, rather than to be subject to them.

Harvey, by the way, has the best quote: “There is no romance in your soul if you don’t love a map.” [via]