The evocative aesthetic of the Penguin paperback is one of the great design stories of publishing. Not content with creating a distinct graphic identity that has endured over seven decades, Penguin is also one of the most forward-thinking commissioning bodies, responsible for a vast body of innovative and epoch-defining illustration.
As the purely typographic covers were slowly superseded in the mid 1950s, the small canvas of the Penguin book become a showcase for British illustration design, with the 'golden era' of the 1960s and 1970s regularly referenced by art directors and pop cultural archivists.
Mass market book design is no longer a reliable source of excellence, but as the Penguin Collectors Society's new monograph, Penguin by Illustrators, ably demonstrates, with a modicum of care and attention, the giddy heights of the past can easily be emulated, if not surpassed. Steve Hare has brought together a portfolio of covers, old and new, together with presentations by some of the best-known names associated with modern book illustration, including David Gentleman, Dennis Bailey, Romek Marber and Quentin Blake. The book features many classics and also charts the recent revival in illustration-led publishing, with work by Phil Hale, Victoria Sawdon and Coralie Bickford-Smith demonstrating the paperback's ongoing role as a place for artistic expression.
In other Penguin-related news, to mark their 75th anniversary this year, the publisher has released a box of 100 postcards, each featuring a different, iconic Penguin cover.
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Zaha Hadid Architects’ spaceship-like Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum is now openLast week, ZHA announced the opening of its latest project: a museum in Shenzhen, China, dedicated to the power of technological advancements. It was only fitting, therefore, that the building design should embrace innovation
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‘The work is an extension of myself’: Michaela Yearwood-Dan on her debut show at Hauser & WirthLondon-based artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan continues her rapid rise, unveiling monumental new paintings in ‘No Time for Despair’
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Palace’s collaboration with Cutler and Gross will be this summer’s most sought-after sunglassesPalace and Cutler and Gross make an early play for the sunglasses of the summer with their new collaboration, which comprises three retro-inflected styles (and a touch of 18-carat gold)
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Taschen’s sexy record covers are hitting all the right notesTaschen has been through 50 years of album art for its latest tome, ‘Sexy Record Covers’
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‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960sA new photography book from The Anonymous Project showcases its subjects when they’re dressed for best, posing for events and celebrations unknown
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Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
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Era-defining photographer David Bailey guides us through the 1980s in a new tome not short of shoulder pads and lycraFrom Yves Saint Laurent to Princess Diana, London photographer David Bailey dives into his 1980s archive in a new book by Taschen
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Inside Joan Didion’s unseen diary of personal relationships and post-therapy notesA newly discovered diary by Joan Didion is soon to be published. Titled 'Notes to John', the journal documents her relationship with her daughter, husband, alcoholism, and depression
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Carsten Höller’s new Book of Games: 336 playful pastimes for the bold and the boredArtist Carsten Höller invites readers to step out of their comfort zone with a series of subversive games
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Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TVStefano De Luigi's monograph Televisiva examines how Berlusconi’s empire reshaped Italian TV, and subsequently infiltrated the premiership
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How a sprawling new book honours the legacy of cult photographer Larry Fink‘Larry Fink: Hands On / A Passionate Life of Looking’ pays homage to an American master. ‘He had this ability to connect,’ says publisher Daniel Power
