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As the purely typographic covers were slowly superseded in the mid 1950s, the small canvas of the Penguin book become a showcase for British illustration design, with the 'golden era' of the 1960s and 1970s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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Inside a Montana house, putting the American West's landscape at its heartA holiday house in the Montana mountains, designed by Walker Warner Architects and Gachot Studios, scales new heights to create a fresh perspective on communing with the natural landscape
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'You can feel their presence': step inside the Eames' Pacific Palisades residenceCharles and Ray Eames’ descendants are exploring new ways to preserve the designers’ legacy, as the couple’s masterpiece Pacific Palisades residence reopens following the recent LA fires
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The great American museum boomNine of the world’s top ten most expensive, recently announced cultural projects are in the US. What is driving this investment, and is this statistic sustainable?
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How to be butch: Clark Henley’s sharp, satirical and playful manual is back in printThe 1982 classic, ‘The Butch Manual: The Current Drag and How to Do It’, full of tongue-in-cheek advice, is available once again
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We are all fetishists, says Anastasiia Fedorova in her new book, which takes a deep dive into kinkIn ‘Second Skin’, writer and curator Fedorova takes a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics we have fetishised
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The gayest love story ever told: Jeremy Atherton Lin's memoir is a tribute to homeIn 'Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told', Jeremy Atherton Lin mixes memoir with a historical deep-dive into marriage equlaity
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The glory years of the Cannes Film Festival are captured in a new photo book‘Cannes’ by Derek Ridgers looks back on the photographer's time at the Cannes Film Festival between 1984 and 1996
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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
