Paddlewheeler

270.00

1952 (date of original work)
2022 (Print Date)
Giclee digital print
P.P.2/5
33 x 48.3 cm

Only 1 left in stock

Description

A limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of an uncirculated, untitled, and undated tempera. The work is casually entitled Paddlewheeler to differentiate it from other untitled Flora works. Flora archivists believe that the style reflects Flora’s mid to late 1960s style of maritime art.

Paddlewheeler has not previously been reproduced as a fine art print and was not published in any of the four Flora anthology books. The prints, produced by Flora archivist Barbara Economon, have been meticulously replicated from a high-resolution scan of the painting. All aspects of the original work have been retained, although some aging artifacts have been removed. Because the original work was unsigned, a compatible Flora painted signature from the 1960s has been added below the active art to officially “brand” the work.

Only 25 prints of Paddlewheeler are being issued for this edition, plus a few printing proofs. Each print is hand-numbered in the lower right corner beneath the image and authenticated on the reverse with the stamped seal of Jim Flora Art (a Flora family enterprise). Selling price will increase as the edition depletes.

The image area is approximately 11″ high x 17″ wide on a 13″ x 19″ untrimmed sheet. The unframed prints are on heavyweight (310g) mould-made William Turner stock, a natural white, 100% rag paper with a fine toothy surface manufactured by Hahnemühle, who are renowned for premium-grade archival papers. The edition was produced using Epson UltraChrome K3 Pigment Ink Technology, offering crisp resolution and assuring excellent longevity and durability.

Jim Flora, United States Of America, (1914 Bellefontaine, Ohio – 1998 Rowayton, Connecticut)

James (Jim) Flora is best-known for his wild jazz and classical album covers for Columbia Records and RCA Victor (late 1940s to late 1950s), but he authored and illustrated 17 popular children’s books and flourished for decades as a magazine illustrator. At the time, few knew that Flora was also a prolific fine artist with a devilish sense of humor and a flair for juxtaposing playfulness, absurdity and violence. Cute — and deadly. 

Flora’s album covers pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Yet this childlike exuberance was subverted by a tinge of the diabolic. Flora wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring flying musicians, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives. Taking liberties with human anatomy, he drew bonded bodies and misshapen heads, while inking ghoulish skin tints and grafting mutant appendages. On some Flora figures, three legs and five arms were standard equipment, with spare eyeballs optional. His fine art works reflect the same comic yet disturbing qualities. 

Born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1914, James Flora was trained at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (1936-39). After struggling as a commercial freelancer, in 1942 he moved to Connecticut after accepting a job in the Columbia Records art department. One year later the label appointed him art director. Flora revolutionized the look of Columbia’s ads and retail circulars with his wild cartoonish illustrations. He was promoted several times, and though no longer art director, he began illustrating jazz album covers for the label in 1947. However, his executive chores with the company meant less opportunity to create art. In 1950, Flora resigned and moved to Mexico with his family. After 15 months of exotic life south of the border, during which he and his wife created a mountain of art, Flora returned to Connecticut in 1951. He embarked on a lengthy and prosperous career as a freelance commercial artist, children’s book author/illustrator, and album cover designer for RCA Victor. Despite the demanding deadlines, Flora found time to indulge his fine art impulses. He painted, sketched, created woodcuts, and made relief prints at home and during travels. Even in retirement, and particularly during the decade before his death in July 1998, he created an enormous body of work. 

Jim Flora artworks in La Fiambrera Art gallery

La Fiambrera Art Gallery is proud to present James Flora’s mischievous art to public thru his fine art prints, serigraph prints, and woodcuts, by special arrangement with the Jim Flora Estate and co-archivists Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon.

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