Mad Men & Crazy Critters - 4th episode: Vacances en Suisse

Vacances de Printemps, 1945

It's been long, too long, since our last Mad Men feature. But now chocolate is the air, 

Spring's mildness is inesorably exploding, and I am in the mood for some delightful, 

pastel sugar coated candies from monsieur Donald Brun. The flavor of his bouncy, 

happy, reassuring critters strongly reminds me of my childhood in 1960-70s Italy: 

vacations on the Alps, candy sticks, stuffed toys, old fashioned pastry shops, 

children's books, my mother's food, my father's optimism, Carosello 

and large chocolate Easter surprise eggs...

Gevaert, ca.1945

Erica Pudding, 1945?

Vacances en Suisse, 1949

Regal, c.1950

Liebig, 1951

Swissair, 1951

Dalang Eierteigwaren, 1953

Swissair, 1954

Protègez-nous, 1956

Mit Wolle in den Frühling, 1957?

Davos, ca. 1970

Many thanks to the wonderful Swiss Poster Collection archives!

Cat, All Too Human

The cat is trying to open the door on the hinges side.

I laugh, then I see I make the same mistake, with people, ideas, and doors too.

Saul Steinberg, 24 august 1994. From Lettere a Aldo Buzzi, Adelphi, 2002. Thanks to oinoi

Saul Steinberg, what can I say? His art gives me such pleasure!

Gjon Mili's cat Blackie looking at his portrait by Saul Steinberg in Mili's studio, 1947.

From Life's photo archives.

Untitled (Pitcher raining on cat), New Yorker cover August 25, 1975 (variant)

Ink, watercolor, graphite, rubber stamp on paper from Adam Baumgold gallery's website

New Yorker cover November 18, 1996. Steinberg created nearly 1,200 drawings for the magazine.

The scans above come from two collections of drawings: Steinberg's Paperback, a German edition

 published in 1964 and Steinberg – The Catalogue, an American edition by Meridian published in 1962.

These are part of the large library assembled by my father in law, Michele Ranchetti, 

himself a very accomplished writer, poet and artist who regrettably passed away two years ago.

Thank you Michele for always pursuing and sharing your love of art and creativity!

Cocorico and Kikeriki

Graphis 28, Special Swiss issue, cover by Hans Hartmann, 1949

As it often happens, a series of serendipitous coincidences has led me

to discover this lovely addendum to Sunday's Roosterfest.

It seems that the fantastic Graphis magazine had a thing for roosters too...

Graphis 28, cover by Joseph Binder, 1950

Graphis 56, cover by Picasso, 1954

Graphis 72, cover by Celestino Piatti, 1957

Graphis 97, cover by Hoot von Zitzewitz, 1961

Graphis 110, cover by Walter Greider, 1963

You can buy the PDFs of these beauties and other past issues at the Graphis website, 

or go for the originals at the fantastic Modernism 101 bookstore on ebay. This shop is 

a real collector's heaven and it makes me wish I had a lot more money in my pockets...