The term Art Deco, a contraction of the title of the major 1925 Paris exhibition, the Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, was coined in the 1960s to refer to an amalgam of styles most evident between the Wars. In the simplest sense, this style was a geometric, machine-age reaction to the sinuous, … Continue reading Art Deco Influences on Australian Book Design
Category: Mark Ferson
THE PICTORIAL BOOKPLATE MOVEMENT, and interest in book plates as an artform rather than as a mark of social standing, began in Australia in the fin de siècle, the last decade of the 19th century. John Lane Mullins, a well-connected Sydney solicitor and art patron, was responsible for its inception through his commissioning of emerging Australian artists to design bookplates for his own use and for members of his family.
AN UNFORESEEN, and exciting, by-product of the launch of the New Australian Bookplate Society in Blackheath in October 2005, at least to this far-gone bookplate historian, was the unearthing of a box of letters formerly belonging to Sydney collector Blanche Milligan.
A number of artists, bibliophiles and collectors have expressed an interest in forming a group with the common idea of promoting the art and use of bookplates. In these Internet days, it only takes two people to form a society, so we’re probably ahead already.