London, U.K.

Ronald Searle, the British cartoonist and caricaturist whose outlandishly witty illustrations for books, magazine covers, newspaper editorial pages and advertisements helped define postwar graphic humor, died on Friday (3 January) in Draguignan, in southeastern France, where he lived. He was 91.

Lampooning the foibles of the English class system as well as clerics, politicians and even other artists, Mr. Searle was often described as a latter-day version of the 18th-century British graphic satirist William Hogarth. His cartoons combined an ear for linguistic nuance with a caustic pen and brush. With just a few well-placed lines, he pierced the facades of his targets without resorting to ridicule or rancor…

Read the rest of a tribute by Steven Heller in a New York Times obituary here. View a wonderful, recent interview with Ronald Searle here.

(from the slopes of the vintage Alps)

“High-end UK dealer Vintage Seekers is offering an expertly curated selection of mid-century posters featuring ski resorts throughout the Alps and other destinations. These are all uncommon original prints and the price tags reflect that fact… those of us without the budget for these classic works of advertising art will have to admire them via our computer screens.”

Thanks to my colleague Carisa Romans for the source/link, here (where you can find more links and larger views).

Finale Ligure, Italy

Social Design Poster is a concept launched by Sergio Olivotti in 2009. An invitational design competition on the theme of “Autism” drew in some 300 posters from around the world and began a social network of more than 2000 designers. An exhibition of selected submissions subsequently traveled to Spain, Bolivia, Venezuela, France, and Italy.

Shown above is a small sampling of the posters from 2009…

Washington, DC

Created in the mid-1930s in response to the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration and its Federal Arts Project were focused in part on providing artwork for public buildings while assisting struggling artists. Artists were tasked with creating posters that promoted the landscapes and wildlife of America’s parks. The program ended in 1943, and the largest collection of WPA-era prints—including the images shown above—is now in the U.S. Library of Congress, (link).

I’d posted about WPA posters earlier, here. (story source, thanks to Peggy Cady)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Catrin Welz Stein is a German graphic designer and freelance illustrator now living in KL. She draws on a wide varieties of inspiration including fantasy, folklore, medieval history, surrealism, and Jugendstil in compiling her digital collages. “Because of my children (4 and 6 years old) I can go through childhood again and I can enjoy the world of fantasy and fairy tails. I like to look at childrens’ books and let them inspire me…”

(source: thoughtballoonhelium.blogspot.com)

This lovely comic strip is the product of Grant Snider’s former life as an engineering student and math tutor… thanks to friend Jeope Wolfe for the introduction!

Lots more here.

All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names…

(source)

.

“Gather ’round the Yule-log fire while we spin the fantastic fable of the man who hates the holiday the whole world loves—and seeks to stop its celebration by striking at Santa himself! He is greedy Jasper Rasper—but he reckons without the Man of Tomorrow, who guarantees that there will always be a Christmas despite… The Man Who Hated Christmas.”

Read the whole comic book online, here.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

“Animalia Exstinta is a fascinating imaginary bestiary featuring beautiful surrealist collages by Hugo Horita and humorous descriptive texts by Esteban Seimandi. This elegant volume was designed by Juan Cruz Bazterrica, and published by the Argentinian Ediciones Tres en línea in 2010.”

(source)

(the quote is by Rabindranath Tagore; the cartoon is by Ian Baker)