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100 Illustrators, 2 Vol.
Picture The biggest players in the highly competitive field of illustration Culled from our Illustration Now! series is this selection of today’s most successful and important illustrators from around the globe. In his introduction, Steven Heller fleshes out the challenging process of narrowing down a field of 600 illustrators to a selection of the 100 most significant. The final cut, including artists such as Istvan Banyai, Gary Baseman, Seymour Chwast, Paul Davis, Brad Holland, Mirko Ilić, Anita Kunz, and Christoph Niemann, provides a snapshot of the highly dynamic and diverse world of contemporary illustration .
Features Text in English, French, and German
Features Text in English, French, and German
639 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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277 people want to read
About the author
Steven Heller
328 books206 followersSteven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.
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February 13, 2018This 100 is assembled from the pages of Illustration Now! and they are not kidding about that Now! -- they even cut out some artists who would have been included because they passed away of changed fields before the publication date!
Despite being so very Now! lots of the work didn't strike me as especially cutting edge, but I suppose there's only so much new and now one can put into illustration, even if one cheats by including pieces that are *by* the illustrators but not commissioned or employed as illustration, such as paintings etc that they made for themselves or for private collections (which rather begs the question of how precisely they are distinct from the wider category of fine art, but whatever, I don't care much about this high/lowbrow issue and am happy to call illustration "art" but then I didn't publish a book that makes this category central now did I?).
The book has very nice production values. At 50 artists with a few pages each there isn't much to generalize, but I'll share some pieces I liked.
Julia Breckenreid illustrated a book I read about a modern artist: An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers.
This is Lisel Ashlock's portrait of poet Jonathan Galassi. It was commissioned by Out Magazine to accompany an article about his struggle to come to grips with his sexuality.
I'm trying to narrow this down by including works that are more book-related. This cover won an award!
Gez Fry's ads look like they ought to be graphic novels.
Despite being so very Now! lots of the work didn't strike me as especially cutting edge, but I suppose there's only so much new and now one can put into illustration, even if one cheats by including pieces that are *by* the illustrators but not commissioned or employed as illustration, such as paintings etc that they made for themselves or for private collections (which rather begs the question of how precisely they are distinct from the wider category of fine art, but whatever, I don't care much about this high/lowbrow issue and am happy to call illustration "art" but then I didn't publish a book that makes this category central now did I?).
The book has very nice production values. At 50 artists with a few pages each there isn't much to generalize, but I'll share some pieces I liked.
Julia Breckenreid illustrated a book I read about a modern artist: An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers.
This is Lisel Ashlock's portrait of poet Jonathan Galassi. It was commissioned by Out Magazine to accompany an article about his struggle to come to grips with his sexuality.
I'm trying to narrow this down by including works that are more book-related. This cover won an award!
Gez Fry's ads look like they ought to be graphic novels.
January 23, 2020
Этот каталог дает очень пестрый срез современной западной иллюстрации. Из сотни авторов только пара оставили полностью равнодушным, остальные же легли где-то на спектре от «гениально, и такое бывает?» до «абсолютно отвратительно, и такое бывает?»
Эту книгу приятно листать от края к краю или просто открывать на случайной странице в поисках новых идей и интересных графических решений. Качество оцифровки работ и типографской печати — тоже отличные.
Эту книгу приятно листать от края к краю или просто открывать на случайной странице в поисках новых идей и интересных графических решений. Качество оцифровки работ и типографской печати — тоже отличные.
November 9, 2014
Taschen's '100 Contemporary Artists', when I first picked it up a few years ago, introduced me to some of the best and brightest in the post-post modern Art world; Walton Ford, Glenn Brown, Raqib Shaw, John Currin, Daniel Richter, Richard Phillips, and Peter Doig. There were others, but the majority of the artists profiled were of the 'Conceptual' variety -- producing cold, pseudo-philosphical and/or ridiculously overwrought attempts at sustaining the illusion of intelligence. It seems as if art thinks itself indentured to science in abandoning Newtonian concepts of certainty -- every work must exist in a quantum super-position of meanings, baffling the viewer even as they collapse the wave-function of probabilities by viewing it, passing unspoken judgement and forcing the work to define itself. Thus, terrible, terrible art is sold, everyone craving a piece of ugly crap by the clever young artist who is more like a spokesmodel-carnival huckster. If I sound like someone who despises the contemporary art world, I'm giving a false impression; I am fascinated by many post-modern painters and sculptors: the Chapman Bros., Ron Mueck, Ali Banisadr, Darren Waterston, etc., etc. The problem with modern art is identical to that of Literature, Film, and Sequential Art; most of the works produced are crap, mediocre at best, in any artistic medium. In every medium there exists critical con-artists who push undeserving creators into the spotlight, though they are not members of the 7% minority who are truly brilliant. The Contemporary art world is far less likely than the other mediums to celebrate the fakers and posers while the most talented languish in obscurity. This injustice makes finding these artists out feel important and rewarding.
In contrast, Taschen's '100 Illustrators' requires far less searching to find interesting and intelligent artists, every single one a talented craftsman in the old tradition, even though many of them do not use traditional tools. I used to find it strange and irritating that there was a distinction made between 'Artists' and 'Illustrators'; the latter term seemed almost like an insult, a way of diminishing the importance or validity of a persons' works. I've since realized that it's an entirely practical distinction -- Artists create works for gallery spaces, Illustrators create work for print or digital reproduction, often basing their works on the stated needs and parameters of a client. It is often not so clear, however, with gallery artists straying into the territory of illustration, and Illustrator-artists like James Jean and Dave Cooper comfortably straddling the divide. This beautifully produced two-volume slipcase-set is, fittingly, far more impressively designed than the 100 Contemporary Artist set, and feels far richer, in a way. Every page provides you with an interesting new artist (sorry, illustrator) to discover or rediscover. There are many familiar names: Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Eboy, Tomer Hanuka, Jeremyville, Tara McPherson, and Yuko Shimizu, all of whom are popular, exciting and accessible artists who manage to surprise and shock regardless where there work ends up. But most importantly, there are many more artists in this 720 page beast that are every bit as talented as their more popular peers. At 10" wide x 13" tall, with thick covers and heavy, glossy, high-quality stock, this is a heavy set; splitting it into two volumes was a wise decision. A great book, highly recommended.
In contrast, Taschen's '100 Illustrators' requires far less searching to find interesting and intelligent artists, every single one a talented craftsman in the old tradition, even though many of them do not use traditional tools. I used to find it strange and irritating that there was a distinction made between 'Artists' and 'Illustrators'; the latter term seemed almost like an insult, a way of diminishing the importance or validity of a persons' works. I've since realized that it's an entirely practical distinction -- Artists create works for gallery spaces, Illustrators create work for print or digital reproduction, often basing their works on the stated needs and parameters of a client. It is often not so clear, however, with gallery artists straying into the territory of illustration, and Illustrator-artists like James Jean and Dave Cooper comfortably straddling the divide. This beautifully produced two-volume slipcase-set is, fittingly, far more impressively designed than the 100 Contemporary Artist set, and feels far richer, in a way. Every page provides you with an interesting new artist (sorry, illustrator) to discover or rediscover. There are many familiar names: Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Eboy, Tomer Hanuka, Jeremyville, Tara McPherson, and Yuko Shimizu, all of whom are popular, exciting and accessible artists who manage to surprise and shock regardless where there work ends up. But most importantly, there are many more artists in this 720 page beast that are every bit as talented as their more popular peers. At 10" wide x 13" tall, with thick covers and heavy, glossy, high-quality stock, this is a heavy set; splitting it into two volumes was a wise decision. A great book, highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews