If your vibe is cool gadgets designed for minimalism and functionality, then The Saint has a tip for you! Long before our first iPhones and iPods, before the Mac Classics and early Apple Computers of the late 1970s, and even before the stylish electronics designed by Dieter Rams for Braun in the late 1950s and 1960s, Polaroid had been producing cameras that not only folded up into simple bars (not an unusual feature), but also developed and printed your images as well! They were uncanny inventions and seemed far ahead of their time- like one of those tech devices David Bowie doled out for quick cash in The Man Who Fell To Earth. Inventor Edwin Land conceived the instant camera in 1943 after his daughter asked why she couldn't see the photograph he had just snapped. His company demonstrated the Land camera Model 95 (image below) on February 21st, 1947 and the commercial release followed in 1948. We have loved our Polaroids ever since. We've looked at experiments and collages by Warhol, Hockney, Sylvian, and famous images have adorned iconic work by Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend, and others. I got to spend some of my photography career making Polaroid Transfers when the technique spread through the art world. Story continues below.
The love for these ingenious cameras goes way back. They even made an appearance as a cutting-edge spy gadget for THE SAINT in this Sunday comic strip from June 26th, 1949. In this sequence, Simon Templar reveals that his camera, secretly rigged to record intruders, will also provide instant prints to identify their foe! Click second comic image to enlarge. The Saint strip ran in papers from September 27th, 1948 to September 16th, 1961. Edwin Land later worked during the Cold War on various intelligence projects, including the Genetrix balloon cameras, the U-2 program, Corona and Samos satellites, among others. Story continues below.
Author Christopher Bonanos released a beautifully illustrated book in 2012 called Instant: The Story of Polaroid. The book includes the rare Saint comic above. More details from Amazon: "Instant photography at the push of a button!" During
the 1960s and '70s, Polaroid was the coolest technology company on earth. Like
Apple, it was an innovation machine that cranked out one must-have product
after another. Led by its own visionary genius founder, Edwin Land, Polaroid
grew from a 1937 garage start-up into a billion-dollar pop-culture phenomenon. Instant
tells the remarkable tale of Land's one-of-a-kind invention-from Polaroid's
first instant camera to hit the market in 1948, to its meteoric rise in
popularity and adoption by artists such as Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and Chuck
Close, to the company's dramatic decline into bankruptcy in the late '90s and
its unlikely resurrection in the digital age. Instant is both an inspiring tale
of American ingenuity and a cautionary business tale about the perils of
companies that lose their creative edge." Learn more: The Saint, Dieter Rams Exhibit on Spy Vibe, Polaroid, new images and film for Polaroid cameras at The Impossible Project, Land Cameras.
Start the week in style with Modesty Blaise! Peter O'Donnell's spy adventuress has been capturing the imagination of fans since her debut as a comic strip feature in 1963. With the success of the film tie-in book in 1966, O'Donnell went on to write eleven Modesty novels and two collections of short stories. As a fan of book designs, I've enjoyed looking at editions from around the world. Here is a sample of some of my favorite covers (and an ad) that draw especially from the black-and-white graphic aesthetic from the 1960s. Enjoy! Learn more: Modesty Blaise News, Modesty Book Covers, Official Site.
Fashion Sunday Supplement: Agent Katharine Boyd (Mod Tales) uncovered additional ads for designer Louis Feraud's (1921-1999) campaign with Shimbo Fabrics. Thanks K for getting these on our radar! Feraud established his own fashion house based in Cannes in 1950. By the middle of the decade, he was dressing stars like Brigitte Bardot! In these Shimbo Fabrics ads from the late 1960s, viewers got to feast on a marvelous, almost Op Art interplay between the Mod outfit and black and white background illustrations. Can't get enough of those white thigh boots? There were many Feraud/Shimbo ads between 1968 and 1970 (additional samples here, here, and here). According to the Fashion Model Directory, his work often expressed a sunny, embroidered vibe inspired by South American culture, but these creations were still firmly rooted in Mod motifs of geometric patterns and cut-outs. Enjoy!
New Release: Set your Bat-timers for November 11th! After decades of legal acrobatics, the 1966 Batman series starring Adam West will finally arrive on home video. All of the episodes have been remastered in hi-definition and a cool assortment of bonus features, cards, and toys have been produced to mark this special event. If you grew up with the Miller, Burton, Nolan interpretations of the Dark Knight, the 60s version may appear overly campy, but you are in for a treat, old chums! The show was a masterpiece of Pop Art design and featured sharp performances that kept adults laughing and kids on the edge of their seats. Blu-ray and DVD sets available now on Amazon. Spy Vibers can also look forward to seeing the Blu-ray release of Season 5 of The Avengers on the same day!
