During the 1920s, the Chicago Rapid Transit Company commissioned the city's finest graphic artists to produce advertising posters that encouraged Chicagoans to use rapid transit for more than commuting to work. The images produced beckoned Chicagoans to the city's parks, museums and other urban spots, as well as to more bucolic destinations beyond the city limits. Curiously, almost none of the posters actually featured the "L"TM itself, only scenic views of the destinations. Although there seem to be no records of precisely how many posters were produced, what they advertised, and what images they consisted of, researchers think approximately 160 posters were produced for the Insull lines between 1921 and 1929. - chicago-l.org

Please jump over to chicago-l.org to view the full collection. Thanks to Sam Rosen for the suggestion.

Inspiration

Lucha libre (Spanish for "free wrestling" or free fighting) is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries referring to a form of professional wrestling involving varied techniques and moves.

Mexican wrestling is characterized by rapid sequences of holds and moves, as well as 'high-flying moves', some of which have been adopted in the United States, and colorful masks. Lucha libre performers are known as luchadores (singular luchador).

Style

Luchadores are traditionally more agile and perform more aerial maneuvers than professional wrestlers in the U.S. who, more often, rely on power moves and strikes to subdue their opponents. The difference in styles is due to the independent evolution of the sport in Mexico beginning in the 1930s and the fact that luchadores in the cruiserweight division (peso semicompleto) are often the most popular wrestlers in Mexican lucha libre. Luchadores execute high flying moves characteristic of lucha libre by utilizing the wrestling ring's ropes to catapult themselves towards their opponents, using intricate combinations in rapid-fire succession, and applying complex submission holds.

Name El Santo Nicknames El Enmascarado de Plata (The man of the silver mask), El Profe (The Professor) Signature Moves La de a Caballo (camel clutch), Tope de Cristo (flying somersault headbutt), Plancha, Running Tope Suicida

Masks

Masks (mascaras) have been used dating back to the beginnings of lucha libre in the early part of the 20th century and have a historical significance to Mexico in general dating to the days of the Aztecs. Early masks were very simple with basic colors to distinguish the wrestler. In modern lucha libre, masks are colorfully designed to evoke the images of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes, whose identity the luchador takes on during a performance. Virtually all wrestlers in Mexico will start their careers wearing masks, but over the span of their careers a large number of them will be unmasked. Sometimes, a wrestler slated for retirement will be unmasked in his final bout or at the beginning of a final tour, signifying loss of identity as that character. Sometimes, losing the mask signifies the end of a gimmick with the wrestler moving on to a new gimmick and mask. The mask is considered "sacred" to a degree, so much so that fully removing an opponent's mask during a match is grounds for disqualification.

Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico and European influences including Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically articulate her own pain and sexuality. Kahlo was married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.

On September 17, 1925, Kahlo was riding in a bus when the vehicle collided with a trolley car. She suffered serious injuries in the accident, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. An iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, which seriously damaged her reproductive ability. She would be plagued by relapses of extreme pain for the remainder of her life.

After the accident, Kahlo turned her attention away from the study of medicine to begin a full-time painting career. The accident left her in a great deal of pain while she recovered in a full body cast; she painted to occupy her time during her temporary state of immobilization. Her self-portraits became a dominant part of her life when she was immobile for three months after her accident. Kahlo once said, "I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best."

Color

Kahlo's paintings were rich in bright vibrant colors. In her diary, Frida attempts to explain the meaning of the colors used in her works (info from fridakahlofans.com):

Fiestaware (Fiesta® Dinnerware) has been brightening up dinner tables since they first introduced their color saturated dinnerware, during the drab days of the depression. Created by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia, since 1936 (with a hiatus from 1973 to 1985), Fiestaware was started "with the intent of giving people who were having a real miserable time something that wasn't expensive, that could brighten up their table, make their live a little cheerier," says president Joe Wells III in an quote from a recent article in the Oregonian, and they did it using color.

Fiestaware's signature solid colored Art Deco style was designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead, and first launched in a brilliant red.

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Today, rare pieces and colors can be worth thousands, like the covered onion soup bowl in turquoise which was only produced for one year in 1973, which is valued at $8,000.

Fiestaware has bee produced in 40 colors with at least one new shade being added each year since 2000. The latest color was inspired by Michelle Obama's inauguration dress, a yellow-green hue named lemongrass.

Inspired by this post I went looking for other examples of Russian color & design and came across this site.

"Most posters in our collection are originals, acquired in Russia in the 80's, political posters, made in the period 1950 - 1990, published with the supervision of the Communist Party, and were designed to make people work harder, be better communists and good patriots. Please be careful, most of these posters contain ruthless propaganda. Let's take them as historical artefacts..."

At the completion of French artist Pierre David's residency last May at the Modern Art Museum of Bahia in Brazil, he left behind a interesting and thoughtful exhibition celebrating color and the uniqueness of multiracial cultures. In Naucier, Pierre, commenting on racism, photographed 40 people, employees of the Musuem and art students from El Salvador, and displayed their images in classic color swatch fashion. Each individuals color was also formulated into a paint.

"Because I think that both France and Brazil are multiracial societies where skin color is an important social divide," explains Pierr (Google translation), "The local society is openly multiracial.  The genesis of these two countries is very different, but in both cases, the problem of racism exists across society.  Here, as in France, the skin color is an important social brand. Reducing the interest shown by an individual solely on the color put in an immediate way the issue of racism."

Drew Struzan is an American Artist best known for his extensive movie poster work on some of the best-known films of all time. A particular favorite artist of film directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Struzan created distinct and indelible images for many of their film releases.

"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by as good tavern or inn." - Samuel Johnson

Nothing is more British than the pub, and being that it is such an important part of the English identity it is no wonder that great pride and consideration go into each pub sign.

Here is a collection of London pub signs from flickr user lincolnian.

The history of pub signs date back to the Roman times, when reliefs made of stone or terracotta were hung outside to denote the trade or profession of the occupants of the building. The sign of 'The Goat' suggested a dairy, 'The Mule driving a Mill' a bakery and 'Bacchus' (the Roman God) a wine merchant. One of the first Roman tavern signs was the 'Bush'. The 'Tabernae' would also hang vine leaves outside to show that they sold wine - in Britain, as vine leaves are rare, small bushes were placed outside. Early pubs hung long poles or ale stakes, which might have been used to stir the ale, outside their doors. If both wine and ale were sold, then both bush and pole would be hung outside.... read more about British pub history here.

Color inspiration from the collection of American movie posters at polishposter.com.

Batik is the process of creating intricate patterns on textiles with wax-resistant dyes. There seems to be some controversy surrounding the origins of the technique but according to the Wikipedia article discoveries showed it already exists in the Middle East, India and Central Asia over 2000 years ago. In Java, Indonesia, batik predates written records, but some experts argue that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India.

Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Visnu, and Śiva). The colors of pesisir batik, from the coastal cities of northern Java, are especially vibrant, and it absorbs influence from the Javanese, Chinese and Dutch culture.

Contemporary batik, while owing much to the past, is markedly different from the more traditional and formal styles. For example, the artist may use etching, discharge dyeing, stencils, different tools for waxing and dyeing, wax recipes with different resist values and work with silk, cotton, wool, leather, paper or even wood and ceramics.

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