{"id":1,"date":"2010-08-27T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.porcupinesquill.ca\/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2010-09-01T13:29:56","modified_gmt":"2010-09-01T13:29:56","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/?p=1","title":{"rendered":"Review of DA 62 & 63 in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, Spring 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graphic design historian Brian Donnelly describes the state of design history in Canada as \u2018dispossessed because it has not been formally established or preserved through time.\u2019 By way of redress DA (The Devil\u2019s Artisan): A Journal of the Printing Arts<\/em> has devoted two<\/a> issues<\/a> to the life and work of the designer Allan Fleming, guest edited by his daughter Martha Fleming. DA<\/em> has for thirty years been the leading journal of the printing arts in Canada, a fitting publication to showcase the career of this important designer, a career which was cut short in 1977 at the age of 48. Many do not realize the extent to which they are familiar with the work of Allan Fleming. Notable among Fleming\u2019s credits is the CN logo, one of the world\u2019s top 50 logos according to a panel of judges commissioned by the Report on Business Magazine<\/em> in partnership with the London Financial Times<\/em> in 2000. It is, as described by judge and designer Jasper Morrison, \u2018a perfect blend of symbol, typography and intent\u2019 (no. 63, 31). There is also the compelling Ontario Hydro plug, \u2018dignified and distinctive, yet dynamic,\u2019 an excellent example of the integration of corporate identity and design (no. 63, 76). Yet Allan Fleming was also an art director at one of Canada\u2019s premier magazines (Maclean\u2019s<\/em>), and chief designer at Canada\u2019s pre-eminent scholarly press (University of Toronto Press). Furthermore he was a teacher and a mentor. \u2018His design pedagogy \u2014 both formal and informal \u2014 shaped an entire generation of graphic designers in Canada\u2019 (no. 62, 6). And while he may have trained in the UK he was uniquely defined by his nationality, his work contributing to \u2018the creation of a true Canadian vernacular\u2019 (no. 63, 15). In the words of Martha Fleming, \u2018all this and more is as much about a Canada he could see in his mind\u2019s eye as it is about the work of the man\u2019 (no. 63, 16). Pursuing an art which had become his life he was guided by a sense of responsibility. As he said in 1958, \u2018For the past three centuries, men have worked honestly and hard and long to carry the main stream of design in this field, and give us integrity of statement. Responsibility to one\u2019s society would seem to require the picking up of the custody of achievement, as a great many people continue to do\u2019 (no. 62, 8).<\/p>\n

There are eleven articles devoted to Allan Fleming in these two issues of DA<\/em>, four of them authored or co-authored by Martha Fleming. Issue no. 62, \u2018Allan Fleming\u2019s Many Worlds,\u2019 focuses on the design career of Fleming. Among the questions it intends to broach are, \u2018How did \u2014 and does \u2014 his work communicate, and to whom? And ultimately, how has this shaped the landscape of Canadian graphic design today?’ (no. 62, 9). It is also designed to \u2018make available to researchers and students alike some of the scholarly apparatus that will open up Allan\u2019s work as a case study for this nascent field of graphic design history in Canada\u2019 (no. 62, 10). It includes a chronology and images of Fleming\u2019s life and work, autobiographical fragments, and a survey of Fleming archival resources (no. 63, i). The first essay by Martha Fleming, \u2018Allan Fleming\u2019s Many Worlds: Making Design History in Canada,\u2019 introduces us to Allan Fleming the man and the designer, providing an overview of a \u2018varied and prodigious\u2019 practice comprising \u2018logos, book design, medals, coins, stamps, television, commercials, advertising campaigns, typographic ephemera and magazine design, to name but a few (no. 62, 6). It is followed by a chronology and selected autobiographical writings. The autobiographical fragments are composed of two parts. The first is a reminiscence and reflection on his career and childhood chronicling his first interest in illustration, commercial art, and typography. The second is a piece written by Fleming which originally appeared in Typographic<\/em>. Here he reveals his Canadianness, tracing his evolution into what he describes as a \u2018typographer\u2019s folk hero.\u2019 In the following essay, \u2018Of Gravestones, Lettering, and Circus Wagons: A Look at the Work of Allan Fleming,\u2019 award-winning designer Robert Tombs provides an overview illustrating the breadth and range of Fleming\u2019s work from the signage at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario, to The Correspondence of Erasmus<\/em>designed by Fleming for the University of Toronto Press. A survey of archival evidence spanning the full length of Fleming\u2019s career is provided by librarian Devin Crawley and Martha Fleming. Archival collections ranging from Allan Fleming\u2019s personal papers recently acquired by the Clara Cooper & Beatty fonds at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and the MacLaren advertising fonds at the Archives of Ontario are described, followed by a list of archival resources by project.<\/p>\n

Issue no. 63, \u2018In Allan Fleming\u2019s Archive,\u2019 is a companion volume containing articles about the work of Fleming by historians of design, photography, and the book (no. 62, i). There is a personal look at Fleming by his daughter in \u2018Allan Fleming at Home: A Partial Reconstruction.\u2019 It provides a window into his personal library, his taste in music, the interior decor of his home, and his difficult final years. Donna Braggins, former art director at Maclean\u2019s<\/em>, outlines Fleming\u2019s brief yet significant stint as designer and art director for the magazine, in which he \u2018demonstrated to the Canadian design world that there was the possibility of a distinctly Canadian approach to design\u2019 and left a legacy that \u2018showed remarkable strength, humour and a successful marriage between the content and the design\u2019 (no. 63, 29, 45). Carol Payne, photo studies scholar, discusses Allan Fleming\u2019s award-winning work, Canada: A Year of the Land \/ Canada, du temps qui passe<\/em>, produced with Lorraine Monk as a National Film Boad of Canada Still Photography Division Centennial project. It is a project which Fleming called \u2018the most important commission of my career\u2019 (no. 63, 53). Brian Donnelly discusses Allan Fleming\u2019s work on a logo redesign at the Bay, a company with which the designer had a long association. Donnelly describes it as one of \u2018the ones that got away\u2019 (he lost the commission); nevertheless, Fleming succeeded in shaping \u2018the process which in turn shaped the design\u2019 (no. 63, 80). The issue concludes with Devin Crawley\u2019s overview of the designer\u2019s final \u2018frustrating years\u2019 in Canadian publishing at the University of Toronto Press where \u2018a conflict between creative idealism and stern fiscal management\u2019 played out between Fleming and the Press\u2019s director (no. 63, 97).<\/p>\n

These two issues of DA<\/em> are meant to encourage in readers serious study of the work of Allan Fleming \u2018by putting the research means at their disposal\u2019 and giving them \u2018a sense of just how much there is to discover\u2019 (no. 62, 10). \u2018The complete book is yet to be written, its author yet found\u2019 (no. 63, 19). The challenge has been issued, the groundwork laid. Who will give this brilliant designer the recognition he is due? In the meantime DA<\/em> has provided a welcome and long overdue treatment of the work and life of Allan Fleming.<\/p>\n

Mary Kandiuk<\/p>\n

York University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graphic design historian Brian Donnelly describes the state of design history in Canada as \u2018dispossessed because it has not been formally established or preserved through time.\u2019 By way of redress DA (The Devil\u2019s Artisan): A Journal of the Printing Arts … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[9,7,8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/devilsartisan.ca\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}