Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in 1950s Animation | 
| Author: Amid Amidi
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $40.00
Buy Used: $22.58
as of 9/7/2010 07:49 CDT details
You Save: $17.42 (44%)
New (12) Used (16) from $22.58
Seller: Stanford Specialty Books
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,184,747
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 200
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.6 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4334097309045
ASIN: B0032FO5Q0
Publication Date: August 17, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Between the classic films of Walt Disney in the 1940s and the televised cartoon revolution of the 1960s was a critical period in the history of animation. Amid Amidi, of the influential Animation Blast magazine and CartoonBrew blog, charts the evolution of the modern style in animation, which largely discarded the "lifelike" aesthetic for a more graphic and often abstract approach. Abundantly found in commercials, industrial and educational films, fair and expo infotainment, and more, this quickly popular cartoon modernism shared much with the painting and graphic design movements of the era. Showcasing hundreds of rare and forgotten sketches, model boards, cels, and film stills, Cartoon Modern is a thoroughly researched, eye-popping, and delightful account of a vital decade of animation design.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 23
 'Thought I'd Died and Gone to Cartoon Heaven September 25, 2006
Iconophoric
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
Like many of my peers, as I grew up, my interest in animation gravitated toward the full animation of the Golden Age: Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, et al, for a long while disdaining any form of animated minimalism, even the kind represented in this book. By the age of 7 or 8, we had come to associate Top Cat, Deputy Dawg, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and all the minimal animation that had once been among our favorites with shoddy cheapness. (Even as a small child, I remember several of us sitting around talking about cartoons, and laughing to scorn at the way the same background tree kept passing every couple of seconds in Hanna-Barbera chase scenes. We wondered, did they think we weren't catching that?!) 'Limited animation', those dread words, became poision for all us growing young animation fans.
I'm not sure when my respect and interest in minimal/modern animation returned in a changed form, but I think it had to be in the mid 80s, when the best of UPA appeared suddenly on a couple of VHS tapes: Gerald McBoing Boing, The Tell-Tale Heart, Unicorn in the Garden, Christopher Crumpet, The Rise of Duton Lange, Family Circus, etc. On the rebound, the '50s fine art/graphic design style of these cartoons knocked me out. After seeing these shorts, I started seeking out more examples of this style of animation in old TV commercial reels, and then started noticing the style spilling over into point of purchase, packaging design and magazine ads of the period. By this point, I was a fatally hooked "modern."
This book will throughly scratch the itch of those baby boomers whose earliest TV memories may include those brief Tom Terrific segments from Captain Kangaroo, as well as the younger reader who will feel the irresistable draw of a very strong retro style. The pictures (and there are a ton of them) are pretty, and instantly evocative, and the text hits a smart median between scholarly and entertaining.
Five stars. If you have anyone with any level of popular art/film/animation/graphic design interest on your Christmas list, I'd bear this book in mind.
Eye and mind candy-for lovers of animation and all art & design August 31, 2006
PonyExpress (United States)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This long awaited book is a typically clever, eye-popping treat from Chronicle Press. The author is a well-versed authority on this particular aspect of animated cartoons--the brilliant, trend-setting and still-potent design of the 1950s. Arranged in chapters alphabetically by studio, each page is filled with treasures in color and line. Inside you'll find beautiful examples from such famous studios as UPA("Gerald McBoing-Boing", "Mr. Magoo", "Rooty-Toot-Toot", etc.), Warner Bros(the work of Maurice Noble in tandem with Chuck Jones, among others) and Disney--and many almost unknown studios whose output is liberally displayed. It's all inspiring, and it's fascinating to realize that although the overrriding fifties sense of style is hot right now, these men and women of the grey flannel past are still way ahead of almost all of us. Amid Amidi's text is intelligent and informative, an apt accompaiment. Artists, animators, cartoon lovers and afficionados of midcentury modern design have to have this.
Modernistic Cartoons: WHAM-O August 26, 2006
George Griffin (NYC)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Forget "limited animation," decline of the "golden age," fairy tales and cuddley cuteness. This gorgeous sampling of abstract cartoon animation design from the dynamic postwar era examines shorts, industrials, TV spots, feature titles. Amidi's insightful comments hint at the delirious blend of bebop rhythm, lefty politics, spatial/tonal compression, and optimistically experimental world-view that fueled the renaissance. An artbook for your Noguchi coffee table that celebrates little-known studio designers and provokes further debate on animation history.
We LOVE this book! November 9, 2006
George Evelyn (San Francisco CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Animators everywhere are rejoicing. Finally, someone knowledgable has lovingly assembled THE definititive book on one of the medium's finest hours- the UPA-inspired "fifties style" era of animation. What's really great is that it's not just the short cartoons that most of the fans already know about, like the Gerald McBoing-Boing series, but also tons of obscure TV commercials, movie title sequences and foreign films. The artwork is beautifully reproduced and the text well-written and (as much as possible) super-informative.
Retro-Tastic August 31, 2006
Lee Rubenstein (Brooklyn NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Cover to cover, the most beautiful book about style in Animation, I have ever had the pleasure to open.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 23
|
|
|
