Photographer John Slemp Discusses His "Bomber Boys - WWII Flight Jacket ...

“ Rating: 5/5 stars. Received my copy of Bomber Boys in quick time! Beautifully packed and presented for a safe trip all the way to Melbourne, Australia. Worth every penny, beautifully photographed and written. Already a standard on our main coffee table for everyone to see! Accompanies my Eastman A-2 replica jacket perfectly. ”

— Raymond Clegg

 

“ Awesome compilation and thrilled to have the Book. ”

— Louise Powell

 

“ Rating: 5/5 stars. This book is a true work of heart and a work of art. My husband was amazed and truly so was I. I’m glad I didn’t wait to give it to him. It will be enjoyed for years to come. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into creating it. What a gift! ”

— Laurie Bennett

 

Description

“Bomber Boys – WWII Flight Jacket Art” by John Slemp is the most comprehensive visual record of A-2 jackets ever produced. Slemp, an award-winning photographer, has captured the tactile beauty of the leather and the artwork that adorns the jackets in archival quality. Over 100 jackets representing all World War II theaters from both museums and private owners, along with artifacts and personal accounts, reveal a visual diary of a man’s service in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

 

The 12 x 12, 398-page coffee table book captures the imaginations of those unfamiliar with this seldom seen genre of military folk art. The highly individualistic art depicted on World War II “bomber jackets” continues to fascinate, educate, and entertain to this day. Painted on the back of leather A-2 work jackets, these collectible uniform items depict the attitudes of young airmen subjected to the vagaries of modern warfare in the sky, and the successes, failures, and eventual triumphs of surviving 35 missions over stubbornly defended enemy territory.

 

“I’m not sure anyone ever sits down and consciously decides to write a book about the leather jackets worn by American aircrew during World War II. Yet, that’s precisely what happened after I began photographing A–2 flight jackets in 2014,” stated Slemp. “As the number of jackets photographed grew, the stories of their owners began to weigh more heavily on my mind. I began to realize that the jackets were mobile signposts reflecting the distinct mortal challenges every flyer faced. Initially, I was drawn to the artwork and symbology, but as I more fully understood their cultural and historical implications, I became more engaged. The emotion these jackets engender has been nothing short of astounding. To illustrate that point is the case of the daughter of a WWII flyer who, during an early exhibition of the work, stood in front of a print of her dad’s jacket for almost two hours. As we were leaving, she pulled me aside and said in a quivering voice, ‘You have no idea what this means to me.’ It was a telling moment and has provided continuing incentive to bring the work to fruition.”

 

Slemp photographed over 160 A-2 jackets for the project including jackets from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the 390th Memorial Museum, 475th Fighter Group Museum, Allen Airways Flying Museum, Indiana Military Museum, The Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum, Lowndes County Historical Society Museum, March Field Air Museum, Minnesota Historical Society, National Naval Aviation Museum, San Diego Air & Space Museum, and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Additionally, 37 jackets are from private collections that can only be seen in this book.

 

In addition to jackets like actor Jimmy Stewart’s, readers will find jackets and portraits of pilots, radio operators, Women Airforce Service Pilots, and even a member of the original unit who dropped supplies behind enemy lines. All of their stories inspired the art.

 

Given the highly collectible nature of the jackets, Slemp has included information on care for the jackets by renowned professional conservator Rachel Waters; information for collectors on how to find them, what to avoid, and how to establish provenance by Jeff Shrader of Antique Roadshow fame; and their influence on fashion over the years by subject matter expert Laura McLaws Helms.

 

To help the novice understand the experience of airmen from pilot to ball turret, Slemp has included six beautiful aircraft illustrations from artist John Mollison. In addition, a surprise from Mollison awaits the reader on the inside of the dust jacket.

 

Mollison is famously quoted as saying, “When an old man dies, a library burns”. This lies at the very heart of why this book is so important. Slemp commented, “While photographing Brigadier General Charles McGee of the Tuskegee Airmen, I asked him why (at 101 years of age) he was still at the AirVenture airshow meeting kids. He simply replied, ‘It’s important to tell these stories.’ I felt like I got marching orders that day.”

A Gentleman's London, Episode Three: Lock & Co.

Lock & Co. Hatters 6 St James's Street, London

https://www.lockhatters.co.uk/

The distinctive dome of the Coke, otherwise known as the bowler, has defined some of modern history's most unforgettable images since it was created by Lock & Co in 1849.

From Charlie Chaplin's slapsticking on the silent screen, to the outlaws and lawmen riding the Wild West, its unmistakable silhouette has made it as much of an icon as any of its wearers.

Lock Story

https://www.lockhatters.co.uk/heritage/the-coke/

Although the Coke (pronounced "cook") is celebrated for its style now, its creation stems from something altogether more sensible: nobleman Edward Coke, younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester, wanted a superior hat to that of the top hat which kept falling off his gamekeepers' heads on the Holkham Hall estate in Norfolk. Coke wanted to create a hat that was hardy enough to protect heads from low-hanging branches and poacher attacks so on 25th August 1849, he trod the boards of Lock to place an order.

A prototype was swiftly made by Lock's chief hatmaker, Thomas Bowler, hence how it received its other more recognisable moniker. On inspection, Edward Coke tossed the hat to the floor - and proceeded to jump on it to assess its durability. It duly passed this colourful test and the bill for 12 shillings was settled. To this day the Earl of Leicester continues to purchase the hat, to which his ancestor gave his name, for his gamekeepers after they have completed one year of service.

 But the Coke's popularity did not stop on these shores - British railroad workers in western America wore the wind-resistant hat as did Derby-goers and those wishing to rise through the social ranks. But the practical hats were quickly adopted by Wild West outlaws such as Butch Cassidy and Billy and the Kid, before Stetson introduced its 'Boss of the Plains' in 1865. In the 1920's, the Coke hat was even chosen as the official headdress for South American women of Aymara and Quechua, thanks to railroad workers taking them across the pond to Bolivia.

Today the Coke remains one of Lock's best-selling styles, both for suited and booted City-wearers and those who wish to treasure a piece of this story. From being worn by Patrick Macnee in the Avengers and John Cleese in Monty Python to being immortalised in art by Rene Magritte, the Coke is Lock's masterpiece.

 Lock Story

 

Lock & Co. Hatters (formally James Lock and Company Limited) is the world's oldest hat shop, the world's 34th oldest family-owned business and is a Royal warrant holder. Its shop is located at 6 St James's Street, London and is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The company was founded in 1676 by Robert Davis. His son Charles continued the business and took James Lock (1731–1806) on as an apprentice in 1747. James later married Charles Davis's only child, Mary. When Davis died in 1759, James Lock inherited the company from his former master, and the Lock family, James's descendants, still own and run the company today. The shop has been in its current location since 1765.

The company is responsible for the origination of the bowler hat. In 1849, Edward Coke, nephew of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester and the younger brother of Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, requested a hat to solve the problem of gamekeepers' headgear. Traditional top hats were too fragile and too tall (often getting knocked off by low branches) for the job. The company commissioned London hat-makers William and Thomas Bowler to solve the problem. Anecdotally, when Coke returned for his new hat, he dropped it on the floor and stamped on it twice to test its strength before paying 12 shillings and leaving satisfied.

Admiral Lord Nelson wore a bicorne of the brand’s into the Battle of Trafalgar complete with eye-shade. The eternally rakish Beau Brummell procured its hats as part of his sartorial arsenal. Winston Churchill adopted their Cambridge and Homburg hats as sartorial signatures and Anthony Eden was never without his trusty Lock Homburg.

Notable customers include Admiral Lord Nelson, Oscar Wilde and Douglas Fairbanks Jr (who lived in a flat above the shop),[3] Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Chan, Cecil Beaton, Michael Palin, Alec Guinness, Jeremy Irons, Donald Sinden, Marc Sinden, Jackie Onassis, Eric Clapton, Duke of Windsor, Gary Oldman, Pierce Brosnan, Jon Voight, Victor Borge, Peter O'Toole and David Beckham.

Lock & Co. is a Royal warrant holder as Hatter to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Charles, Prince of Wales.

More History and Heritage : https://www.lockhatters.co.uk/heritage/

Bijschrift toevoegen

T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1903–1976)

 

T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1903–1976) was a British-born architect and furniture designer.

 

Harry was born in Widnes, Lancashire (now part of Cheshire), on April 8, 1903 (School admission form and Naturalisation papers)[needs update] and named Thomas Harry Robjohns Gibbings. He was the 7th children of William and Miriam Gibbings and attended Hale Church of England Elementary School and Widnes Municipal Secondary School leaving at the age of 17. There is no evidence of him attending higher education although many sources claim he studied at London and Liverpool University. He was definitely living at the family home in Liverpool from Autumn 1928 until he sailed to the US in November 1929 and again in 1930, when he took up residence in New York. He applied to be a naturalised American citizen in 1940.

 

It is suggested that he worked briefly in the 1920s as a naval architect, designing ocean liner interiors, and then as art director for a motion picture studio. In 1926, he may have become a salesman for an antiques dealer who specialized in Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture, and Robsjohn-Gibbings was assigned prominent accounts such as Elizabeth Arden and Neiman Marcus.

 

In the late 1930s and 1940s he was the most important decorator in America. After opening a shop on New York's Madison Avenue in 1936, Robsjohn-Gibbings proceeded to design houses from coast to coast for such scions as tobacco heiress Doris Duke, publisher Alfred A. Knopf, and socialite Thelma Chrysler Foy.

 

The design work of T. H. Robsjohn Gibbings is hallmarked as a modern mixture of the classical elements of Ancient Grecian design, and Art Deco design. It features mosaic floor reproductions, sculptural fragments, and sparse furnishings, all combining to achieve his trademark brand of modern historicism.

 

He disliked the prevailing tastes of the day, describing them as "an indigestible mixture of Queen Anne, Georgian and Spanish styles." He likewise considered Bauhaus-style modernism a fraud; he expressed his views in his writings such as Goodbye, Mr. Chippendale (1944), a spoof of modern interior design, Mona Lisa's Mustache: A dissection of Modern Art (1947), and Homes of the Brave (1953).

 

One of the designer's most important residential commissions was Hilda Boldt Weber's mansion Casa Encantada in Bel-Air. Creating more than 200 pieces of furniture for the house between 1934 and 1938, Robsjohn-Gibbings indulged his passion for Greco-Roman design by incorporating sphinxes, dolphins, lions' paw feet, and Ionic columns in table bases, torchères, and select pieces of furniture, nonetheless keeping the interior design simple and elegant. Casa Encantada survived and was sold intact to Conrad Hilton in 1952 and similarly sold on to its next owner, David Howard Murdock. He retained some of what was called the "opulent simplicity", but sold off the contents in the early 1980s. The architect might have appreciated the irony that, although the fine fittings and structure remained virtually untouched, these rooms made the perfect background for the new owner's fine collection of eighteenth century English furniture. It has since been sold again.

 

T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings much preferred the visual vocabulary of the classical world, particularly ancient Greek furniture and design. Robsjohn-Gibbings' look was widely emulated, and, from 1943 to 1956, he worked as a designer for the Widdicomb Furniture Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

In 1960, he met Greek cabinetmakers Susan and Eleftherios Saridis, and, together, they created the Klismos line of furniture, which drew heavily on classical forms, including the namesake klismos chair. It is still in production. Robsjohn-Gibbings eventually moved to Athens, where he became designer to Aristotle Onassis. He died there in 1976, ending a 34-year relationship with his partner, Carlton Pullin, whom he had met in New York.

 

His honors include the 1950 Waters Award and the 1962 Elsie de Wolfe Award.

 

His furniture has been collectible for the past decade and particularly those pieces he had designed for the Casa Encantada, which are fetching high prices in auctions. His work has been studied by Daniella Ohad Smith, who has delivered a paper in the annual conference of the Interior Design Educator Council in 2008 and has published an article on his concepts in shaping the modern American home.

 

GREAT DESIGNERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY: T.H. ROBSJOHN-GIBBINGS

 http://www.jasonmowen.com/2013/07/18/great-designers-of-the-20th-century-t-h-robsjohn-gibbings/

 

“On Greek vases I saw furniture young and untouched by time.”

 

 Relatively unknown in Australia, T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1905 – 1976) was not only a prominent writer and tastemaker but one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th Century.  What Frank Lloyd Wright did for contemporary American architecture, Robsjohn-Gibbings did for furniture design, effectively redefining the contemporary style.

 

In short, Gibbings’ legacy was two-fold.  He was the first person to reconstruct classical Greek furniture, which he did by carefully studying and sketching the scenes on ancient Greek vase paintings at the British Museum in the early 1930’s.  His passion for the “purity of line” of ancient Greek furniture was unbridled, and a constant influence throughout his career.

 

The second aspect of the designer’s legacy developed after emigrating from England to the United States.  Throughout the 1930’s and early 1940’s, Gibbings created interiors and custom furniture for the likes of Doris Duke, Elizabeth Arden and other members of America’s wealthy elite.  His best known work from this period was Casa Encantada, the Bel-Air estate of social aspirant, Hilda Boldt Weber for which he created interiors and more than two hundred custom furniture pieces between 1934 and 1938.  Highly sophisticated, Casa Encantada embodied all of Gibbings’ passion for the designs of the ancient world.

 

In 1944 Gibbings wrote the first of four books, Goodbye Mr. Chippendale, in which he mocked the prevailing styles of the day, from Georgian reproductions to the Bauhaus.  However, he did praise the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, which he considered to herald a new form of contemporary American architecture.  In his first furniture collection for Widdicomb in 1946, it was Wright’s influence rather than ancient Greece that was apparent in the low-slung, modern and mass-produced designs – designs that would inspire his contemporaries and go on to define the new American aesthetic well into the 1950’s.  Just as he’d utilised the highly inspired design source of ancient Greece to create custom pieces for the wealthy, he now used the more organic, modernist aesthetic of Wright as inspiration to create simple, beautiful and affordable furniture for the masses.

 

Eventually Gibbings would return to his more classical roots, joining forces with Saridis of Athens in 1961 to create his own line of ancient Greek furniture, based on revised versions of the sketches he made in the 1930’s.  He moved permanently to Athens at this time, designing the interiors of prominent Athenians (including Aristotle Onassis), and in 1963 published his fourth and final book, Furniture of Classical Greece, documenting his sources and designs for the Saridis line of the same name, still in production today.

 

 The Klismos chair was based on a 5th Century BC design Gibbings found on a marble gravestone.  He said, “It is to furniture what the Parthenon is to architecture.”  The first pair of Klismos chairs were made as part of the ‘Sans Époque’ collection for his Madison Avenue showroom in 1936, and then adapted for Casa Encantada.  The Klismos chair pictured, in Greek walnut and strap leather was part of his 1961 ‘Furniture of Classical Greece’ collection.  It is Gibbings’ best known piece of furniture.

 

Casa Encantada (1934-38) was the Bel-Air estate belonging to Hilda Boldt Weber, the nurse-turned-wife-turned-widow of a wealthy mid-west industrialist.  After marrying her chauffeur Ms. Weber commissioned Gibbings, America’s most prominent decorator, to design the furniture and interiors for each of the estate’s sixty-four rooms in an attempt to gain entry into Bel-Air society.  It was to become Gibbings’ most prominent work, for which he designed over two hundred custom furniture pieces incorporating Egyptian, Greek and Roman elements such as Klismos chairs and tables with either dolphins or seated sphinxes for bases.

 

Unfortunately Hilda was never accepted into Bel-Air society, despite the Gibbings designed interiors of Casa Encantada.  She eventually gambled away her fortune, and the estate was sold in its entirety, right down to silverware, to Conrad Hilton in 1952 after Hilda committed suicide.

 

Gibbings’ first line of mass-produced furniture was for the Widdicomb Furniture Co. in 1946.  It was to be the largest and most influential furniture line of his career.  Gibbings was greatly inspired by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence can be seen in this patio setting, photographed for the cover of House Beautiful in 1950.  Gibbings stated, “I don’t believe you have to design down for mass-produced furniture.”

 

Gibbings and his partner, Carlton W. Pulin published the book, Furniture of Classical Greece in 1963, following the launch of his 1961 collection by the same name.  The book documented Gibbings’ sources and original designs, and included photos of ancient Greek ruins as a backdrop for his collection, like this theatre on the island of Delos.

Villa Kerylos

Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer is a Greek-style property built in the early 1900s by French archaeologist Theodore Reinach, and his wife Fanny Kann, a daughter of Maximilien Kann and Betty Ephrussi, of the Ephrussi family.
Madame Fanny Reinach was a cousin of Maurice Ephrussi, who was married to Béatrice de Rothschild. Inspired by the beauty of the Reinach's Villa Kerylos and the area they built the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild at nearby Cap Ferrat.

 A Greek word, "Kerylos" means Halcyon or kingfisher which in Greek mythology was considered a bird of good omen.

Reinach admired the architecture, interior decoration and art of the ancient world and decided to recreate the atmosphere of a luxurious Greek villa in a new building. He purchased land surrounded on three sides by the sea on the tip of the Baie des Fourmis at Beaulieu-sur-Mer which he felt offered a location similar to that of coastal Greek temples.

Reinach selected as architect Emmanuel Pontremoli, who drawing on this travels in Asia Minor designed a faithful reconstruction of the Greek noble houses built on the island of Delos in the 2nd century B.C. and laid out the building around a open peristyle courtyard

Construction of the building began in 1902 and took 6 years to complete.  The interior integrated influences from Rome, Pompeii and Egypt with the interior decoration overseen by Gustave Louis Jaulmes and Adrian Karbowsky.Stucco bas-reliefs were created by sculptor Paul Jean-Bapiste Gascq.

Reinach commissioned exact copies of ancient Grecian chairs, tabourets and klismos furniture kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples from the cabinetmaker Bettenfeld. Other were to original designs by Pontremoli.

The building incorporated all the latest modern early 20th century features including plumbing and underfloor heating.

Upon his death in 1928, Reinach bequeathed the property to the Institut de France, of which he had been a member. His children and grandchildren continued to live there until 1967, when the villa was classified as a Monument historique. It is now a museum open to the public.

Photographs courtesy http://www.villa-kerylos.com