Book Design

I have been reading the book on Art Deco etc Bookbinding and thinking about it. I always thought I liked Art Nouveau but - -. Perhaps it is not a technique which fits a four-square object like a book.  Many of the Art Nouveau designs in this book look quite Victorian and I think this is because they are still using raised cords on the spine and the front and back of the book are separately designed. Whereas by the time it gets to Art Deco, raised cords on the spine have gone and it is usual to design the front, back and spine as one so that the design flows over the spine and any titling is included in the decorative design.

At any rate, I am all for Art Deco and off Art Nouveau.

Yesterday we went to see the BBC Wildlife Photography Exhibition. Passing over in silence the problems we had with the van, the exhibition, though interesting, was not as good as last year or 2009 which was even better. I remember Michael grumbling many years ago about 'art-films', and describing the Japanese version of Macbeth as 'subtitled in Serbo-Croat and shot against the light in a dense fog'. Well much the same here. It is as if this year's fashion is for fog plus being out of focus. However the winning photo, 'Leaf-cutting Ants' is spectacular. See it here