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Sempé Fi: O Christmas Tree
Filed under: Sempé Fi Tagged: art, atoomstijl, covers, Floc'h, Hergé, holidays, Jan Van Der Veken, Jan VDV, ligne claire, Pollux, Serge Clerc, Ted Benoît, Yves Chaland
Pollux writes:
The genial faces of the December 7, 2009 issue of The New Yorker provide welcome warmth in the coldness of a winter made bleak by war and woes both economic and political. “Holiday Cheers” is the name of the cover, and its artist is the Belgian illustrator Jan Van Der Veken.
Van Der Veken’s couple is literally wrapped up in holiday cheer. Unlike the gray passers-by behind them, who are weighed down with packages and briefcases, the young man and woman are fresh-faced, happy, and hopeful. They seem to be joyfully conscious of what the holiday season actually means: togetherness.
In their blissful state, they scarcely notice the layers of snow that have settled on their headwear.
Van Der Veken’s large red ribbon swirls about magically. It gently encircles the happy young couple and the Christmas tree they carry. This is the only purchase they consider important. They don’t care about Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, or Restock Tuesdays.
Van Der Veken’s retro-modern style lends itself well to this image of optimism and hope. This Belgian illustrator is a practitioner of atoomstijl (“Atomic Style”), a throwback to the ligne claire style first popularized by that other Belgian illustrator, Hergé.
The “Atomic Style” is both retro and futuristic at the same time, evoking a postwar era in which a fascination with nuclear power and rocket science made anything seem possible. The couple is wearing clothes that evoke the 1950s era, a time when men wore fedoras and white gloves and women Chanel suits or Christian Dior jackets.
Pioneered by Yves Chaland, Ted Benoît, Serge Clerc, and Floc’h (who also created a New Yorker cover this year), atoomstijl or style atome sweeps away any hint of cynicism and fatigue that the December 7, 2009 issue may have showcased in the hands of a different illustrator.
Jan Van Der Veken, who signs as “Jan VDV,” is young and energetic. As this website proclaims, “the positive attitude towards technology and the unlimited possibilities in the future of that era is reflected in all of his works.”
In the short documentary featured on the website of his design company, Fabrica Grafica, we see him speeding along the streets of Ghent on a Vespa before we cut to footage of the artist in his studio.
Happy Holidays! The world may belong to the young, but a good holiday season belongs to us all.
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Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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