17/04/13 : Paintings by David Inshaw

A major exhibition of paintings by David Inshaw opens today at « The Fine Art Society » in London, with landscapes, coastal scenes, large tree portraits and other new paintings displayed alongside earlier works, including the first public appearance since 2004 of
The Badminton Game on loan from « Tate Britain »

The exhibition runs until Thursday 9th May. Opening times: Monday to Friday: 10am - 6pm Saturday: 11am - 4pm Sunday: closed For details click the image (left).

02/11/12 : Foyles Exhibition « Books as Art: A Cover Story » is an exhibition of classic cover art from the 1960s and 1970s at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road in central London. Opening times: Monday to Saturday: 9am - 9pm Sunday: 10am - 6pm The exhibition runs until Wednesday 28th November. For details click the poster (right).

31/10/12 : * NEW RELEASE * Berthold Wolpe's cover art for the 1958 Faber paper-covered Edition of JW Dunne's An Experiment With Time is now available as a framed print. For further details click the image.

27/09/12 : Fear of Clockwork Ben Masters looks back at fifty years of A Clockwork Orange in this week's edition of « The Times Literary Supplement »

31/08/12 : In Search of Utopia The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) goes back to the 1960s for a look at the optical, geometric and kinetic art of « Fontana Modern Masters » artist Oliver Bevan in the « Autumn 2012 issue » of Art Magazine.

10/08/12 : David Pelham *Exclusive* Shown here for the first time are the early cover concepts by Penguin Books' art director David Pelham for « The Terminal Beach », « The Drowned World » and other JG Ballard titles. Pelham discussed these ideas with Ballard and the 'airless thermonuclear landscapes, devoid of time' were retained in the final paintings. The half-buried nickelodeon and crash test dummy were eventually replaced by an atom bomb, the Chrysler Building and other military-industrial artefacts.

17/07/12 : Cover Art Classic 1960s Faber prints make the Hot List in the February 2012 issue of Elle Decoration.

10/07/12 : * SPECIAL OFFER * A 20% discount on limited edition framed prints by Penguin Books former art director David Pelham is now available, courtesy of the June 2012 issue of The Penguin Collector. To take advantage of this special offer click on the image, shown right, and enter discount code PCS12 at checkout (expires 15 August).

12/06/12 : Op Art retrospective

A retrospective exhibition of Op Art by Fontana Modern Masters artist Oliver Bevan is showing at the Médiathèque Uzés in France until 31 July. To see a selection of Bevan's monochrome paintings and shaped canvases (1964-72) click one of the images below.

14/05/12 : * NEW RELEASE *

We are delighted to announce the release of Tony Roberts' acclaimed science fiction painting Double Star as a limited edition framed print. The painting was used as cover art for Robert A Heinlein's novel of the same name and received widespread media attention in 2000 when the Turner Prize nominated artist Glenn Brown 'appropriated' it for his painting « The Loves of Shepherds ». The print is reproduced from Tony Roberts' original painting and is signed and numbered by the artist. For further details click the image.

14/05/12 : Fifty years old today! Anthony Burgess's classic novel A Clockwork Orange was first published 50 years ago today, so we are celebrating in style with a massive * 25% OFF * limited edition framed prints of the famous 'cog-eyed droog' by David Pelham. This very special discount is for ten days only, so to take advantage of the offer click the image and enter discount code 'clockwork' (expires 24 May).

14/05/12 : Exhibition update

Jamie Shovlin's exhibition of Fontana Modern Masters paintings at « Haunch of Venison » in London runs until 26 May. To see inside the exhibition click one of the images below.

01/05/12 : * SPECIAL OFFER * Get 20% off limited edition framed prints by David Pelham, courtesy of New York apparel and accessories company « Out of Print ». To take advantage of this special offer click on one of the prints below and enter discount code 'OOP' (expires 31 May).

16/04/12 : WE ART

The Belgian artist Paul Delvaux was ten years old when he first read Jules Verne's classic science fiction novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth. He had been given a copy of the Hetzel edition with illustrations by Édouard Riou, who portrayed the story's distinguished geologist holding an ammonite up for inspection. This depiction of Otto Lidenbrock was later appropriated by Delvaux in paintings such as Homage to Jules Verne, as was Paul Dominique Philippoteaux's illustration of the astronomer Palmyrin Rosette in the Hetzel edition of Verne's Hector Servadac, which was published in English as Off on a Comet.

15/04/12 : * NEW RELEASE * The fifth painting in David Pelham's acclaimed Ballardian series, Flying to Wake Island, is released today as a limited edition framed print. For further details click the image. 'Wow! What a brilliant painting ... I'm absolutely knocked out. The most superlative image, tremendously evocative and dazzling to look at.' – J G Ballard, 1974.

05/04/12 : Words and Pictures Mark Sinclair looks at collaborations between authors and artists, including JG Ballard and David Pelham, in the « March 2012 issue » of Creative Review.

26/03/12 : WE ART

This month's painting is The Hireling Shepherd by the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. The painting may be a reference to Jesus' parable of the good shepherd who puts his flock first and the hireling shepherd who neglects his duties to pursue his own interests. Here a hired hand flirts with a girl while the sheep stray into a field of
corn, but eating it fatally bloats the sheep and two lie dying on the ground.

Hunt claimed the painting symbolized the clergy's preoccupation with theological debate while their 'flock' went astray, but it is also thought to have other interpretations and possibly a hidden meaning. This speculation about the painting was given a bizarre
twist by Brian Aldiss in the 1960s as art met New Wave science fiction in his
cult-classic antinovel « Report on Probability A »

10/03/12 : Exhibition update The « Penguin Books exhibition » opens today at the Royal West of England Academy of Art in Bristol. Highlights include David Pelham's iconic artwork for A Clockwork Orange and his series of paintings for The Drowned World, The Terminal Beach, The Four-Dimensional Nightmare and The Drought. Limited edition framed prints are available in the RWA shop for a special exhibition price of £245.

04/03/12 : Various Arrangements An exhibition of new « Fontana Modern Masters » paintings by the British conceptual artist Jamie Shovlin will be held at « Haunch of Venison » in London from 18 April to 26 May.

28/02/12 : RWA exhibition David Pelham's limited edition framed prints will be on display at the « Royal West of England Academy of Art » in Bristol from 10 March to 22 April 2012.

27/02/12 : * SPECIAL OFFER *

To tie in with the lead story on « Ballardian » we are offering 20% off David Pelham's limited edition framed prints. To take advantage of this special offer click on one of
the framed prints below and enter discount code JGB74 (expires 31st March).

27/02/12 : The Art of Inner Space

Hot off the press and the current lead story on « Ballardian » is an exclusive interview with David Pelham, who describes how he created his 'airless thermonuclear landscapes, devoid of time' for JG Ballard and recalls the sleepless night behind his famous cog-eyed droog for 'A Clockwork Orange'. For this and more on Ballard and 'the paradigm of nowhere' click the image below.

16/02/12 : WE ART

This month's painting is The Fall of Icarus by the sixteenth-century Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder. In Greek mythology, Icarus and his father Daedalus attempt to escape from a prison on the island of Crete using wings made from feathers and wax,
but Icarus flies too close to the sun, the wax melts and he plunges into the sea.

Brueghel's painting is a recurring metaphor in Walter Tevis's classic science fiction novel The Man Who Fell to Earth. The novel tells of an alien from the planet Anthea who travels to Earth on a mission to save his species from extinction. Masquerading as a human, the alien acquires enormous wealth which he uses to fund the project that will rescue the dying Antheans. But overcome by isolation and loneliness, he gradually goes native, sinks into alcoholism and abandons the project. Finally he records an album of poetry in his native language which, unintelligible to humans, is an elegiac farewell to the Antheans monitoring Earth's radio and television transmissions for news of the rescue mission.

14/02/12 : * NEW RELEASE * The fourth of David Pelham's acclaimed series of JG Ballard paintings The Four-Dimensional Nightmare is released today as a limited edition framed print. For further details click the image. '[David Pelham's] minimalist masterpieces somehow seem to catch the singularity of Ballard's obsessions, and the clarity of the image immediately attracts the eye ... These I'd like to have as paintings.' – Rick McGrath, 2007.

06/02/12 : Oak frames now available

Our series of prints featuring classic cover art by Faber and Faber's former art director Berthold Wolpe are now available in black, white or oak frames. For further details click one of the images, below.

23/01/12 : Monograph No. 44 x 44 We're giving away 44 copies of Monograph, No. 44, the award winning, subscriber-only A5 booklet published by Creative Review, which features Penguin book covers by the Italian graphic designer Franco Grignani. To receive a free Monograph simply write your postal address in the message box when you join our « mailing list » and we'll put the booklet in the post.

16/01/12 : WE ART

The third painting in our monthly series is Wake Up and Smell the Coffin by the artist and writer Harland Miller, whose large-scale paintings based on the tattered covers of vintage Penguin books were first exhibited at London's « White Cube » gallery in 2002.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffin is a playful homage to Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Premature Burial and was part of a « Poe-themed exhibition » Miller co-curated at White Cube in 2008. A modified version of the painting was then used as cover art for The Pit and the Pendulum: The Essential Poe, which Penguin published in 2009.

The painting's cover layout and 'Good insomniac science-fiction' tagline are borrowed from the 1961 Penguin edition of John Blackburn's « A Scent of New-Mown Hay ». Miller retained the sf tagline for a new version of the painting in 2010, which uses the 1940s landscape format and cover design of the 'Penguin Modern Painters' series.

11/01/12 : The Purple Cloud M P Shiel's 1901 science fiction novel The Purple Cloud will be published as a Penguin Classic in July 2012. For further details click the image.

03/01/12 : Hell's cartographer Kingsley Amis' 1960 survey of science fiction New Maps of Hell will be published as a Penguin Modern Classic in June 2012. For further details click the image.

16/12/11 : * NEW RELEASE * Berthold Wolpe's cover art for the 1966 Faber paper-covered Edition of Pomes Penyeach by James Joyce is now available as a framed print. For further details click the image.

14/12/11 : WE ART

The second painting in our new monthly series is by the Turner Prize nominated artist Glenn Brown. Originally titled The Loves of Shepherds, the painting became the subject
of a widely publicized controversy at the Turner Prize exhibition in 2000 when it emerged that it is almost identical to a 1973 painting, Double Star, by the artist Tony Roberts.

Double Star had been used as the cover painting for Robert A Heinlein's science fiction novel of the same title, but Brown had copied it without seeking permission and neither Roberts nor Double Star was credited in the Tate's exhibition catalogue. Brown renamed his painting The Loves of Shepherds (after 'Double Star' by Tony Roberts) but critical opinion was divided, with some accusing Brown of plagiarism and others defending him by citing the Pop Art paintings of Roy Lichtenstein, who appropriated illustrations from American comic strips. For more on this see the « Spring 2001 issue » of Eye magazine.

08/12/11 : Iconic Book Design

An extended version of the Creative Review article 'Wolpe, Albertus and Faber's classic covers' has been posted on the Faber blog « The Thought Fox »

01/12/11 : * SPECIAL OFFER *

For ten days only: get 20% off limited edition framed prints by Penguin Books' former art director David Pelham. To take advantage of this special offer simply enter discount code DEC10 when placing an order (expires 11th December).

23/11/11 : Wolpe, Albertus and Faber's classic covers Following our release earlier this month of four classic prints featuring 1960s cover art by Faber & Faber's former art director Berthold Wolpe, the « December 2011 issue » of Creative Review tells the story of Wolpe, Albertus and Faber's classic covers.

22/11/11 : Competition results Congratulations to the winner of the Gallery competition in the « September 2011 issue » of Creative Review which offered readers the chance to win A Clockwork Orange framed print worth £275. The competition asked for the name of the language Alex and his Droogs use in Anthony Burgess's novel. The correct answer is Nadsat.

14/11/11 : WE ART Starting today, our new monthly series will feature a painting, sculpture or illustration on the theme of 'books, art, and books as art'. First up is Untitled (Camus), one of 58 watercolours painted over a two year period by the conceptual artist Jamie Shovlin. You can read about Shovlin's project and see more of his paintings on the « Fontana Modern Masters » website.

04/11/11 : * NEW RELEASES *

We've just released four new prints featuring 1960s cover art by Faber & Faber's former
art director Berthold Wolpe. Dante by TS Eliot, Endgame by Samuel Beckett, A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin and Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss showcase Wolpe's finest work and are now regarded as retro classics. The prints are available in a black or white frame
and are glazed and ready-to-hang. For further details click an image.

02/11/11 : The Shape of the Century The story of the Fontana Modern Masters as featured in the « Winter 2009 issue » of Eye magazine.

01/11/11 : * NEW RELEASE * Following last month's relaunch of the « Fontana Modern Masters » website, Oliver Bevan's original artwork Cascade is released today as a limited edition signed print. The print is available unframed or glazed and ready-to-hang in a white or black frame. For further details click the image.

24/10/11 : * NEW RELEASE * The third of David Pelham's celebrated series of JG Ballard paintings The Terminal Beach is released today as a limited edition framed print. For further details click the image. 'Drawn with pop art precision and in vivid colours against black backgrounds, [Pelham's] images strike the balance between surrealism and technology that Jim [Ballard] strove to attain. As illustrations to his work, they remain unsurpassed.' – John Baxter, The Inner Man: The Life of JG Ballard, 2010.

20/09/11 : Fontana Modern Masters We've just relaunched the « Fontana Modern Masters » website, with an exciting announcement to follow in November.

01/09/11 : * NEW RELEASE * The second of David Pelham's celebrated series of JG Ballard paintings The Drowned World is released today as a limited edition framed print. For further details click the image. 'In the same way as Edgar Allan Poe was to raise his obsession with death and disease to an aesthetic level, so Pelham aims to portray the inherent poetry of dereliction and decay. The result is a series of exceptionally complete and lucid paintings.' – Aune Rosemary Butt, Science Fiction Monthly, 1974.

23/08/11 : * COMPETITION *

See the « September 2011 issue » of the award-winning design magazine Creative Review for a chance to win A Clockwork Orange limited edition framed print worth £275.