Resorts at Sea - August 2012

I think I’ve already expressed how important it is to get as much from the artist’s mouth as possible regarding their shipboard work to give this project a more personal and immediate feel. Currently, I’m wrapping up drafts for a couple artists for their approval. Even though they’re in their late 80s/early 90s, they’re still creating, which is awesome.

Precious little has been written on the American South African Lines’ African Comet, African Planet, and African Meteor, save for Mark H. Goldberg’s Caviar and Cargo: The C-3 Passenger Ships. In fact, this book was instrumental in gathering artist names for this class, and American President Lines’ President Jackson class.

 

 

Two views of the dining room mural for the African Planet.

Top is daytime, bottom is at night when backlit.

Images taken from American Artist, February 1942.

If I hadn’t found the name of Domenico Mortellito in Caviar and Cargo, I wouldn’t have come across several articles he wrote. While Goldberg notes Mortellito’s work on the African Comet, he stated that artists for the other two were basically lost in the fog of the coming war. However, I found out that Mortellito was working on a mural for the African Planet’s dining room, and he wrote of his techniques using plastic and glass in its creation.

I feel like an archeologist, slowing chipping away at the layers. It’s out there; I just have to keep on digging.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a basket weaving brochure. It’s about done, and – not to toot my own horn – it looks better than I ever thought possible. The photos are great. I didn’t take them, and that’s ok. A good photo is a good photo, no matter who takes it. If, when creating a poster, or a brochure, or what have you, the designer is bent on using their inferior photo over someone else’s superior one, then they’re just looking to pad the bill. You do what’s best for the project. Anyway, I can’t wait to show it to you. It’s undergoing final revisions, and I hope to have it to you next week.