Tag: vintage

The Fak Hongs

Artist Unknown,  Circa-1930 Stone lLthograph for the Magician Troupe  “The Fak Hongs”

In the first decades of the twentieth-century, a type of magic show known as the “Oriental Magician” was very popular. The early exploration of China at the turn of the century by Europeans provided material for practicing magicians to incorporate into their performances. A type of magic show known as the “Oriental Magician”, in which Western magicians donned stereotypical oriental attire, became very popular throughout Europe. 

One of these was the magician Fak Hong, a European who performed in Japanese robes and haircut similar to those of samurai warriors. Renowned throughout Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, his troupe, the Fak-Hongs”, dressed as Asian mystics and performed such magic as levitation and cutting women in half. 

Due to his show’s popularity, Fak Hong formed a second troupe which was led by the illusionist Chang, the stage name of Juan José Pablo Jesorum, a native of Panama. The two groups, now known collectively as “Chang and Fak-Hong’s United Magicians” successfully toured Europe, America, and South America. Several of their performances highlighted illusions such as “Invisible Man”, “Hari-Kari”, “Noah’s Ark”, and “Night in Tokyo”.

Adolfo de Carolis

Adolfo de Carolis, “International Exposition of Industries- Turin, Poster, 1911

Adolfo de Carolis was an Italian painter, wood-cut printer, illustrator and photographer. In 1888, after finishing primary school , he was sent to study at the Accademaia di Belle Arti di Bologna from which he graduated in 1892. His first professional work was a collaborative restoration of the Borgia Apartments in the Apostolic Palace.

In 1899, de Carolis participated int eh 3rd exposition held by the Venice Biennale. He received a commission the following year to design a bronze tabernacle for the baptismal font at the Ajaccio Cathedral. After 1902, Adolfo de Carolis concentrated on creating illustrations for artistic and literary publications for books by Carducci, Pascoli and D’Annunzio.

Adolfo de Carolis’s Turin Interanational poster was designed in 1911 to celebrate this world fair which focused on industry and labor. The fair opened on the 29th of April and covered an area of 247 acres. Over four million visitors attended the pavilions of over thirty countries.

 

Remo Bramanti

Remo Bramanti, “Titan Industrial Corporation”, Advertising Poster, 1957

This is an original 1957 single-sided lithograph by Remo Bramanti intending to promote the Titan Industrial Corporation, which was then located at 711 Third Avenue in New York City. Today, it continues to thrive in the Big Apple at 555 Madison Avenue with both the Titan Steel Corporation and TSC Logistics, LLC, making up parts of this large industrial giant.

Vintage Neon Gas Station Signs

Vintage Neon Gas Station Signs

Georges Claude patented the neon lighting tube on Jan. 19th, 1915 – U.S. Patent 1,125,476.

In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon, introduced neon gas signs to the United States, by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading “Packard” for $24,000.

Neon lighting quickly became a popular fixture in outdoor advertising. Visible even in daylight, people would stop and stare at the first neon signs dubbed “liquid fire.”