The eagerly awaited release of Frank Jump’s ‘Fading Ads of New York City’ book is almost upon us. I was fortunate enough to be offered a sneak preview by Frank himself so here are some reflections on the book to whet your appetite and hopefully encourage you to get a copy as soon as it’s published in the UK and the USA. First and foremost is the quality of photography and the specimens that Frank has captured in his daring escapades around New York. 72 examples are beautifully documented which, although representing just a fraction of his collection, offer up some of the best examples to be found in this city of signs. Two of my favourites are his first ever photograph, the four-storey Omega Oil, and the colourfully illustrated sign for M. Rappoport’s Music Store. The selection is diverse, providing excellent examples of many components of the painted form: scale; lettering; illustration; characters; slogans.  Omega Oil by Frank Jump Accompanying each sign in the book is a well researched account of the history of the company advertised. This is then set within the context of the wider industry and its connection to New York. In this sense, the book is an historical account of the commercial history of the city and the districts within it. There are parallels to Ben Passikoff’s ‘The Writing on the Wall’, although Frank uses individual signs as his springboard into the wider historical context.Perhaps the most striking difference between Frank’s book and others in the growing catalogue of Ghostsigns titles is the personal dimension that he brings to his work. The connections between his documentation of New York’s Fading Ads and his fight against HIV/AIDS are inescapable. He uses the unintended survival of the signs as a metaphor for his own survival against the odds, and is very candid in his account of his own story. In this respect, the book is part history, part autobiography, and I learned about more than just Ghostsigns from reading it.Adding another layer of depth to the book are a series of written pieces by various figures including historians, academics, and fellow Fading Ad enthusiasts. There are nine in total including an introduction from Ghostsigns pioneer William Stage (author of the original ‘Ghost Signs’ book) and an extended essay considering the meaning of these signs in terms of time and place from Dr Andrew Irving of the University of Manchester. It is clear from these accompanying texts that Frank’s life and work has touched many people in a positive way. In fact, my own account of the encouragement he offered me in the early stages of my interest in hand painted advertising is one such contribution. (To what extent it adds any depth you can judge for yourself by downloading here…) This book is a fantastic addition to the published material available on the topic and I learned a lot from it. I hope that the publishers will commission a sequel so that even more of Frank’s photography can find its way onto the printed page. In fact, it looks like it might be the first in a series of titles based on this recent announcement from Lawrence O’Toole. |
November, 2011:
Book Review of Fading Ads of NYC by Sam Roberts (Ghostsigns UK)
Forgotten NY’s Kevin Walsh in upcoming book Fading Ads of NYC
Frank Jump & Kevin Walsh @ Fading Ad Gallery in 2004
Might as Well jUmP! – Reflections on the Color Blue
In early July 1998, I was seated in my office at a well-known direct marketer on Long Island when someone—I forget who—left a New York Times article on my desk. I was enraptured as I read about a man who was just as fascinated by the fading remnants of a forgotten New York as I was and documented his discoveries on the worldwide web, as it was known in those days. His name was Frank Jump, and he ran, and still runs, a website dedicated to the “faded ads” that dot New York City’s landscapes.
The year 1998 was still the wild west days for what we now know as the Internet, but the web was beginning to assert itself as the Number One disseminator of information; where previously, amateur chroniclers had to finance and print up periodicals known as “zines” to get across their obsessions and desires, here was a golden opportunity for a cheap means of getting across what you wanted to say. The word “blog” hadn’t been invented yet, but thousands of mavens were beginning to poke their heads above the muck and make their thoughts known worldwide. Today, bloggers influence elections, elect players to all-Star games and influence the entertainment industry and everything else in every corner of life you can name, but in the late 1990s, it was mainly a hobbyists’ forum.
So it was this incredible Frank Jump photograph of Reckitt’s Blue that prompted me to sketch out on scrap paper what I wanted for Forgotten New York that memorable day in that direct marketing office. The circa 1890 ad for a laundry product manufactured by Reckitt’s known simply as “Blue” was hidden for many years behind a building on Washington Avenue and Dean Street in Brooklyn; when the building was torn down, lo and behold: there it was. Reckitt’s Blue happens to be my favorite shade of blue, by the way—and according to a Forgotten fan who wrote in to inform me, the color of the ad is: C-67.45 percent, M-34.9 percent, Y-7.84 percent, K-1.57 percent, taken from percentages from RGB monitor samples. The original color, considering the fade, may have been closer to C-74.51 percent, M-48.63 percent, Y-23.92 percent, K-10.59 percent.
In May 2005, author and friend Dawn Eden published an article for the Daily News about fading ads [pictured above] on which Jump and I collaborated.
– Might As Well Jump! – Kevin Walsh
CHECK OUT FORGOTTEN NYs NEW BLOGGY LOOK!
Bank of A. Levy, Inc. – Oxnard, CA
© Frank H. Jump
Residuals (?) Over Four Million Dollars © Frank H. Jump
© Google Books
Newspaper Archive
© Frank H. Jump
- Banco Buena Ventura – Banco BuenaVentura, a bank started last year in Oxnard with plans to serve the Latino community, is undergoing a voluntary liquidation and will close at the end of business Sept. 21.Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/sep/03/no-headline—nxxfcbanco04/#ixzz1cgv1ZoNq
– vcstar.com
Newspaper Archive
