Il L ULIII/C
On 11/1y Hands
From class to kitsch,
calendars are big business.
DEBORAH COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Calendars as art are gaining popularity.
"the Steinbeck called time
"the only critic without
ambition." Too true but
these days, marking the
months and recording
events is providing big
business for the publish-
ing industry and great
give-giving for the contem-
porary consumer.
Calendars are an artful —
and individual — form of ex-
pression that demand attention
and push cultural boundaries
for the mainstream. From class
to kitsch, noting time's passing
has never offered such variety.
No time to read Marianne
Williamson's Return to Love?
Don't fret. This guide for the
newly-empowered is now a
"thought-per-day" desk calen-
dar. In fact, self-help best sell-
ers are in full force for calendar
year 1994. Golf tips from The
Little Red Book, The Road Less
Travelled and Life's Little In-
struction Book have all made it
to store shelves in this new in-
carnation.
Animals and Einstein, myth
and magic, fractal cosmos and
fire engines all have high shelf
profiles this year as well. But
the biggest and most reliable
market for calendars has always
been good, solid art.
Art That Works
Lucy Kenyan, spokesperson
for New York's te Neues Pub-
lishing Company, explains.
"Certain artists and subject
matter don't sell anywhere, but
Monet and Matisse sell every-
where."
That doesn't stop te Neues
from pushing the boundaries,
though. Exclusive licensing
rights to artists like Keith Har-
ing, Andy Warhol, Magritte,
Robert Maplethorpe and Annie
Leibovitz have catapulted sales
and accessibility of the avant-
guard in recent years.
Ms. Kenyan admits that cer-
tain pieces "don't sell very well
in Kansas." But the triumphant
colorings of Haring are popular
everywhere. And the
Maplethorpe calendar, a beau-
tiful collection of flower pho-
tographs, enjoys wide appeal.
"We look for cutting edge, young
and fresh art that anybody can
look at and enjoy," she said.
The company also strives to
bring lesser known artists to
Deborah Cohen is a writer in
West Bloomfield.
prominence. Their newest art
calendar features Jean-Michel
Basquiat, whose wildly colorful
graffiti art focuses on the New
York world in which he lived.
Racial themes and the human
condition are explored with pas-
sion and force.
The te Neues calendars and
engagement books are available
at most bookstores, but their
new compact desk calendars
(CD-sized) can be found only at
the Detroit Institute of Arts and
its satellite shops.
World Cultures
Another publishing company
riding the calendar craze into
the new millennium is Pome-
granate. Thomas Burke, the
California company's publish-
er, began as a poster distributor
in 1968. He eventually started
printing his own posters, art
books, cards and calendars.
Managing editor Katie Burke
explains the company's philos-
ophy. 'We don't make decisions
based on trends or fads, we go
for what's fun and for what in-
terests us." Driven by the need
to represent culture, Pome-
granate includes all facets of
American and world societies in
its products.
The company's "Guatemalan
Rainbow," "Malcolm X" and
"Frieda and Diego" calendars of-
fer diversity and stunning col-
lections of color and meaning.
Pomegranate also publishes the
"Children's Defense Fund,"
"Save the Earth" and the "Van-
ishing Species" calendars — a
portion of the proceeds goes to
the sponsoring charities.
Precisely because calendars
are as individual as the public
can be, the last decade has seen
booming business and tremen-
dous variety. Pomegranate pub-
lished three calendars for 1978,
and 160 different calendars for
1994. "Most people got calen-
dars from their gas station or in-
surance company back then,"
explains Ms. Burke.
But how to choose topics for
print? Back in 1978 the choice
was clear: animals dressed like
people, or bikini-clad bomb-
shells. Calendar publishing has
evolved since then. According to
Ms. Burke, "Thomas is an old-
fashioned publisher with a vi-
sion of what people need and
want to see — of what's lacking
in our culture."
For this reason, in 1990
Pomegranate began publishing