Star Wars – The Print Awakens
Star Wars is getting the cover treatment from satirists, advertisers, motion graphics/animation/specicial FX artists, newsies, entertainment newsies, techies, and the world of science. Following is a sample of current, and a few historical covers in the SVA Library featuring the world’s foremost Space Opera.
Looking back through the archives there are many more opportunities to spot friendly Jar Jars or the face of C-3PO’s from an earlier age of unrest within the empire.
Or an even earlier (though chronologically later) cover treatment.
Shadows & Silhouettes
Shadows and silhouettes present us with the world in simple, elegant forms. Bereft of detail, these dark ghosts against incandescent backdrops can be very evocative.
Above, 1 of 73 images from the Shadows and Silhouettes folder in the SVA Library Picture collection. It’s somewhat surprising how much narrative we can suss out of the simple arrangements. With very little detail we can deduce that this is a man and his dog out for an early morning hunt.
Here the decision not to include the actual figure in the image and only represent her shadow adds an unnerving supernatural quality to the image (at least for this viewer). It makes the viewer yearn to know more; who is the shadow connected to? The contrast between the patterns of colors on the wall and the strong darkness of the shadows makes for a very active composition.

A window in a red rock wall deep within Ventana Mesa opens the canyon beyond to sunlight, making an exclamation point of light and shadow that changes shape with the slow rise of the sun. Ventana Mesa, Arizona

Lonely crowd – Some couples commuting to Grand Central Station now travel separately. Photograph for TIME by Nina Berman
Above, the bird’s eye view of these ice skaters and the time of day in which the photo was captured extends their shadows, exaggerating each of their movements. The shadows seem to be dripping off the figures across the white ice canvas as though gravity is working in a horizontal direction.
The use of a camera obscura in the image above is an example of how light can create beautiful forms. The image is distorted and there is a waviness to the man on the horse, however the subject matter is still recognizable. We seem to possess an ability to define things without any detail; contrast between dark and light is usually enough information. The simplicity and un-fussiness of silhouettes is part of their attraction.
Then and Now: Aperture
Aperture
n. 1 (1952) – current
The editors’ note of a recent Aperture (n. 217) quotes the magazine’s first issue musing about the relative places of pictures and words. This isn’t the only way #1 and #217 seem to reference each other, despite being almost entirely different publications. It’s remarkable how much the photographic mainstay has developed. Read on for alternating glimpses of issues with 215 iterations between them.
Then and Now: Artforum
Artforum
Vol. 1, n. 1 – current
We were wondering what an art magazine’s evolution might say about about art, magazines, and everything else, so we dug in the stacks and held the first and latest Artforum side by side. At a glance, the contributors look different, the contents have grown into genres, the reviews expanded, the gallery ads reached out, the interviews got sexy, the list suggests a response to conformity, the fights to be made have shifted targets, but through it all, like a real friend, that cover font remains the same.