Jim Flora

"Jim Flora's illustrations have that almost impossible-to-attain quality that work done for commercial consumption rarely has: his drawings and designs are still interesting and lively today, not being rendered moot by forgotten fashion trend, taste, or faded cultural association. On top of this, he was obviously a serious artist who enjoyed doing his work. In other words: he was actually good." – Chris Ware

"Exciting eyeball jazz, that was Flora. Simultaneously primitive and modern — a cartoonish blend of Rousseau and Picasso, Miro and Bill Traylor. " – John Canemaker (author/historian, 2006 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short)

"Flora's work features great modernist design and eye-catchingly expressive cartoon characters — and neither loses out to the other. There are not many artists who can do that, and no one did it better than Flora." – Pete Docter (Pixar director, Monsters Inc.; co-writer/animator, Toy Story)

"For many of the artists whose work decorates the jewel cases of today’s CDs, a major influence is a man most have never heard of: an illustrator of record albums in the 1940s and '50s whose work can be found today in thrift shops and flea markets and hardly anyplace else. For this generation of artists and illustrators, Jim Flora is sort of an unknown creative granddaddy […] Flora’s designs are magically simple distillations of Cubism, Surrealism and cartoon madness, with playful figures and instruments floating in planes of color." – The New York Times

See also:
• Blog posts relating to Jim Flora on FLOG! The Fantagraphics Blog