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MI6 previews the forthcoming exhibition Bond Bound:
Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design, opening later this
year for the centenary celebrations...
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Bond Bound Exhibition Preview
8th January 2008
The centenary
of the birth of Ian Fleming, creator
of James Bond, is to be marked by a major exhibition of cover
artwork from the books about the suave secret agent 007 at the
Fleming Collection at 13 Berkeley Street, London W1. Bond Bound:
Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design, which will be on show
from 22 April to 28 June 2008, will include unique and previously
unseen archive material.
Fleming, who was born on
28 May 1908, was the grandson of Dundee-born Robert Fleming
(1845-1933), the founder of the investment bank that bore
his name for more than a century. The bank acquired the
world’s finest corporate collection of Scottish art
now housed at The Fleming Collection, which is supported
by the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, an independent charity.
Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design
will cover all Ian Fleming’s books including the
children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Thrilling
Cities -his collected travel journalism. However, much
of the exhibition will inevitably chart the role of artists
and designers in creating and defining the Bond look. The
covers of Bond novels stretching back more than half a
century provide a fascinating snapshot of society’s
changes attitudes to sex, feminism and politics.
Fleming’s first Bond novel Casino Royale was published
in 1953, and the author worked on the cover design himself,
describing it as one of “exquisite symmetry and absolute
chastity”.
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Above: Author Ian Fleming at his desk |
Over the ensuing decades the front
cover was changed on several occasions reflecting a more open
attitude towards sex and later a move towards greater simplicity
on book jackets.
The James Bond brand was established within
the first few pages of Casino Royale. 007 had cold, ruthless
eyes, drove a 1933 4.5 litre Bentley and drank Martinis “shaken
not stirred”. He smoked Morland cigarettes (a special Balkan
and Turkish blend), carried a .25 Beretta automatic handgun and
soon met the enchanting Vesper Lynd, who wore a black velvet
dress “simple and yet with the touch of splendour that
only half a a dozen couturiers in the world could achieve.” It
was a compelling mixture of sex, style and violence that soon
turned Bond into the most famous fictional secret agent in history.
That in turn provided artists and designers
with wonderful opportunities to use their talents to the full.
The exhibition will come right
up to date with the literary legacy of Ian Fleming, including
artwork from Charlie Higson’s bestselling Young Bond series,
The Moneypenny Diaries by Samantha Weinberg, which add a previously
unknown female perspective to the Bond story and the latest instalment
in Bond’s adult life written as a tribute to Ian Fleming
for the Centenary by Sebastian Faulks.
Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design will be
accompanied by a catalogue containing essays by a number of experts
including Alan Powers, an art historian and author of two publications
on the design of book jackets. The exhibition will go on tour
after it closes in London.
The Fleming Collection
13 Berkeley Street
London W1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 5730
Fax: +44 (0)20 7409 573
Nearest tube: Green Park
Monday Closed to general public
Open by appointment for group visits and educational events 10am
- 5.30pm (Admission Free)
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5.30pm (Admission Free)
Sunday Closed
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