Cartography can be an art. In our most recent catalog we include the cartographic works of artists like Art Spiegelman, Etta Garson, Ruth Taylor, Ernest Dudley Chase, and even James Whistler. It's the artist's approach that reaches beyond dry geography and brings a region or topic to life. For instance, James Whistler, in his first printed work, made a map for the Anacapa Islands off the California coast. The map is richly detailed and includes a detailed shore profile, giving the perspective of how a sailor would see the coast. But Whistler didn't stop there, he included birds flying nearby and grasses blowing along the shore, unfortunately his bosses at the U.S. Coast Survey didn't find it fitting and in short time decided Whistler didn't fit in either.
Decades later, such infusions of expression and perspective into cartography would find a welcome home in work such as that of Frank Dorn, a student of Chinese history and while in the army was stationed in Asia where he produced a find map for modern Beijing, then "Peiping". His map is an artistic impression of the city, its many colors and cultures showing not just the points of tourist interest but a bit of the feel of the town.
Please review our latest catalog online, through our webpage at http://www.oldmapgallery.com/
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