MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art, one of the most exciting art spaces IN THE WORLD is selling our very own iPhone cases in its New York based design shop, and very chuffed we are indeed!  Printing one of the most iconic and enduring images of modern Western art to fit into the pockets of its admirers has kept us busy over the past few months, with iPhone 4 and 5 cases flying out of the office at a rate of knots …and the image in question?

Edvard Munch’s The Scream has probably graced many a wall up and down the land but if you want to see the real thing then MOMA’s pastel-on-board version, lent to the museum by a private collector*, can be seen until April. Or you can make your starting point in Norway, as did we, at Oslo’s dedicated Munch Museet.

Getting great artwork on our cases is one of the goals here at Giant Sparrows HQ, so when our Art Director Tine met with the team at Munch’s eponymous museum, it wasn’t long before The Scream was gracing every work surface in our South London office. From manufacture in London to the shop shelves in Oslo and subsequently New York, it’s been great to see quality artwork in demand and to learn a bit more about Edvard Munch.

And with the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth being celebrated throughout his homeland of Norway during 2013, Much fever is unlikely to die down any time soon.

Munch Mania Eye Boggling Stat:
*According to auction house Sotheby’s, this version of The Scream was sold for a whopping £73, 921, 284 in May 2012.
 

See more here:  http://www.moma.org

I sometimes tear out bits of newspaper for a future peruse, and inevitably bits of paper start yellowing both physically and in the back of my mind as I forget to return to a story. Transferred from shelf to folder to drawer until I get fed up and the black bin-liner comes along saying “FEED ME!!!”

But one story that has made it through the cracks in my mind concerns a certain Carleton Watkins, written about at length in the guardian. (You can read about it here).
Excuse me if am showing my ignorance here, and if you know all about this intrepid photographer and are wondering why I don’t, but let me give a synopsis…

Mr Watkins took amazing photos of Yosemite valley, showcasing the stunning natural beauty of the area back in the mid-19th century, way way way before it was open to tourists. No mini digital camera to fit conveniently in your pocket back then, nope, the man had to suffer no doubt a bit of back pain for the sake of his art, carrying a heavy arsenal of photographic equipment into a valley unknown to the masses. Fast-forward bad luck following good, and the man died without a penny and not much recognition for his efforts, an all to familiar story with artists. Watkins’ reputation was bolstered over a century later with exhibitions of his work, but if it wasn’t for a few advocators, his name would have been lost to the ether.

Now, with all the ways to get your own photography visible, maybe there’s less chance of your own art being lost to the world, it’s in the stratosphere somewhere-(or maybe on your phone?), but this is just a spared thought if you will, to all the forgotten masterpieces and creators, whose names will never be unearthed, but whose work lives on in the cracks.

Image from the J. Paul Getty Museum collection.

J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles holds many of Watkins’ original prints, and has published a collection of his photographs.