Ikonographia Visual Archives
Photography. Restored graphic works. Editorial stories that make images into arguments.
Ikonographia is built on a single conviction: that photography and graphic culture deserve the same scholarly attention, the same editorial precision, and the same depth of documentation. Original photographs and restored printed works — Art Deco New York, Bugatti engineering, advertising art and illustration from the 1910s through the 1960s. Much of it is available nowhere else.
Photography Archive
The core of the photography archive is the work of Roberto Bigano — Art Deco New York, Bugatti engineering across two eras, and the armor collection of Ferdinand von Hapsburg, produced for Franco Maria Ricci's FMR and major European institutions. The archive also includes Plastic Girls — 50 Years of Artificial Beauty, a personal project documenting shop-window culture in Europe and the United States across five decades. All of it is available exclusively through Ikonographia.
Bugatti Type 41 Royale Coupé Napoléon — Bonnet and elephant mascot, by Rembrandt Bugatti — 1929.
From Divina Bugatti — Franco Maria Ricci's most celebrated automotive book, photographed by Roberto Bigano at the Musée National de l'Automobile in Mulhouse. Two editions of 5,000 copies each, both sold out at a price few could afford.
Ricci's rule was absolute: no non-orthogonal images. This photograph broke it. His response: "I never publish this kind of photograph, but this image is so beautiful that I must. Please don't do it again."
Graphic Archive
Restored advertising art, editorial illustration, and printed ephemera from the 1910s through the 1960s — selected for visual intelligence and rarity. The work includes reconstruction: double-page spreads reassembled from unbound originals, compositions made visible for the first time as their designers intended. Portfolio Magazine by Brodovitch. Flair by Fleur Cowles. Anne Harriet Fish's illustrated satire of 1920s New York.
You Are Known by the Colors You Keep. Flair Magazine, February 1950. Artwork by René Gruau. Creations by Omar Kiam, Christian Dior New York, Jacques Fath for Joseph Halpert, and Traina Norell..
A four-panel spread reconstructed from an unbound original. The half-page insert — destroyed in every bound copy by the spine — is visible here complete. Flair's binding made most surviving copies unusable. Ikonographia holds all twelve original issues and the Almanac.
Selected Stories
Editorial insight into visual culture.
Ikonographia's stories examine how images argue. From advertising to architecture, from illustration to industrial design — each story takes a subject, places it in its historical and iconographic context, and makes the case for why it still matters. These are the images that shaped the modern imagination.
Art Deco in New York: Bronze Grilles by Paul Chambellan
A photographic study of Paul Chambellan’s sculpted bronze grilles for New York’s Art Deco interiors. These architectural works combine craft, iconography, and modern design, revealing the understated sophistication that shaped the city’s decorative metalwork..
The Blue Factory: Inside Bugatti Automobili (1990s)
A photographic exploration of the legendary “Blue Factory” at Campogalliano — an avant-garde industrial complex designed for creativity, comfort, and technical excellence. Natural light, architectural elegance, and uncompromising craftsmanship reveal the humanistic vision behind Bugatti’s rebirth.
Plastic Girls: 50 Years of Artificial Beauty
A long-term photographic archive of shop-window mannequins, tracing the evolution of artificial femininity from restraint to spectacle.
Spanning five decades, Plastic Girls examines how commercial display shaped desire, identity, and visual culture.
Coca-Cola Advertising: The Early Years (1886–1919)
A curated selection of Coca-Cola’s earliest advertisements, featuring rare and often long-lost visuals restored to high quality. This collection documents the brand’s evolution from its origins to the end of the 1910s, placing each image within the broader landscape of American commercial art and consumer culture.
Anne Fish: High Society and Early Modern Satire
A complete presentation of Anne Harriet Fish’s High Society plates for Vanity Fair (1914–1920), reproduced as full double-page spreads with their original titles, captions, and witty texts. These satirical pen-and-ink narratives reveal the humour, elegance, and social insight that defined Fish’s unique voice in early modern illustration.
Thematic Archives — A Living Gateway to Visual Culture
Ikonographia's archives are curated collections of licensable images — original photography and restored graphic works — organized by subject, period, and visual tradition. Each archive includes an editorial overview that places the images in their historical and iconographic context, giving editors, designers, researchers, and visual historians can explore before they buy.
NYC Art Deco Interiors Archive (1927-1939)
A photographic archive documenting the interiors of New York City’s Art Deco landmarks — from sculpted elevator doors and nickel-silver reliefs to mosaics, chandeliers, bronze grilles, and rare design elements preserved in only a handful of buildings.
Bugatti Archive (1910–1939)
Factory drawings, brochures, posters, and a selection of rare historical and contemporary photography — including materials featured in Franco Maria Ricci’s Divina Bugatti — revealing the evolution of Ettore Bugatti’s engineering and aesthetics.
Bugatti Automobili Archive (1990s)
A visual journey inside the legendary “Blue Factory” of Campogalliano — from its avant-garde architecture and workspaces to the evolution of the EB110 and EB112. Featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes photography documenting one of the most ambitious automotive projects of the late twentieth century.
Anne Fish Archive (1914-1930)
A curated archive dedicated to Anne Harriet Fish, with restored plates from High Society and The Eve Book, plus rare pages from Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and other magazines that shaped the visual language of 1920s high society.
Portfolio Magazine Archive (1950–1951)
A restored collection of plates, covers, and layouts from Portfolio, the legendary art-directed magazine created by Alexey Brodovitch. Celebrated for its bold typography and editorial innovation, it remains a reference point in the history of graphic design.
Coca-Cola Advertising Archive (1880s–1960s)
A curated selection of restored Coca-Cola advertising, from early trade cards to mid-century ads. This collection highlights how Coca-Cola shaped visual culture across decades of American life. Part of Ikonographia’s extensive Coca-Cola Advertising Archive.
Shop Individual Images or Explore & Buy Through Curated Archives
Ikonographia offers two complementary ways to engage with our visual collections. Purchase individual high-resolution images, or explore full curated archives before choosing what to buy.
Archives bring together restored graphics, rare printed matter, and original photography, helping editors, designers, researchers, and visual historians make more informed — and more inspired — choices.
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NYC Art Deco – Chase Bank Entrance (Chrysler Building, 1930)
A detailed architectural study of the iconic Chase Bank brass-and-marble entrance at the Chrysler Building — one of the finest examples of New York Art Deco craftsmanship.
A Dream Train Comes True — Bohn Ad (1943)
Streamlined industrial futurism from wartime America — restored from Fortune Magazine (January 1943). Art by George Walker.
Bijoux de Printemps – Harper’s Bazar Cover by Erté (May 1928)
A masterpiece of Art Deco elegance by Erté, combining refined linework, fashion, and dramatic composition.
Bugatti Type 57 range brochure in blueprint style drawings (1936)
A rare four-page coachwork brochure featuring technical blueprint-style drawings of the Bugatti Type 57 range — including: Conduite Intérieure “Galibier,” Coach “Ventoux,” Coupé “Atalante,” and Cabriolet “Stelvio.”
Plastic Girls (1977–2025): A Fifty-Year Visual Chronicle
A long-term photographic archive documenting the evolution of window mannequins and commercial display culture..
NYC Art Deco Interiors Archive
A photographic archive documenting elevator doors, bronze grilles, lobbies, mosaics, chandeliers, and sculptural details across 65 Art Deco buildings in New York City.
Bugatti Archive (1909–1952)
Factory drawings, brochures, posters, and rare photographs tracing the visual identity and engineering culture of Ettore Bugatti’s golden era.
Anne Harriet Fish Archive
Complete editions of High Society and The Eve Book, along with restored illustrations from Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, The Tatler, and other early 20th-century publications.