Ikonographia Stories
A Story is the core module of Ikonographia. It brings together a curated collection of images on a selected topic, expanded through historical context, archival research, and textual documentation.
Stories feature the work of illustrators, photographers, and designers, with a particular focus on 20th-century advertising, visual culture, and art objects. Explore and buy images by topic in the Archive Pages.
Bugatti Automobili, The Blue Factory & EB110 — A Complete Visual Archive
This featured story introduces a newly re-edited and expanded view of Roberto Bigano’s photographic documentation—available nowhere else—of one of the most ambitious and influential supercar projects of the 1990s.
This page brings together three fully restyled chapters and reframes them as a coherent visual archive: the Fabbrica Blu, the production process behind the scenes, and the development of the car from the EB110 model to the EB112.
Portfolio Magazine — Brodovitch and the Reinvention of Editorial Design (1950–1951)
This featured story introduces a newly re-edited and expanded view of Portfolio Magazine, edited by Alexey Brodovitch, a radical editorial experiment published between 1950 and 1951.
This page brings together three fully restyled chapters and reframes them as a coherent visual archive: Portfolio’s three issues and selected contents.
This restyling allows for a clearer understanding of the magazine’s original visual logic, its full-spread reproductions, and the original descriptive texts.
Art Deco Elevator Panels at Fred French Building (1927) — Glinsky & Bach
Explore the gilded Art Deco elevator panels of the Fred F. French Building (1927), created by Vincent Glinsky and Oscar Bach. Eight symbolic reliefs represent Commerce, Industry, Finance, and Building — a rare surviving masterpiece of early New York skyscraper art.
These elevator doors visualize the four pillars of Fred F. French’s real-estate empire—Industry, Commerce, Finance, and Building—through a sculptural language blending Art Deco geometry with echoes of ancient Mesopotamian reliefs.
Art Deco Radiator Grilles at Chanin Building (1929) — by Chambellan
A complete visual and iconographic study of the Chanin Building grilles (1929), combining new photographic documentation with historical analysis.
The project focuses on René Chambellan’s sculptural program and decodes The City of Opportunity as a symbolic narrative embedded in the building’s metalwork—where Art Deco ornament becomes a language of ambition, labor, and urban identity in late-1920s New York.
Plastic Girls: 50 Years of Artificial Beauty
Plastic Girls: 50 Years of Artificial Beauty introduces a newly re-edited and expanded view of Roberto Bigano’s long-term photographic study of shop-window mannequins.
This featured page brings together three fully restyled chapters and reframes them as a coherent visual archive, examining artificial femininity and commercial display as cultural artifacts across nearly five decades.
American Mannequins — Journey into Hyperreality (1982–1988)
This is the second part of “Plastic Girls,” a forty-year project by the Italian photographer Roberto Bigano documenting mannequins. All the pictures were taken in the United States from 1982 to 1988, mainly with a 4×5 view camera.
Plastic Girls — The Age of Plastic Innocence (1977–1980)
This chapter documents the earliest phase of the Plastic Girls archive, focusing on shop-window mannequins before the rise of performative display. Photographed between 1977 and 1980, these figures are defined by restraint: balanced poses, controlled gestures, and a visual language centered on stillness rather than spectacle. Seen today, they mark the final moment of an “innocent” artificial body, quietly entering public space before excess, dramatization, and theatrical identity took hold.
Bugatti EB110, First Model, Prototype, EB110 Supersport, EB112
This third episode about Bugatti Automobili showcases the various models of EB 110 and EB 112. A collection of striking pictures, many of which unpublished, including the very first Epowood model with the covered wheels.
The Dream Factory — La Fabbrica Blu, Campogalliano (1990–1995)
Ikonographia celebrates Bugatti Automobili’s myth with three posts using the splendid images of Roberto Bigano, Bugatti’s photographer in the 1990s. Romano Artioli , the founder of Bugatti and Gianpaolo Benedini, the Architect who built the facility tell us all the story.
The Kellogg Kids, by Leyendecker. Corn Flakes Ads 1916-1917
Enjoy the complete collection of illustrations by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes’ advertising campaign, which ran in the Ladies’ Home Journal magazine during 1916 and 1917.
The extremely vivid illustrations evoke feelings of positivity, health, and joy. Thanks to digital restoration, the artwork retains the feel and detail of the originals, making them even more delightful.
The Old Testament Ivory Carvings. Amalfi XII Century
This story highlights the impressive reproductions of the nearly complete set of Old Testament Ivory Carvings, which date back to the late 11th century. These carvings are housed in the Diocesan Museum of the Cathedral of Salerno, Italy. Their origins remain a mystery, likely connected to the powerful and prosperous Maritime Republic of Amalfi. The next story will focus on the New Testament.
The most intriguing British Dunlop ads of the thirties.
Explore an extensive collection of Dunlop’s most intriguing campaigns from 1933 to 1938, featuring beautiful illustrations created by talented artists with different styles and perspectives. The illustrations are carefully crafted to depict a variety of social situations.
Most of these images are exclusive and not available online.
The hi-res files are digitally restored, preserving the detail and feel of the originals.
The Art Deco Glass Objects by Serge Roche, 1930s
This story presents an overview of the Art Deco glasswork of French artist Serge Roche during the 1930s, highlighting his innovative techniques like “Oxidations” and “Eglomisation” in creating mirrors and glass objects.
We showcase several of Roche’s notable creations, including unique mirrored furniture and a grand mirror fireplace, often commissioned by elite clientele.
Selected Contents from Portfolio No. 2 (Summer 1950)
Selected Contents from Portfolio N.2. Summer 1950. Each issue of “Portfolio” was filled with remarkable content, and we are dedicating a story to each issue. This is a focus on Issue No. 2, published in Summer 1950.
The introduction texts and the captions are taken from the original magazine.
The Eve Book by Anne Harriet Fish 1916
The “Eve Book,” also known as “The First Book of Eve,” is a historical gem published in 1916 by Brentano in the US and the Tatler in the UK. Introducing the new star illustrator, Anne Fish, it is a curated collection of drawings published on the Tatler from 1914 to 1916 in the column “The Letters of Eve,” offering a unique glimpse into the dark days of World War I.
The Nonexistent Knight – The Armour Collection of Ferdinand Von Hapsburg
Discover the Armor collection of Maximilian II of Hapsburg.
Starting in 1577, the Tyrolese Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg, who later became Holy Roman Emperor, amassed a diverse collection of art and wonders at his Ambras Castle, near Innsbruck, which astounded his contemporaries. His primary focus was on the armory, where he collected the armor owned by all the famous personalities of both his own era and previous centuries—from princes to military commanders.
Celebrating the Art Deco Centenary. 1925-2025
The Coca-Cola History Trough Ads. A fascinating journey starting in 1896, when nine drinks a day were sold, marking the humble beginnings of a global phenomenon.
This first part chronicles the period 1896-1919, including the story of the original Coca and Cola extract recipe, the Trademark registration, the first ads, the Coca-Cola Branding Journey, and Imitation Fighting.
The whole story will spam into the 1960s.
The Coca-Cola History Through Ads. 1 – 1886-1919
The Coca-Cola History Trough Ads. A fascinating journey starting in 1896, when nine drinks a day were sold, marking the humble beginnings of a global phenomenon.
This first part chronicles the period 1896-1919, including the story of the original Coca and Cola extract recipe, the Trademark registration, the first ads, the Coca-Cola Branding Journey, and Imitation Fighting.
The whole story will spam into the 1960s.
The Bugatti Catalogs Functional Design. 1920s and 1930s
Ettore and Jean Bugatti, the creative minds behind Bugatti’s iconic designs, also oversaw the creation of Bugatti’s literature with an obsessive attention to detail. Their influence can be seen in every catalog, advertisement, poster, and factory technical drawing.
Bugatti’s literature had a home-made taste. The Company didn’t have the budgets of most car makers, but its brochures were original and elegant—a class from itself.
Augustus Jansson’s Ink Beasts Parade for Queen City Ink 1905
Augustus Jansson, a Swedish-American illustrator and designer, established a reputation through his original and superior work when he began a seven-year working period for Queen City Printing Ink.
Bugatti Masterpieces of 1920s and 1930s. By Roberto Bigano
Ikonographia is proud to showcase a gallery of the most iconic vintage Bugatti masterpieces, highlighted by the splendid images of Roberto Bigano. The models range from the legendary Type 13 and Type 35 racing models to the stylish Type 57 Atalante and Atlantic designed by Jean Bugatti.
Social Events in 1920s High Society. By Fish
A second compilation of pages from Vanity Fair and the book “High Society” on “Social Events in 1920s High Society,” illustrated by Anne Fish.
Any double-page plate focuses on a specific topic providing a unique, rich lens into American and international high society’s lifestyles of the 1910s and 1920s. Rigorously in black and white, these inimitable sketches are completed with entertaining captions.
Divina Bugatti. A Timeless Legend Celebrated in a Timeless Book
Divina Bugatti. The legendary Brand celebrated in a Timeless Book, created as a joint effort between Romano Artioli, owner of Bugatti Automobili, and Franco Maria Ricci—immersing readers in the making of the book, the characters, and a selection of the most breathtaking pictures.
Gluyas Williams Cartoons from “Ourselves as Others See Us.” 1920s
Gluyas Williams Cartoons from “Ourselves as Others See Us.” This story features the entire run of double-page illustrations published in Cosmopolitan in 1928. This was the golden age of the magazine’s illustration, featuring splendid plates from artists such as Gluyas Williams, Charles Dana Gibson, and Anne Harriet Fish in the same issues.
Selected Contents from Portfolio No. 1 (Winter 1950)
Portfolio Magazine, edited by Alexey Brodovitch, was conceived as a radical editorial experiment and a laboratory for a new visual language.
This story brings together a curated selection from Portfolio No. 1, highlighting key spreads and sequences that defined its editorial approach.
Newly unbound, full-spread reproductions restore the magazine’s original designs, revealing compositions previously hidden by binding and reproduction limits.
Flirting, Engagement, Weddings & Divorce in 1920s High Society. By Fish
A first compilation of pages from Vanity Fair and the book “High Society” on Flirting, Engagement, Weddings & Divorce, illustrated by Anne Fish.
Any double-page plate focuses on a specific topic providing a unique, rich lens into American and international high society’s lifestyles of the 1910s and 1920s. Rigorously in black and white, these inimitable sketches are completed with entertaining captions.
Flair Magazine by Fleur Cowles as never seen before. 1950
Conceived and produced by visionary editor Fleur Cowles, Flair Magazine existed for only one year and twelve issues. Nevertheless, Flair launched a new aesthetic paradigm for mass-produced lifestyle magazines. The magazine combined art, fashion, travel, and reportage to take the most out of its Editor’s formidable influence in promoting European and American talent.
The double spreads pages are reproduced from the originals.