cover image European Illustration: The Twelfth Annual

European Illustration: The Twelfth Annual

Clibborn Edward Booth. ABRAMS, $45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-0877-2

First-rate art may turn up anywherein a party invitation, a recruitment brochure, a magazine illustration, even a label for mayonnaise. The virtue of this anthology, based on an annual competition, is that it preserves samples of the ""year's best'' in European illustration for advertising, books, journalism, film animation, posters, record covers and design, along with a sheaf of unpublished art graphics. Sheer delight for the casual browser, this cornucopia of ideas and images is a must for artists, designers and illustrators. The trilingual introduction (English, French, German) points out that in this year's compendium, social commentary and protest have given way to a breath of optimism. You'd never guess it from Robin Harris's savage satire of a press conference, an acid portrait of John Belushi or a grim rendering of a hanged man. Yet diversity is the key, with everything from the mystifying ``Fakes'' wall calendar to classy graphics from New Scientist, L'Express, the Observer and Esquire. This album shows that the gap between fine and commercial art is narrower than most people assume. (March)