Surfing : vintage surfing graphics

Häftad bok. Köln : Taschen. 2004. 190 sidor.

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Goin' with the Flow
Although no written account of the first human attempt to ride the waves exists, it is geneally acknowledged that the sport of surfing was spawned in the South Pacific more than four thousand years ago. A casual pastime, ancient surfing was accomplished - prone or on
one's knees - on any available floating device, from a single log to a bundle of reeds. It was not until around 1000 ad that surfers in the Polynesian archipelago of Hawaii perfected the art of standing while riding waves.

The sport of surfing was introduced to the West in 1779 by the writings of Lieutenant James King, a member of the British expedition led by Captain James Cook that landed on the islands in the previous year. His account, the first known mention of surfing in writing, painted a picture of an exotic and curious diversion greatly enjoyed by the locals.
The arrival of Europeans exposed Hawai'i as an excellent trading crossroads and soon whalers, merchants and vagabonds discovered this mid-Pacific paradise.

By the turn of the twentieth century, the United States had annexed the Hawaiian Islands. Transportation from the mainland to the islands improved and promotional magazines such as the long-running Paradise of the Pacific were launched. Depictions of island life, including images of surfing, were instrumental in luring tourists by ocean liner.

Technological innovations after World War II transformed the surfboard from an unwieldy slab of redwood to a sleek platform for traversing the waves, while surfers were constantly changing the surfboard's shape, weight and maneuverability.

For the most part, surfers were considered to be unconventional free spirits, with the media images generated after the War setting the stage to transform surfing from a sport into a lifestyle.

The release three years later of the film Gidget, a Hollywood version of real-life sixteen-year-old Kathy Kohner's innocent surfing exploits at Malibu Beach, made waves at the box office, altering the sport's image forever. As California emerged as a fountainhead of youth culture in the late fifties, surfing saturated the entertainment media - from the mega-hits of the Beach Boys to the sanitized beach movies featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.
Images of surfers and surfing appeared in advertisements and album packaging (selling anything and everything except the actual activity of surfing) and surfboards and board shorts began to be manufactured for the mass market.