MapCarte 156/365: Map of lovemaking by Seymour Chwast, 1980

MapCarte156_loveMaps are often used to explore places we rarely, if ever, get to see. These may be far away lands or even fictional places. They may equally be much closer to home and medicine has long had a need to create intricate maps of the human body. More formally, these may take the form of slices through an MRI scan that provide us with images that can be seen individually or pieced together to make a 3D picture. Such images are no different to representations of terrain that we create by draping a geography over some surface feature and artists and designers have used maps as inspirational drapes over all manner of surfaces.

Here then, a playful commentary on the fascination we have of viewing inside the human body. The renowned designer Seymour Chwast has used the act of lovemaking as a focus for his map that depicts the topography of the various parts of our anatomy. Chwast founded the famous Push Pin Studios in the 1950s and the influential Push Pin Graphic publication has became known for its bold graphic design. Chwast made a number of images of the human body as part of his work.

Chwast uses contour lines to give a sense of organs and skeletal structures having a mass. He also uses familiar colours that we may find on any number of maps of land use to differentiate between body parts. The subtle difference between the male and female bodies, through different colours, allows him to map two people differently. The darkening of colours for the ‘higher’ countoured peaks also gives a sense of depth. The typography is well crafted and without this component the image would be rather one-dimensional. Using type makes the picture a map-like object.

Strictly playful cartography and definitely whimsical but why can’t we use maps to have some fun from time to time?!

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