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Description

Rare Blaise Domino Map of Harvard Square

Fine example of the Hawaiian psychadelic artist Blaise Domino's map of Harvard Square, published by Pict-o-graph Co. in 1976.

Interesting pictorial map of Harvard Square in the mid-1970s, covering all of the Harvard Campus and adjacent commercial district immediately northeast of the Charles River and extending to Ellery Street in the east and Cambridge Street in the north.  The map includes the names and vignettes for dozens of local businesses and the buildings on the Harvard Campus.

This is apparently one of the earliest surviving printed works of Blaise Domino, who would later go on to produce a number of famous pictorial maps of the Hawaiian Islands and transportation advertising artwork in Hawaii.

This would seem to be the artist's earliest commercial work.  OCLC also notes a map of the French Quarter, Vieux Carré, French Quarter: City of New Orleans, Louisiana, published in 1977.

"Old maps to me represent a quiet authority and grace, that as keepers of information and history, occupy a unique place in art." (Blaise Domino).

In advertising an exhibition of his work in 2004 in San Francisco, the the Honolulu Advertiser wrote on March 17, 2004

Blaise Domino is best-known in Hawai'i for his Map of the Sandwich Isles  . . .

The historical cartographer of Diamond Head was once a hippie from San Francisco, however, and he has the psychedelic art to prove it. . . .

The Blaise Domino Art website notes:

. . . Blaise Domino first came to Hawaii as a military dependent in 1960. He came to artistic prominence as a fine art student, first at Louisiana State University and then at the University of Hawaii, where he won the Grand Prize at the First All Armed Forces Art Show in 1962 with an untitled abstract expressionist oil painting. He continued his studies at San Jose State and the Sorbonne and University of Paris.

After extensive study and travel in Europe and North Africa, Blaise returned to Hawaii to pursue more commercial art, developing an aerial view style of Picture/Map for Delta Air Lines, Western Airlines, Gray Line Hawaii, the State of Hawaii and others.

Rarity / States of the Map

This is the first state of the map.  A later state was issued in 1978, using red as the primary line color and with a completely revised title and updated store and restaurant names and locations, many of which have changed.

Both states are very rare.  Neither is listed in OCLC.  The David Rumsey collection includes a copy of the 1978 edition of the map.  We have been unable to locate any reference to this 1976 edition.