Early February 1944. Watergraafsmeer near Amsterdam. Nazi occupied Holland. Today Escher has travelled 30 kilometres from his home in Baarn to to see the De Mesquita family of... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam... Read on > > >
Baron Louis Marie Baptiste Atthalin (22 June 1784 – 3 September 1856) is all but forgotten today. In mid 19th century France he was an incredible phenomenon. A dashing, aristocratic polymath, Atthalin combined being an accomplished artist, watercolourist and lithographer with a long distiguished military and political career. He began his soldiering at 22, fighting in campaigns with Napoleon’s Grande Armée in 1806 and 1807, bravely distinguishing himself at the battle of Eylau and the seige of Grandentz. Battle after battle followed […]... Read on > > >
Life & Art.
Same thing, right?
Contains adult content. The first doll Hans Bellmer produced is long since lost. It’s assemblage can nevertheless be correctly described thanks to approximately two dozen photographs Bellmer took at the time of its... Read on > > >
Ridiculously prolific & versatile, the 18th-century Dutch Republic painter from Dordrecht, Aert Schouman (4 March 1710 – 5 July 1792) was a glass engraver, printmaker, art teacher & collector/dealer. He did it all;... Read on > > >
Hollar’s portraits of 17th century fashionistas & still lifes of their acoutrements showcase that even three centuries ago some people could never have too many accessories. Part of the reason Hollar chose to... Read on > > >
Time travel tourism.
You can still go there.
These Photochrome images of Switzerland are by Photocrome Zurich, made shortly after they invented the process in the 1880s. There were 3 variations of the Photocrome processes at the time; Fotochrom, & Aäc Photocrome & the original, PhotoChrome. The Photocrome process was an old school process for colourizing black-and-white negatives via the direct photographic transfer of a negative onto lo-fi lithographic printing plates made of stobe. The process is a photographic variant of chromolithography (color lithography). Creatively choosing... Read on > > >
The photographer Thomas Andrew once had a thriving studio in on the corner of Karangahape Road and Pitt St. in Auckland, New Zealand. In the early... Read on > > >
CONTAINING: OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURAL PHENOMENA, HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE ISLAND ; AN THE RELIGION, CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF ITS INHABITANTS. “At vero... Read on > > >
During the winters of 1877–78 and 1878–79, the New York publishing house of D. Appleton & Co. sent 2 illustrators to tour Egypt and the Levant area to produce sketches... Read on > > >
Been there, seen it.
. . . . . . In 1905 Antoon left for New York with his wife to study at the Students Arts League. His brother Willem, who had already emigrated, worked in New... Read on > > >
And this (above). Moran also produced imaginary landscapes too.... Read on > > >
We think of the 19th century as a dusty, monochrome environment, where solemn people stand still for photos, in grey spaces, dressed in shades of grey. It wasn’t. The century, especially the last part of it, was psychedelic with colour. New technology mades a difference to peoples lives. One huge, visible change it supplied to every American in the 19th century, was colour. Colour began to materialise everywhere; on the boxes of farm produce and cigars, on the covers of […]... Read on > > >
We don’t know who he or she was. We just have photographs, just a handful, in one of the collections held at the Krasnoyarsk Krai Museum of Regional... Read on > > >
Seghers was one of the most unusual artists to emerge from the Dutch Golden Age, a time that began with the birth of the Dutch Republic in 1561... Read on > > >
The ridiculously prolific and multi-skilled Swiss artist Félix Edouard Vallotton was born into a conservative middle-class family in Lausanne. By the end of his life, he’d amassed a... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam semper ex, eget suscipit nulla elit sed ex. In vestibulum risus mauris, sed molestie eros accumsan nec. Nulla at porta tellus, eget dignissim diam. Ut varius mi eu consequat interdum. Mauris in egestas nisi. Phasellus a mollis mauris, facilisis feugiat neque. Praesent et pharetra magna. Suspendisse convallis lorem sit amet sapien vulputate […]... Read on > > >
Previous offenses.
Strange bite-sized chunks of retro criminality plucked from the past for your perusal.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed egestas augue ut sapien venenatis, nec vulputate quam mattis. Nunc a urna tempus, placerat nibh ut, vehicula lectus. Nulla mattis, enim eget ullamcorper congue,... Read on > > >
“This is my ambition. To stand at the head of my profession, to have every police force of civilized countries on the watch for me and to outwit them. You’ll find ten bold... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed egestas augue ut sapien venenatis, nec vulputate quam mattis. Nunc a urna tempus, placerat nibh ut, vehicula lectus. Nulla mattis, enim eget ullamcorper congue,... Read on > > >
Abraham Hendriksz van Beijeren or Abraham van Beyeren was born in The Hague somewhere around 1620. He died in March 1690 in Overschie, Rotterdam. During his 70 years he was little known or recognised for his dark, Baroque still lifes. Van Beyeren specialised in an ornate style of still life known as Pronkstilleven, (Dutch for ‘ostentatious’, ‘ornate’ or ‘sumptuous’). This sumptuous style (and it is so very sumptuous) began life in Antwerp in the 1640s from where its ostentatiousness spread rapidly all […]... Read on > > >
The “Game of the Goose” or “Goose game” is a board game where two or more players move pieces around a track by rolling a die or two dice. The track often seems to be a... Read on > > >
Henry Salt (1780 – 1827) was one of the most important figures in early 19th century travel, archaeology and foreign diplomacy. Celebrated for his expeditions to Abyssinia, Salt later... Read on > > >
Guide: black=total destruction, purple=damaged beyond repair, dark red=seriously damaged (doubt if repairable), light red=seriously damaged (repairable at cost), orange=general blast damage (non-structural), yellow=blast damage (minor), green=clearance area. Consectetur dolorem eos ut maiores et. Et vel occaecati explicabo iusto. Dolores corrupti quas accusamus fugit. Est asperiores minima aut nam aliquam aut aliquam.Eius quia praesentium impedit illo. Ut at laboriosam quia tempora quia. Optio maxime praes Officia minus et. Porro ex numquam reiciendis et quia enim autem sequi. Accusantium rerum […]... Read on > > >
Nudes of the 1800s.
There’s the whiff of scandal about the Duke of Labranzano, a hint he was something of a reprobate & perhaps an opium fiend. In at least 2 of his images there are references... Read on > > >
Invented 140 years ago in 1880s Zurich, Photochrom, a.k.a. Fotochrom, Photochrome or Aäc process, is an old school process for colourizing black-and-white negatives via the direct photographic transfer of... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae... Read on > > >
Dam Square, Amsterdam, Netherlands at 8.30 p.m on Sunday, 7th July 1652. The Old Town Hall is ablaze and the place will burn for 24 hours until Monday... Read on > > >
Burnings at the stake, beheadings. shootings, impalings, hangings.... Read on > > >
Sketchy people.
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim... Read on > > >
John Martin painted various apocolypses. Over and over and over. He was an Apocolyptian painter. Perhaps, it was a kind of escapism. It makes a kind of sense; a man born in a claustrophobic one bedroom cottage in Northumberland, England, who grew up to paint vast open expanses. It could be the other way around. He felt safe when closed in, safe from the hell of a threatening world outside. The source of calamity however most likely eminated from blood. […]... Read on > > >
Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz was the first internationally known female artist from Polish. An established portrait artist in Paris, her work was presented at the most prestigious European exhibitions, she... Read on > > >
1. Utah Copper Company at Bingham Canyon, Utah. Andreas Feininger, 1 November 1942. . . 2. Columbia Steel Company, Geneva, Utah. Andreas Feininger, January 1 1942.... Read on > > >
“We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” Neil Armstong.... Read on > > >
Although trained as a medical doctor specialising in Cholera, Dr. John Murray excelled as a photographer. The Scottish-born doctor was introduced to photography around 1849, while in the... Read on > > >
Art & life.
Strawberries & cream.
Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof (1866 – 1924), was a Dutch painter heavily involved in the arts and crafts movement. Born in Zwollerkerspel, Dijsselhof studied first at the art academy in The Hague, then moved... Read on > > >
A decade later, in 1930 Acsinte opened his modest commercial studio in Slobozia. He gave it a grand name: Foto Splendide Acsinte. Probably the only professional photographer in the county for decades, Acsinte... Read on > > >
His parents, thinking it unlikely their son would support himself with bird pictures, encouraged him to pursue a regular course of study at Cornell. But Louis was far from a brilliant student. He... Read on > > >
After leaving the Rijksakademie, from 1882 to 1886 he lived in Brussels where he joined Les XX (Les Vingts), a group of artists centred on James Ensor. Toorop worked in various styles during... Read on > > >
Past & Present. N U M B E R 1 . This is the first of a set of three modern-life pictures on the theme of the fallen woman. They are typical of... Read on > > >
These life studies were once thought, by the Royal Academy where they are held, to be the work of the great William Etty. But there’s a problem. Etty died in 1949 and one... Read on > > >
“There’s just something absolutely magical about his panoramas,” said Tom Patterson, a senior cartographer with the U.S. National Park Service. To say Heinrich Caesar Berann (1915-1999) made maps is a bit like saying Muhammed... Read on > > >
The obscure art nouveau illustrator, Emmanuel Joseph Raphaël Orazi, known as Manuel Orazi, was probably born in Rome in 1860 and died in Paris in 1934. Information on Orazi is scant. Yet another “very... Read on > > >
Armchair tourism.
Monuments of Persian architecture: historical study and recording of Muslim brick buildings in Asia Minor and Persia by Friedrich Paul Theodor Sarre. Sarre was a German Orientalist, archaeologist and art historian who, during amassed an impressive collection of Islamic art during his lifetime. His father was from a Huguenot family, his mother from the Heckmann industrialist family. Sarre studied art history in Leipzig. He travelled for archaeological research thanks to his aunt Elise Wentzel-Heckmann (1833-1914) to Anatolia, Persia and Central Asia, specializing in Islamic art. Together with Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948) he excavated […]... Read on > > >
Artistic blood flows pure and fast in the Knip veins. Born into creativity in Tilburg, the Netherlands in 1877, Josephus Augustus Knip was the son of a decorative... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae... Read on > > >
In this scene from the biblical book of Exodus, Moses and Aaron (upper right) visit the pharaoh, who is mourning his son. The Egyptian ruler’s son had died... Read on > > >
For 18th-century Britons, Constantinople, now Istanbul, was perceived as a city of charm, exoticism and historical pedigree. In 1798, British interest in the city increased dramatically when the... Read on > > >
Previous offenses.
Strange bite-sized chunks of retro criminality plucked from the past for your perusal.
Californians were no strangers to death by shooting in the late 1800s. The gunmen and their victims were mostly men. The events that unfolded at the Belew household in Dixon in November 1897... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis imperdiet fermentum augue, sit amet efficitur sapien feugiat id. Proin finibus nibh nec tortor vehicula ullamcorper. Suspendisse tempor sem sed urna blandit, ac scelerisque... Read on > > >
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. […]... Read on > > >
Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau movement, was named after a hedonistic literary and arts magazine called Jugenda. The Jugendstil movement embraced all areas of the arts from graphic design and... Read on > > >
At the age of 6, Wenzel Hablika stared deeply into a crystal he’d found in his hometown of Brüx in Czechoslaovakia. The toddler Wendel saw “magical castles and... Read on > > >
Satirical journal Der Wahre Jacob was founded in 1879 in Hamburg with the aim of fighting the monarchy and mammonism. It was run by Social Democrats. The first 12... Read on > > >
Invented 140 years ago in 1880s Zurich, Photochrom, a.k.a. Fotochrom, Photochrome or Aäc process, is an old school process for colourizing black-and-white negatives via the direct photographic transfer of a negative onto lithographic printing plates. The process is a photographic variant of chromolithography (color lithography). Creatively choosing colour & then using a mechanical process to apply that colour to a black & white photo rather than doing it by hand. Colouring-in a monotone world. The printer is the Detroit Publishing Co. […]... Read on > > >
Miscellaneous. A pot pourri of pearls purloined from the past.
Random bite-sized chunks of extreme retro-ness plucked from the time's dust and polished for your perusal.
For almost a hundred years they were unknown to people. In Tomsk, Siberia, Galina Kolosova, the lady in charge of the Department of Rare Books in the city’s Research library discovered, among some... Read on > > >
A couple of crosses without anyone hugging them. Singles looking for love.... Read on > > >
The Swedish National Heritage Board holds in its archives a large collection of photo postcards from the Almquist & Cöster Company, operative from the 1920s until 1968 they were one of Swedens major... Read on > > >
Remote fragments from the void.
Scattered elements. What stories lie in the gaps between? You fill in the blanks.
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore […]... Read on > > >
During 1913, an obscure Russian explorer named I.G. Ivanov (1826-1929) undertook two gruelling topographical expeditions into southern Siberia, one to the Gornaia Shoria in the Altai region and... Read on > > >
If you go to the very outer edge of nowhere, turn right and keep walking you may eventually get to Kamchatka. The indigenous Koryaks, call it “The Land of Fire and Ice” It’s a 777 mile long peninsular jutting out of the farthest end of far eastern Russia. rctic winds from Siberia combine with the coldest current the Sea of Japan can muster to cover the place in snow for 8 months a year. From October through to late May. […]... Read on > > >
Bodies of work.
2 almost forgotten artists models & one not much not so. Peruse a muse.
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui... Read on > > >
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui... Read on > > >
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui... Read on > > >
1910s - 1920s Russia. Three artists, one disappearing Siberian culture.
The Selkups originated in the basin of the great Ob River, a cross breed mixture between the aboriginal Yeniseian peoples and Samovedics from the Sayan mountains early in the first millennium. They were... Read on > > >
The Selkups originated in the basin of the great Ob River, a cross breed mixture between the aboriginal Yeniseian peoples and Samovedics from the Sayan mountains early in the first millennium. They were... Read on > > >
The Selkups originated in the basin of the great Ob River, a cross breed mixture between the aboriginal Yeniseian peoples and Samovedics from the Sayan mountains early in the first millennium. They were... Read on > > >
The nationwide US government survey of buildings that captured so much more.
"Photographers unknown" give us a wonderfully randomised & totally unique scattergun view of the United States. Anonymous deserves some belated kudos.
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim... Read on > > >
Design.
If you were from Bavaria, as many American immigrants were in the mid 1800s, it wouldn’t be at all strange if when you thought of goats you thought of beer. And vice versa. ... Read on > > >
Johannes Josephus Artes. Parts 1, & 2.
Whilst it may seem a trifle unempathetic to round up a human life, to precis an existence down to just the sum parts of interest to us, it must be done, selfishly in this case in order to get to the images, the art more swiftly. Arguably an artist’s work is the raison d’etre. Show don’t tell then, but tell a little, we must. A Dutch printmaker and painter, Johannes Josephus Aarts (18 August 1871 -119 October 1934) trained at […]... Read on > > >
In Arte’s output there are two broad stages/areas of subject matter, in the first (covered in Part 1) he dwelt on everyday scenes of ordinary rural working people;... Read on > > >
Throughout both (what I’ve called Parts 1 & 2) periods where his subject matter began with the Dutch farmworkers, dyke workers etc. & moved to a time around... Read on > > >
Obscuriousities.
Plucked quickly from within the fog of time for you to scroll thru' slowly :
Bartholomeus Breenbergh (before 13 November 1598 – after 3 October 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657).... Read on > > >
The “Splendid Mountain Sketchbook” is a collection of watercolours & sketches that John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) produced, in 1870 whilst on a summer excursion to Switzerland’s Bernese Alps in the Berner Oberland. The sketchbook contains 60... Read on > > >
Court of Assizes of the Seine. Paris, Monday June 26, 1874. A young man and a young woman arrive to sit before President Louis Claude Douët d’Arcq on the “bench of infamy”. A... Read on > > >
Suspendisse imperdiet lorem at porta vulputate. Sed maximus eget tortor non facilisis. Donec aliquet suscipit justo et pulvinar. Maecenas gravida nisl massa, in dapibus nulla porttitor ac. Nam ac odio eu lorem dignissim... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sale tantas pericula in ius. Vix dolor legere ad, ne quo prompta offendit epicurei, ad vel cibo recteque. Qui no iusto dicunt luptatum. Et iriure denique vix,... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sale tantas pericula in ius. Vix dolor legere ad, ne quo prompta offendit epicurei, ad vel cibo recteque. Qui no iusto dicunt luptatum. Et iriure denique vix, et... Read on > > >
“The case of William Hope and his Crewe Circle deserves to be remembered today because it shows that it is practically impossible (and futile) to try to convince someone who wants to believe even in the face of quite convincing contrary evidence.” Massimo Polidoro. Photos of Ghosts: The burden of Beleiving the Unbeleivable. 2011. These photographs of ‘spirits’ are taken from an album of photographs discovered by chance in a Lancashire second-hand and antiquarian bookshop by a curator from the […]... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae... Read on > > >
For the Dutch painter and photographer George Hendrik Breitner (1857 – 1923), his interest in photography began as a practicacal means to capture street life in all its... Read on > > >
Art & design.
Treasure with the dust wiped off:
The Australian Martin Lewis is one of America’s greatest chroniclers of urban life. He came to possess a magical power – the ability to capture obscure light sources, the light within shadow, adverse weather... Read on > > >
At 12 years old, I learned that you can indeed judge a book by its cover. A cover can magically change the way reading a book feels. My childhood family holidays were spent... Read on > > >
During the mid-Edo period of 1603-1867, Japan sealed itself off from the world outside and was ruled by a feudal military shogunate of samurai. The Tokugawa. The shoganate forged a stronghold over the... Read on > > >
“He lives in a museum – alone – and likes it. Keeps snakes as pets, is fanatically interested in primitive things and does all his creative work at night. He doesn’t make preliminary... Read on > > >
Niles Spencer & his work is often associated with The Precisionists, a loosely knit group including Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Louis Lozowick, George Ault, Elsie Driggs and Ralston Crawford. Precisionism pared down the... Read on > > >
Soon after moving to American the late 1850s, a German baker named Frederick Schmid very quickly changed his name to plain old Fred Smith. His wife, Hermine Selinger Smith, was a singer in... Read on > > >
Léon-Henri-Marie Frédéric (1856-1940) was born too late. Centuries too late for the 16th century Flemish school and Renaissance art of the 1400s he so admired. The mythical scenes of Botticelli with their creamy nude... Read on > > >
In the archives of the University of California, there are 13 feet (30 boxes) of correspondence, reports, documents and data, relating to dams, hydroelectric power installations, irrigation works, and municipal water supply systems,... Read on > > >
In the beginning Los Angeles was dust, It emerged from the desert. To fully flower, the city would always need water to grow. Without Joseph Barlow Lippincott (1864-1942), engineer, topographer and hydrographer, Los... Read on > > >
Protest and dissent.
They were so beautiful when they were angry:
Lewis Wicke Hine (1874 – 1940) was among the first to use a camera as a tool for social reform. In his hands it was a weapon for... Read on > > >
Before the Russian Revolution(s) of 1917 there was another; the First Russian Revolution of 1905. Lenin later called it “The Great Dress Rehearsal,” without which the “victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would not have been possible.” The years 1904 and 1907 saw mass movements, strikes and protests decline and an unprecedented wave of overt political violence that swept across Russia. Combat groups such as the SR Combat Organisation carried out many assassinations targeting civil servants and police, and […]... Read on > > >
Art & design.
Treasure with the dust wiped off:
Whilst these woodcut prints (below) by Seitei (after Bijutsu Sekai) seem surprisingly simple and contemporary, the artist’s background is complex and ancient. In 1851 when the artist now known as Watanabe Shōtei (AKA Watanabe... Read on > > >
Proin dapibus augue eu diam dictum dignissim. Aliquam sit amet vestibulum magna, eu rutrum enim. Pellentesque maximus a erat volutpat mattis. Duis leo metus, rhoncus nec sodales eu, vestibulum et quam. Pellentesque ornare... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam semper ex, eget suscipit nulla elit sed ex. In vestibulum risus mauris, sed molestie eros accumsan nec. Nulla at porta tellus, eget dignissim diam. Ut varius mi eu consequat interdum. Mauris in egestas nisi. Phasellus a mollis mauris, facilisis feugiat neque. Praesent et pharetra magna. Suspendisse convallis lorem sit... Read on > > >
Sometime in September of 1890, in a small Italian village called Ornavasso in the Piedmont region of Italy, a man called Enrico Bianchetti recieved news of something that would... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud... Read on > > >
These Photochrome images of Dresden by Photocrome of Zurich, were made shortly after the company invented the process in the 1880s. The Photocrome process was an... Read on > > >
William Okell Holden Dodds (1867-1934) was a Canadian Brigadier General in the First World War. A militia officer before WW1, Dodds was an army man through and through. He served with the Canadian Garrison Artillery, the Royal Scots of Canada, the Canadian Field Artillery, and the Canadian Grenadier Guards. In 1914 Dodds joined the Canadian Expediationary Force as Officer Commanding the 1st Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery. Dodds returned to civilian life in 1919 and worked in the... Read on > > >
Deep in the Smithsonian archives sits a box labelled "Miscellaneous Photographs circa 1845-1980". No one in their right mind would want to look through that.
Every one of the photographs is an artist. But what of the art behind the face? It’s a wild smargasbord platter of the obscure, forgotten, dubious and "little is known of".
It’s a wildly varied smargasbord platter. No one in their right mind would put it together. Deep in the Smithsonian archives there’s a box of photographs labelled “Miscellaneous photographs circa 1845-1980”. Around 150... Read on > > >
This photo itself is special. It was taken in Davey’s Santa Fe studio in early 1949 by “perhaps the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay”. The... Read on > > >
The next photograph out of the Smithsonian’s box of American art flotsom contains Walt Kuhn and Walt Kuhn is absolute gold. So. The art behind the face in another photo from the Miscellaneous... Read on > > >
Lost aesthetics.
Backdated & belatedly curated.
The most distinguished German arts journal of the Jugendstil period, Pan is celebrated for its typographic design and original graphic art. Founded by Otto Julius Bierbaum and Julius Meier-Graefe, Pan highlighted international developments in art, literature, theater, and music. ... Read on > > >
Invented 140 years ago in 1880s Zurich, Photochrom, a.k.a. Fotochrom, Photochrome or Aäc process, is an old school process for colourizing black-and-white negatives via the direct photographic... Read on > > >
“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto... Read on > > >
Nam Et Exercita Tempora laboriosam ut officiis et mollitia. Est dignissimos distinctio praesentium vitae voluptates numquam accusamus. Soluta blanditiis excepturi aspernatur perspiciatis non aut reiciendis.... Read on > > >
Nature aging beautifully.
Long dead organisms resurrected for your unscientific examination.
Exotic flora from foreign climes, their genitalia turned provocatively, suggestively toward the viewer, Dr. Robert John Thornton’s romantic floral opus, A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus; Part III, Temple... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam semper ex, eget suscipit nulla... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam semper ex, eget suscipit... Read on > > >
Long before cabled observatories were built to explore the ocean, HMS Challenger embarked on the world’s first global oceanographic expedition. Sponsored by the Royal Society of London, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, the... Read on > > >
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque ut dui dignissim justo fermentum consectetur non vel ligula. Nullam dignissim nisl ut sapien placerat, ut lacinia augue accumsan. Duis malesuada tristique velit in... Read on > > >
Harriet (1830-1907) and Helena (1832-1910), artists and naturalists, were born in Sydney, Helena on 11 April 1832. Educated by their father on Ash Island, they acquired a considerable knowledge of Australian plants, animals... Read on > > >
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Suspendisse euismod dui eget ipsum euismod vehicula. Mauris fringilla, diam ac vestibulum placerat, velit quam semper ex, eget suscipit nulla... Read on > > >
Irrational Geographic.
Backdated & belatedly curated.
His parents, thinking it unlikely their son would support himself with bird pictures, encouraged him to pursue a regular course of study at Cornell. But Louis was far from a brilliant student. He failed in philosophy, mathematics and chemistry, but received perfect grades in drawing. In his memoirs, his elder brother James recalled a brother that lacked any passion for geometry or mathematics and would often fall asleep when being coached. During one lecture, Louis climbed out from... Read on > > >
The advent of colour lithography in America allowed artists to bring colour, and colourful art to the 19th century American masses. It also meant artists could... Read on > > >
The Danish-Norwegian, Right Rev.d, Erich Pontoppidan (1698 – 1764), was Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen as well as an author & a Lutheran... Read on > > >
Global Latest
Selected 1950s imagery from two Chinese government (propaganda) pamphlets on Tibet, Xizang... Read on > > >
In the early nineteenth century, British consumers increasingly demanded representations of foreign... Read on > > >
The extremely prolific English architect,Digby Wyatt was the younger brother of another,... Read on > > >
The obscure art nouveau illustrator, Emmanuel Joseph Raphaël Orazi, known as Manuel Orazi,... Read on > > >
Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), was an enigma. He was many other things, things... Read on > > >
“A popular description of their occurrence, value, history, archaeology, and of the... Read on > > >
Exotic flora from foreign climes, their genitalia turned provocatively, suggestively toward the... Read on > > >
During 1913, an obscure Russian explorer named I.G. Ivanov (1826-1929) undertook two... Read on > > >
William Okell Holden Dodds (1867-1934) was a Canadian Brigadier General in the First... Read on > > >
The Swedish National Heritage Board holds in its archives a large collection... Read on > > >
Before the Russian Revolution(s) of 1917 there was another; the First Russian... Read on > > >
Irrational Geographic.
Backdated & belatedly curated.
Yle is Finland’s national public broadcasting service. Suomen Yleisradio (Finland’s General Radio) was founded in Helsinki on 29 May 1926. By 1928 Yle’s broadcasts became available to the whole country. After this the broadcasting network was developed and by the beginning of the 1930s, 100,000 households were able to listen to Yle programmes. Cut to the 1950s and Yle Suomen Yleisradio were cutting edge, pushing radio and design boundaries. Welcome to the obscure world of Yleisradio c. 1930-1950.... Read on > > >
Not the most likely canditate for artistic photographer, Hubertus Salomon Hordijk (1862-1930) kept his passion to himself for a decade. No-one was going to argue. He... Read on > > >
Between 1805 and 1808, the Amsterdam artist Christiaan Andriessen kept a diary; a visual diary with over 700 drawings and watercolors depicting the the goings on... Read on > > >
Keizersgracht Theatre Fire of 11 May 1722. In 1664 it was decided that Amsterdam’s Van Campen was too small and out of date. It had to... Read on > > >
Selected 1950s imagery from two Chinese government (propaganda) pamphlets on Tibet, Xizang hua ji (1954)... Read on > > >
Art of protest.
Delicious discontent.
Deeper in the rabbit hole:
Curiouser & curiouser? Come on down.
Étienne Léopold Trouvelot. Part 2.
Painting the cosmos in 1892.
Shop coming soon.
A description & rude call to action will go here.
