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November 27, 2012

Staring Contest

 
I'm winning. Tintype from the collection of Frank Suvari via John Demetrick.

November 13, 2012

Frank Mechau Jr.




"Frank Mechau Jr. (1904-1946) was a well-known Colorado artist who often painted scenes depicting the Western Colorado mountains he loved."

Stumbled on this artist while googling another Frank Mechau, one who illustrated a book by Aldington in 1931.

See Frank crouching in front of a mural sketch.

November 11, 2012

October 30, 2012

Marvel and misspell

05-hurricane-dean_sts118_2007230_lrg  

During the hurricane (not so bad in Philly) I posted some NASA photos of past storms on But Does it Float. (Unusually topical for me, I know.) I used a Goethe quote found in Auden's A Certain World: A Commonplace Book. Here's the full quote:

Many years ago, as now, my mind strove with eager delight to study and discover the creative life of Nature. It is eternal unity in manifold manifestation; the great is little, the little is great, and everything after its kind; ever changing and yet preserving itself, near and far, and far and near, and so shaping and re-shaping itself—to marvel at it is what I am here for.

The reason why I prefer the society of nature to any other is that nature is always right and the error, if any, can only be on my side. But if I hold converse with men, they will err, then I will, and so on forever, and we never get to see matters clearly.
Everything factual is, in a sense, theory. The blue of the sky exhibits the basic laws of chromatics. There is no sense in looking for something behind phenomena: they are theory.

On the next page Auden gives a fun Lichtenberg aphorism:
If nature be regarded as the teacher and we poor human beings as her pupils, the human race presents a very curious picture. We all sit together at a lecture and possess the necessary principles for understanding it, yet we always pay more attention to the chatter of our fellow students than to the lecturer's discourse. Or, if our neighbor copies something down, we sneak it from him, stealing what he himself may have heard imperfectly, and add to it our own errors of spelling and opinion.
Image: Hurricane Dean, 2007, NASA

October 28, 2012

October 26, 2012

Zhang Handong

Harmony Music, 1998

Southern Region Series -Static Cloud, 1998



Southern Region Series - Nocturne, 2000

Magic Dance, 1998

Fairy, 2002

Bio of Zhang Handong from Ravenel auction house (where I spend way too much time):
Chinese, b. 1964 Born in the hometown of prints, Yunnan in 1964. Zhang is a talented painter. He graduated in fine arts department from Yunnan Arts University. He had been vice-director in fine arts department of Yuxi Normal University, he is currently the vice-principal of Nieer Arts University. His way of creating is passionate but conscientious and careful at the same time. The style is simple but touching. He constantly conveys the characteristics of people, events, places and objects that he'd experienced vividly through his tactful academic skills. No matter in China or abroad, we could find his gorgeous work in many significant architectures. He's one of the artists whose works are quite popular for collection. Zhang is still in his summer of life, won several important art prizes in these years. All reveals his infinite artistic potential. In 1998, his oil painting works participate in "Art Taipei 98", in 2004, Zhang participated in the first Gallery Fair in Beijing. In 2006, he's one of the invited artists of Munich oil paintings exhibition and held "Revitalized Homeland-Zhang Handong Solo Exhibition" in Taipei.

October 24, 2012

Bat Woman

In case you thought Fini's Cat Woman from my previous post was strange, I present this 1968 Turkish film poster (from the Efraín Barradas collection)


October 23, 2012

Cat Woman

Leonor Fini, Cat Woman


I found this on a Polish auction site (where the painting was titled "Kobieta kot") and realized I've never featured Leonor Fini (1907–1996). And I fucking love Leonor Fini.

Jack in the box

"Boekillustratie voorstellende een duveltje uit een doosje"
[psychotic jack-in-the-box] 1920ish
via Geheugen van Nederland


1900-1940 also via Geheugen

Endochondral Ossification in Knee Joint of Kitten

circa 1916, classroom drawing (no memory of where I found this)

October 19, 2012

Jan Toorop's 1924 calendar













Via the Wolfsonian. The image right above is my fave.
Also see Folkert's Toorop post on But Does it Float

August 30, 2012

Izas, Rabizas y Colipoterras




Photos by Juan Colom from Izas, Rabizas Y Colipoterras (1964) by Cela

Via Galderich found while working on Catalonian Book Fetishists 3

May 13, 2012

Illustrated by Fish

From "The Noah's Ark Book" illustrated by FISH (1918)
via Full Table and Animalarium

May 7, 2012

Santa Claus delivers a new child into a world of violence and death

China  Sketch, January 1937
"Santa Claus delivers a new child into a world of violence and death"
Illustrator: Zhu Jin-lou
Modern Sketch, November 1935
China Sketch, November 1936
"China as sleeping giant. 'Give me Liberty or Death.'"
Illustrator: Li Xuan
"A Typical Chinese," 1936 photomontage
"Assorted Pictures from the North," 1934
Photomontage artist: Fen Zi-li

Here's a small addendum to my big 50 Watts post "Shanghai Expression: Graphic Design in China: 1920s to 30s." These felt perfect for MY SKULL. Via the book Chinese Graphic Design in the Twentieth Century.

March 27, 2012

February 19, 2012

Sanya's Cat


 
I bought this print from Sanya Glisic and it looks even better in real life (as most things do). Via her etsy shop.

I featured Sanya's Struwwelpeter on 50 Watts last year.

February 14, 2012