25th July
Art of the First Cities: The Third
Millennium BC from the Mediterranean to the Indus.
'This exhibition explores through art the emergence
of the world's first city-states and empires in
Syria and Mesopotamia during the third millennium
B.C. and relates these developments to artistic and
cultural connections stretching from the eastern
Aegean to the Indus valley and Central Asia. The
works of art, many brought together for the first
time, illustrate the splendor of the most famous
sites of the ancient world including the Royal Graves
of Ur, the palace and temples of Mari, the citadel
of Troy, and the great cities of the Indus Valley
civilization. The exhibition includes approximately
400 works of extraordinary sculpture, jewelry, seals,
relief carving, metalwork, and cuneiform tablets. '
The Photography of Charles Sheeler.
'The first major exhibition of photographs by the
American artist Charles Sheeler (1883-1965), this
show includes work from each of the artist's major
photographic series, from the rough-hewn surfaces of
his Doylestown house to the Manhattan skyline, from
the swelling forms of a nude body to the industrial
landscape of an automotive works. Also included are
a number of Sheeler's little-known late photographs,
which were employed in place of traditional sketches
as "notes in shorthand" for his paintings of the
1940s and 1950s.'
Charles Sheeler's Contemporaries.
Celebrating Saint Petersburg.
'Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding
of Saint Petersburg, the exhibition features the
Metropolitan Museum's principal holdings of Russian
and European art, spanning the period from ca. 1700
through the early 20th century, that were either
made in the imperial Russian capital or found in
former Saint Petersburg collections. '
The Tibetan Tanka Exhibit.
'The Museum of Anthropology posesses 48 Tibetan
Tankas acquired by the Koelz Expedition. These are
from a number of monasteries in Ladakh and represent
various time periods and Buddhist sects ... '
Monet in the Twentieth Century.
History of New York's Central Park.
The Stevens Collection of Chinese Silk Gowns.
The Robinson Collection of Asian Ceramics.
The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Mandala Sand
Painting.
'For five days Tibetan Lamas of the Drepung Loseling
Monastery painstakingly creating a Mandala Sand
Painting at Berea.'
Hopi Kachinas.
'The Museum has a small collection of Hopi Kachinas.
Most of these are from the estate of Harold and Louise
Corbusier. The Corbusier specimens were collected
prior to 1950 and are a fine example of the carving
style common in the first half of this century. Some
of the other dolls are of more recent origin. Where
possible an identification of each doll is provided.'
Sago Spathe Painting.
'Sago spathe paintings are made by the Sawiyano
people of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea.
They are used in both the nunu, young boy's
initiation, and also the yafi-nu, men's ritual,
houses. These ritual houses are not permanent
structures, they are constructed anew when it is felt
that another set of initiations is needed. The
paintings figure in the Sawiyano creation myth. Their
importance in ritual derives from their secret
significance. The creator Awoufaise first brought
paintings into being, then created the Sawiyano (male)
ancestors from the paintings. This knowledge is
imparted to men at the yafi-nu ritual house, prior
to the first initiation connected with that ritual
house. These are the most-sacred of the three types
of Sawiyano ritual houses.'
The Cook Pounder
'The Cook Pounder is a Northwest Coast Indian club
collected in Nootka Sound during the third voyage of
Captain James Cook in 1778.'
Manet and the American Civil War.
'In June 1864, an important episode in the American
Civil War took place in international waters off the
coast of Cherbourg, France: the duel between the
United States warship U.S.S. Kearsarge and the
Confederate commerce raider C.S.S. Alabama. The
battle captivated the imagination of the French
artist Edouard Manet, who painted the victorious
Kearsarge at Boulogne-sur-Mer. '
Wonder Bound: Rare Books on Early Museums.
The Underwater Web: Cabling the Seas.
'Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, was a typical telegraph
relay station, small and isolated. Yet the cables
that left this cabinet stretched across the sea to
stations thousands of miles away, and through them
to the major cities of the world ... '
Voyages: Journeys of the Imagination.
'Throughout time, voyagers and explorers have drawn
readers to unknown lands through stories in song
and legend, early manuscripts, and printed books.
Then as now, these intriguing accounts of discovery
and faraway places broadened the world view of those
left at home.'
'Voyages of discovery can be of many kinds: a
physical journey to an unknown place, a mental
exploration of new or familiar territory, or a
wholly new episode of creative thought. All three
are explored in Voyages, an exhibition spanning
five centuries of rare books, manuscripts, art,
and artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution
Libraries.'
Celestial
Themes in Art and
Architecture. Via
Quiddity.
Molecular
Expressions: Images from the Microscope. Via
Eclogues.
City
of Kingston Historical Images. Via
boynton.
Balthus: The Golden Days.
Balthus: Nude with Arms Raised.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Centre Gallery.
link
24th July
Art as Cosmology: Cheyenne Women's Rawhide Painting.
Exploring the Mandala.
'In Tibetan Buddhism, a mandala is an imaginary palace
that is contemplated during meditation. Each object
in the palace has significance, representing some
aspect of wisdom or reminding the meditator of some
guiding principle. Tradition dictates the shapes,
sizes and colors of these objects. There are many
different mandalas, each with different lessons to
teach. Most mandalas contain a host of deities as
well as inanimate objects ... '
Mandala.
A dissection and discussion
of the different components of the mandala;
excellent.
'Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community, connection.
The Mandala is a symbol of man or woman in the world, a support for the meditating person.
The mandala is often illustrated as a palace with four gates, facing the four corners of the Earth.
The Mandala shown here is connected with the Buddha Vajrasattva, who symbolises the original crystalline purity.
In the centre is a lotus blossom with eight petals, resting on a bed of jewels.
In the next place are the walls of the palace with gates towards the four corners of the earth.
The gates are guarded by four angry doorkeepers.
Before the meditating person arrives at the gates, she
must, however, pass the four outer circles: the
purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, the
circle with the eight tombs, the lotus circle ... '
Early Tibetan Mandalas.
Celebrity Caricature.
'In the late 1990's the Smithsonian American Art
Museum and the National Portrait Gallery Library
(AA/PG Library) made a special effort to collect
materials on caricature and cartoon in conjunction
with the National Portrait Gallery's 1998 exhibition
"Celebrity Caricature in America", curated by Wendy
Wick Reaves. Among our holdings are more than 80
issues of Vanity Fair, as well as the Raymond W.
Smith Collection of Caricature and Cartoon Books of
over 500 items. Displayed here is just a small sample
from our collection, featuring Al Hirschfeld, Miguel
Covarrubias, some of their contemporaries, and works
from Vanity Fair ... '
The Making of a Homemaker.
'Sustaining a home and healthy family was a full time
job for middle class women in late nineteenth century
America. Daniel Wise articulated the popular sentiment
when he proclaimed, "Home is woman's world, as well
as her empire". Cooking, cleaning, and child rearing
were seen as women's work. To some, "Comfort for her
family is provided even at the expense of many an
exhausted nerve, and an aching heart".
How did they handle the daunting work without the aid
of microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners and carpools?
Wealthier women might rely on servants while other
matrons bore the brunt of work themselves. However,
to almost all, a comprehensive domestic guidebook
could be indispensable ... '
Science and the Artist's Book.
'Science and the Artist's Book is an exhibition
which explores links between scientific and artistic
creativity through the book format. In 1993, the
Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the Washington
Project for the Arts (WPA) invited a group of
nationally recognized book artists to create new
works of art based on classic volumes from the
Heralds of Science collection of the Dibner Library
of the History of Science and Technology, a part of
the Smithsonian Institution Libraries' Special
Collections. The resulting artist's books, each
inspired by the subject, theories or illustrations
of the landmark works of science with which they are
paired, offer a number of witty, imaginative, and even
poignant insights into the creative side of scientific
research ... '
"Make the Dirt Fly!": Building the Panama Canal.
Frontier Photographer: Edward S. Curtis.
An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian
Libraries. Wonderful.
From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an
Institution.
Maori Art at the British Museum.
'June 26, 1998, was a special day in the 250-year
history of the British Museum. After many years in
storage, the Museum's Maori collections were at last
on view-not as mere ethnographic specimens or
curiosities but as Maori taonga (treasures) and
works of art. Titled simply Maori, this significant
event took place not at the Museum of Mankind, which
closed at the end of 1997, but in the British Museum
itself. Maori performers in traditional costume and
with moko tattoo designs painted on their faces danced
and sang in the very shadow of the Elgin Marbles.
This day in which the art of the Maori was presented
was a significant advance in the Museum's integration
of tribal art into its galleries ... '
Frans Lanting.
Wildlife photographer.
Art Wolfe.
Landscape and wildlife photographer.
He Wahi Whakairo.
Maori carvings. Online samples and gallery.
The Gutenberg Bible at the Ransom Centre.
'The Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type, is
one of the greatest treasures in the Ransom Center's collections. It
was printed at Johann Gutenberg's shop in Mainz, Germany and
completed in 1454 or 1455. The Center's Bible was acquired in
1978 and is one of only five complete examples in the United States.'
Via
MeFi.
The American Gallery of Psychiatric Art.
Via
MeFi.
Bad
Girl Movie Posters. Via
MeFi.
The
Photomontages of Hannah Hoch. Via
Art for
Housewives.
Baseball
Cards.
Via Internet
Weekly.
Bertha
Lum.
Via Internet
Weekly.
Propaganda
Art.
Via Internet
Weekly.
A
Menu of Possibilities.
Via iconomy.
Picturing
Childhood:
The Evolution of the Illustrated Children's Book.
Via iconomy.
Shauna
Peterson.
Via iconomy.
Christian
Northeast.
Via iconomy.
Lisa Petrucci.
Via
neurastenia.
'The
Raven' Illustrated by Dore.
Via Dublog.
First
World War Art.
Via Dublog.
Uranium
Glass.
Via Dublog.
Sacred
Sites.
Via mysterium.
The
Welsh Fairy Book.
Via
headlessness.
Church
Layouts. Via
headlessness.
The
Sheraton, Gary.
' "The Best Place For A Taste Of The 80's - TODAY!"
shouts the brochure for the defunct Sheraton Gary.
Existing in a time warp since it closed two decades
ago, it is still the best place in town for a taste of
the 80's today ... '
Via gmtPlus9.
Westray, Orkney.
Local website for one of the most remote of the
British Isles.
'Westray is one of Orkney's most prosperous isles,
known for its farming and fishing fleet. It has its
own community school which serves pupils from age 5
to age 15, The beaches are clean, the air pure and
the roads virtually traffic free ... '
Wild Wonders.
'Learning animal's behavior to capture intimate images
of another world.'
Bhutan: The Last Place
on the Roof of the World.
Robot.
'Eyebeam will host ROBOT, a four-day festival
featuring a robotic talent show, exhibition,
workshops, presentations, party and massage parlor.
ROBOT will take place from July 12 – 15, 12-6pm daily
at Eyebeam's Chelsea facility located at 540 West 21st
Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. The four-day
event will examine current applications of robotic
technologies on creative practices, activism,
consumerism and physical intimacy ... '
Michael Moore.
John Pilger.
link
23rd July
Animal
Locomotion. The photography
of Eadward Muybridge.
Mathew
Brady's Portraits.
Visible
on Our Skins, Close to Our Hearts.
Maori tattooing.
Mad in
America. A history of mental illness and
its treatments in the United States.
Tibet
in Black and White.
'In recent photography, Tibet has usually appeared in
color. In the brilliant sunlight of the high plateau,
blues are bluer and reds redder; Tibet is a colorists
dream. But the quality of light in Tibet also reveals
itself in a perpetually changing play of brightness
and shadow, whose gradations of intensity are less
well captured in color than in the medium of black in
white. In my photographic efforts during my visits to
Tibet over the years, therefore, I have sought to
attend primarily to the chiaroscuro revelations of
landscapes, persons, and artifacts. The images
presented here reflect aspects of journeys in 1990 and
2002. In 2002, this work was undertaken in conjunction
with the Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library Project
based at the University of Virginia.'
Via Himalayan
Art.
Coffee
Shop Classics.
Roadside americana, via Roadside Peek.
Man Ray
Photo.
Smiling
woman.
Woman
with snake.
Dead
man in coffin.
Sixties
Photography.
Mick
Jagger by David
Bailey.
Ephemera
Now.
Deja
Vu: AIDS in Historical
Perspective. (CBC, 1996)
' "A mysterious epidemic, hitherto unknown, which had
struck terror into all hearts by the rapidity of its
spread, the ravages it made, and the apparent
helplessness of the physicians to cure it." A quote
about AIDS? No. It's about the appearance of syphilis
in the early sixteenth century. Writer Colman Jones
finds the two diseases share issues, from science and
public health to civil liberties and sexuality ... '
Selected
Letters by Florence Nightingale.
Dying
to Have a Baby - The History of Childbirth.
'Two great curses haunted natural childbirth from
ancient times, the shrunken pelvis and obstructed
labour. With urbanization and hospitalization,
puerperal fever became common. Because so often
mothers died in childbirth and children in infancy,
attitudes towards birth and babies were different from
ours. Parents expected that children would die in
infancy, and death in childbirth was an expected
tragedy ... '
Riches of Richmal. Just William.
Via
Frizzy Logic.
Crace
Collection of Maps of Britain. Via
the Map Room.
The
Folklore of Britain.
Via neurastenia.
Venetian
Masks.
Via neurastenia.
Dissecting
a Dogfish Shark. Via
MeFi.
Communist Store Windows.
Via
iconomy.
Anatomy Books.
Via
Dublog.
Virgil Finlay. Weird Tales illustrator.
Via
Dublog.
Electron Microscope Image Gallery.
Via
Monkey Media
Report.
Amboise Pare:
Journeys in Diverse Places.
'Pare relates his experiences as an army physician
during the sixteenth century.'
Ajanta and
Ellora Caves.
Indian and Buddhist cave art.
Zen
Buddhist Order
of Hsu Yun. A virtual temple for the study of Zen.
Art
of the Samurai. Via
JapaneseArt.org.
Netsuke
masks.
Sagemono
pipe
cases.
Quiet
Mountain Tibetan Buddhist
Resource Guide. Extensive Tibetan Buddhist
gateway.
Ngai Tahu.
'Welcome to the Ngai Tahu Web Sites. We are an
indigenous Maori people of New Zealand. We invite you
to learn about our culture, our history, and our
people in New Zealand today.'
Kura.
'A fantasy story based on the Maori equivalent to
elves, etc. ' Via
Maori.org.nz.
Maori
Myths and
Legends.
How
the kiwi lost his
wings.
Teachers
Against Prohibition.
Battlefield
Conversions. 'Reason talks with three ex-warriors
who now fight against the War on Drugs.'
link
22nd July
Visible
Earth.
Russian
Art.
Natalia Anikina.
Birth
of kibutz.
Execution
of a priest.
William
Bloom: Images
of Africa.
Spirit
of the Samburu People.
Photos from Kenya.
They
Still Draw Pictures.
Drawings made by Spanish children during the Spanish
Civil War.
Pierre
Daura: His Life and Work.
'Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia was born February 21,
1896, on the island of Minorca, Balearic Islands,
Spain, and moved shortly thereafter with his family to
Barcelona, Catalonia. He was known in Catalonia as
Pere and later, outside of Spain, as Pierre. His
father was a violinist with the Barcelona Liceo
Orchestra and his godfather was the famed cellist
Pablo Casals ... '
Pierra
Daura: Self
Portrait as Loyalist Soldier. Spanish Civil War.
Images of the Spanish Civil War from the Illustrated
London News.
The Wunderland
Weekly News.
Inuit
Drawings.
Virtual
Thangka Gallery.
Thangka
Paintings from Tibet and Nepal.
Japanese
Lifestyle Photos.
Bush
Protest Art.
Birth
of Feminism Poster.
'Women producers have been trying for years, without
luck, to convince movie and tv studios to make a film
about the feminist movement of the 1960's and 70's. We
think they're lucky Hollywood HASN'T gone for it.'
Send
Estrogen
Pills to the White House. Poster.
The
Real Homeland Terror
Alert System.
Anatomically
Correct
Oscar Billboard.
Kujo
Brothels. Photos.
'The quiet, old-fashioned neighbourhood of Kujo, in
southern Osaka is famous for it's brothels. Both the
customers and the working girls look pretty down on
their luck and all the shops have help wanted signs on
them.'
Sculptural
Robotics. Thanks to
madamjujujive.
Mont
St. Michel. Via
MeFi.
Blue
Marble.
'This spectacular "blue marble" image is the most
detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date.
Using a collection of satellite-based observations,
scientists and visualizers stitched together months of
observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and
clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every
square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.
These images are freely available to educators,
scientists, museums, and the public. Preview images
and links to full resolution versions—up to 21,600
pixels across—are located below.'
The
Cat's Paw Nebula.
link
21st July
Pepys' London.
'Pepys was born in London on 23 February 1633. He was
a senior naval administrator and had a wide range of
interests. He died on 26 May 1703.'
'His famous diary, kept between 1660 and 1669, gives
unique insights into contemporary London.'
'This exhibition illustrates different aspects of his
life. It combines objects of the period with extracts
from the diary. To explore the 12 exhibition themes,
select from the menu to the right.'
Navin
Kumar.
Himalayan art.
Virtual
Ani.
'A thousand years ago the city of Ani was the capital
of an Armenian kingdom that covered much of present
day Armenia
and north-eastern Turkey. At that time Ani had a
population of at least 100,000 and its wealth and
renown was such that it was known as the "city of a
thousand and one churches". Built on a spectacular
site - a plateau almost encircled by deep ravines -
Ani's many churches, palaces
and fortifications
were amongst the most
technically and artistically advanced
buildings in Europe at that time. '
'Ani is now a ghost city, uninhabited for some four
centuries and marooned since 1921 in a Turkish
military zone right on the border
with modern Armenia. Today's visitors to
Ani must explore the ruins under the
supervision of armed soldiers and most of the
extensive site is now off-limits. Enter this website
for a building by building description of Ani, plus
some of
the medieval Armenian churches, monasteries and
castles that are
in the vicinity of the
city and that are
now within Turkish
controlled territory. Click inside the entrance arch
of the city gate to enter.'
The Country of Georgia. Photos and story.
'After living overseas for the past 10 years, the
tropics had become imbedded into my psyche. The
intensity of light, for example, the contrasting
shadows of midday, all these things were the things
that I thought I could not do without. Marie my wife,
who works as a development worker, and I were
discussing new places where we could move, we were due
for a change ... '
Introduction
to Armenian
Rugs.
'Armenians are the earliest known weavers of oriental
rugs. Ulrich Schurmann, a reknowned expert on oriental
rugs, believes that the Pazyryk rug, the world's
oldest known rug (5th cent. B.C.), can be attributed
to the late Urartians, or early Armenians, based on
the rug's structure, design, and motifs.'
'Marco Polo and Herodotus are among the many observers
and historians who recognized the beauty of Armenian
rugs. They noted the rugs' vivid red color which was
derived from a dye made from an insect called "ordan"
(Arabic "kirmiz"), found in the Mount Ararat valley.
The Armenian city of Artashat was famous for its
"ordan" dye and was referred to as "the city of the
color red" by the Arab historian Yaqut ... '
The
Anonymous Portrait
Gallery.
'Anonymous art is wonderfully simple. What's there is
what the artist put into it, no more or less.
Intentions and creative contexts, ethnicity, mental
diagnosis, educational background, the artist's
art-historical role -- all are ciphers. In place of
biography there is mystery, and the creative process
speaks for itself to viewers who are as anonymous to
the artist as the artist is to them. '
A
World of His
Own.
'Joe "40,000" Murphy was just a regular guy from
Bridgeport, but he lived his life as one long special
event, and he built a private monument to it -- a
classic folk-art environment -- in his three-flat on
34th Street, near the heart of the working-class
enclave's old Lithuanian
section. '
'His enormous assemblage of images --
snapshots, publicity stills, cartoons and other
printed matter -- documents a fabulous world of
banquets and braided uniforms, mink-clad actresses and
showgirls in evening wear, ball players and
professional wrestlers, with Sammy Davis, Louis
Armstrong, James Durante , Jumbo the Elephant, Joe E.
Brown , Ann Blyth, Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle, Bob
Hope , Roy Rogers, Jayne Mansfield, James Arness and
a very young Marilyn Monroe all passing through it. '
The
Lakefront Anonymous
Art Gallery.
'Chicago is home to what might be the greatest
collection of outdoor stone carving in urban America.
Few know it exists. And now the government is wiping
much of it out. '
Native
Pacific
Northwest Sculptures
& Masks.
Native
Pacific Northwest Box of Treasures.
Hovhannes
Aivazovsky.
Armenian artist. Galleries.
'Hovhannes (Ivan) Aivazovsky is the most interesting
phenomenon of 19th century art. He gained
international fame at the age of 25, was elected a
member to five European Academies and was awarded the
medal of the French Legion of Honor. Delacroix
referred to him in reverence and Turner called him a
genius. '
'Aivazovsky's name is intricately bound with the sea.
"Perhaps no one in Europe has painted the
extraordinary beauty of the sea with so much feeling
and expressiveness as Aivazovsky has", writes V.
Adasov ... '
Martiros
Saryan. Armenian artist.
Article and galleries.
'Saryan was one of the plead of major cultural figures
of Armenia at the turn of the century. His work, in
common with the library contributions of O. Tumanian
and A. Isaakian, those of T. Toramanian and A.
Tamanian in architecture, and of Komitas in national
music, set the standard of national art, and laid the
foundations for its flowering in the Soviet period.
'
'Hi was born in 1880 and dead in 1972. In the course
of his long life, Saryan experienced much sorrow and
much joy. He witnessed the two World Wars and the
tragedy of genocide in Armenia in 1915. He suffered
the destruction of many of his paintings, and the
death of his beloved son ... '
Backyard Babies. A portrait of newly hatched
robins.
The Cataloochee Valley. Photos and story from the
Smoky Mountains,
Tennessee.
Japan's
Strange &
Unique. Photos.
Japanese
Shrines. Photos.
Japanese
Teens &
Students. Photos.
Art
of the
Yoruba, Nigeria.
'am a Yoruba by birth (born in Akure, western region)
and Igbo by heritage. As a native Onitsha Igbo, I
trace my ancestry to Eze Chima, a prince who rebelled
against the Benin royal dynasty and emigrated from the
kingdom. Other Igbos that trace their lineage to Eze
Chima include Onicha-Ukwu, Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ugbo,
Obior, Issele-Ukwu, Issele-Mkpima, Issele-Azagba, Ezi,
Abeh and Obamkpa ... '
(Scroll down for an awesome collection of images).
Stanley
Szwarc.
'Stanley Szwarc's brilliance comes across in every
object he makes, their facets reflecting the
complexity of his artistic vision as much as they do
the light. In the dozen or so years since he starting
piecing together scraps collected at the machine shop
where he works, Szwarc has made thousands of boxes,
vases, crosses, key fobs, earrings and other objects,
no two alike. A musician and bookkeeper before he
emigrated from Poland, Szwarc is diffident about his
talent, but there is no mistaking the creativity
behind his flights of ornamentation. '
Historical Boys' Clothing. Thanks to
Queen B.
Soviet
Poster Collection.
Links to more posters
here.
Imagine. A weblog about photography and other
things. Thanks to Philip of
African Aperture for the pointer.
Social
Sea
Lions. Photos.
'When I went on the Adventure Education trip, I had
several goals. One goal was to learn about the
wildlife of the San Juan Island's. My favorite
wildlife quickly became the sea lions. We saw them
almost every day. We saw sea lions on our way to
Spencer Spit. Some swam gracefully in the water,like
sleek furry bullets, others sunned themselves lazily
on warm rocks. Sea lions are the laziest things I have
ever seen. When the boats got too close, they roared
and bellowed at us! ... '
link
