oändliga himlen

Zbigniew Preisner - The Man in the Plane

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:34:02 -0600

Zbigniew Preisner - The Man in the Plane

John Thomson: The Ming Tombs in Nanjing,...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:10:22 -0600

John Thomson: The Ming Tombs in Nanjing, 1869-71. From “Illustrations of China and its People”, 1873-1874. (via matteoricci)

The saskatoon blossoms came out today, how nice!

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:31:13 -0600

The saskatoon blossoms came out today, how nice!

huntingtonlibrary: William Sharp, one of the first...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:57:56 -0600

huntingtonlibrary:

William Sharp, one of the first chromolithographic printers in the U.S., created these extraordinary illustrations for the large folio Victoria Regia (1854) by John Fisk Allen. Allen, a well-known horticulturalist, cultivated a specimen of the rare, huge (up to 8 feet in diameter), fast-growing (up to an inch an hour!) water lily, native to the Amazon. After months of careful tending, the plant—named in honor of the recently-crowned Queen Victoria—blossomed on the evening of July 21, 1853. Sharp’s depictions of this exotic wonder—in various stages of bloom—were masterpieces and elevated the then-nascent art of chromolithography to spectacular new heights.

image captions: All images are from a copy of Victoria Regia in our collections. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

sunrec: Irakli Chumburidze

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:27:48 -0600

sunrec:

Irakli Chumburidze

Photographs by Felice Beato

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:37:18 -0600

Photographs by Felice Beato

les-sources-du-nil: Yashô (1782-1825) “Bat in Flight” Ink on...

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:32:43 -0600

les-sources-du-nil:

Yashô (1782-1825)

“Bat in Flight” Ink on paper

(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. In Maurice Coyaud ‘L’Empire du regard’- Mille ans de peinture Japonaise’ Ed. Phebus, 1981)

rhamphotheca: Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Eurasia (photo:...

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:30:46 -0600

rhamphotheca:

Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Eurasia

(photo: Christophe Salin)

demons: The inside of the Reichstag, destroyed by the fighting...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:41:32 -0600

demons:

The inside of the Reichstag, destroyed by the fighting and covered in Red Army graffiti, June 1945

Fun finds at the Calgary Reads book sale…

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:22:53 -0600

Fun finds at the Calgary Reads book sale…

1bohemian: The first victory day parade in Red Square, Moscow,...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:42:22 -0600

1bohemian:

The first victory day parade in Red Square, Moscow, 1945.

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:26:55 -0600

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor, and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom.” - Faramir, The Two Towers

trhlo: [Click the photos for captions with info on location and...

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:24:49 -0600

Detail from a monument to the Soviet army in Burgas, Bulgaria, built in 1953, depicting a Bulgarian man greeting a Red Army soldier.

A propaganda poster from the Czech Republic showing a worker greeting a Red Army soldier. 1945, by František Gross and Karel Ludwig.

The monument to the sailors of the heroic Dnieper flotilla on Naberezhno-Kreshhatitskaya Street, Kiev, Ukraine, erected in 1979.

"The motherland will never forget the heroic deeds of its sons!" 1947, by Viktor Koretsky.

an early WW2 propaganda poster by Viktor Koretsky showing a Slavic farmer greeting a Red Army soldier.

A replica of "Brotherhood" (Sbratření), a 1947 monument by Karel Pokorný depicting a Czech soldier greeting a Red Army soldier with a kiss and a bouquet of lilacs.

trhlo:

[Click the photos for captions with info on location and time period. For sources/random trivia on these, you can also send me an ask.]

I said I’d put together a post on homoerotic propaganda from the Eastern Bloc, so here it is.

As demonstrated previously, kissing was en vogue among Socialist leaders, with Leonid Brezhnev being an especially avid kisser, but here’s a small sample to show that this was a Thing That Actually Happened IRL, Apparently.

The reason why this is noteworthy is that Socialist Realism really wasn’t big on feels, choosing to portray collectivist causes and folks with determined stares into the future over trivial matters such as affection. These, however, mostly depict local populations greeting the Red Army liberators, so ecstatic smooching felt apropos for the occasion, with artists actually exaggerating rather than downplaying emotions. The last statue, for example, was actually based on the hug in the first poster, I believe, and the difference is obvious (nice touch with the lilac bouquet there!)

jakealoo: Photogravures of Ottawa near the turn of the last...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:29:00 -0600

jakealoo:

Photogravures of Ottawa near the turn of the last century, including one of the original Centre Block on Parliament Hill. The Centre Block was destroyed by fire on Feb. 3, 1916 and replaced by the Peace Tower. It was named in honour of the Canadian soldiers who died in the First World War and took 11 years to construct.

Ófærufoss, Iceland

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:48:00 -0600

Ófærufoss, Iceland

fairy-wren: Collared Inca. Photo by ownbyphotography

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:11:42 -0600

fairy-wren:

Collared Inca. Photo by ownbyphotography

Illustrations by Laura Alice

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:41:00 -0600

Illustrations by Laura Alice

“Salton Sea” by Stephen Tamiesie Fifty miles south of Palm...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:32:51 -0600

“Salton Sea” by Stephen Tamiesie

Fifty miles south of Palm Springs in the California desert lies the Salton Sea - a man-made body of water created over 100 years ago from the flooding Colorado River. A once prominent tourist and vacation destination in the 1950’s and 60’s, the area is currently in ruin and decay. The salinity of the water is now greater than that of the Pacific Ocean and most of the area establishments have long since been boarded up. However, there are still residents living in a handful of small towns surrounding the Salton Sea and some who visit to regard the decomposition. Upon each visit I have made to the Salton Sea, my attraction to the peculiar relationship of this region’s past and present deterioration has increased and I cannot help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the landscape when I view these images.

Map of the Tsardom of Moscow and surrounding territories,...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:27:00 -0600

Map of the Tsardom of Moscow and surrounding territories, prepared by Anthony Jenkinson of the Muscovy Company, 1598.

My prof wanted “around” 4000 words for this essay. I’m about ready to cut my...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:07:00 -0600

My prof wanted “around” 4000 words for this essay. I’m about ready to cut my losses and give him 3200, because god damn, I’m pretty much out of things to say about Anglo-Russian commerce in the early 17th Century.

It’ll have to do, I guess. Better to turn in a cohesive paper that’s too brief than a bloated, fluffy one that meets the word count, right?