Can I just say how much I love these two etchings by 18th century artist Thomas Rowlandson? The first is a woman diving into the water from a wagon pulled into the surf to serve as a diving platform. "Venus Bathing" is vigorous, round and robust as she takes a "Fashionable Dip" into the ocean […]
Falling Into Water and Rising Swimming Read More »
"Many Siberian fairy tales tell of the deadly clash between criminals and representatives of the government, of the risks people run every day with dignity and honesty, of the good fortune of those who in the end have got the loot and stayed alive, and of the 'good memory' that is preserved of those who
The Dark Fairy Tale World of the Siberian Urkas Read More »
Canadian Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak died last week (January 8, 2013) at the age of 85. She was recognized as one of the notable participants in the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative studio, also known as the Kinngait studio. She contributed original art for a new print every year from 1959 up to 2012 for the
Remembering Kenojuak Ashevak: Inuit Artist Read More »
It is easy enough to get lost in Ann Siems paintings, a world of verdant gardens, ghostly lace, and beautiful folkloric portraits. Siems paintings employ different elements of 18th and 19th century art. Her subjects are stylized childhood figures, with pink-cheeked and smiling faces, that stare wide-eyed at the viewer. By contrast, the figures inhabit
Anne Siems: A World Of Wonder Read More »
*Please note that posters in the comments provide links to pages that no longer exist — sadly! Yale at one point removed the archive of images from public view. I am sitting at my desk transported by the digital images of the Voynich Manuscript, created sometime between the late 15th century and early 16th
The Voynich Manuscript: Magic, A Garden of Women, and a Secret Language Read More »
Marly Youmans' Thaliad offers a healing balm to the swath of nihilistic post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Told in free verse reminiscent of heroic epics (Homer meets Gerald Manley Hopkins), Thaliad recounts the aftermath of a fiery apocalypse and the perlious journey of a band of children led by a girl whose prophetic visions
Marly Youmans and Clive Hicks-Jenkins Collaboration: Thaliad Read More »
“On the Trail of the Warsaw Basilisk” is the sort of unexpected article that gives answer to the age old question, “Where do you get your ideas?” A Smithsonian article provides a fascinating history of Basilisk sightings — from antiquity through the middle ages and Renaissance. The Basilisk is a peculiar hybrid, “a crested snake
Basilisk Hunting in the 16th Century Read More »
While looking for the title of a specific book (Eros and Magic in the Renaissance by Culiano and Cook) that I knew to be in one of my research notebooks, I came across a little scrap of paper on which I had written a description of a masked ceremonial dance — probably something from the
“The strangest of all the phantasms described is, perhaps, the Youaltepoztli, literally, “the night hatchet or axe.” It manifested itself by causing loud intermittent sounds resembling those produced by the blows of an axe in splitting wood. These ominous sounds were audible at dead of night in the mountains, and inspired terror, for they were
Youaltepoztli: The Night Hatchet Read More »
