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2006, Feb 26; 16:05 ::: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames : A Legacy of Invention (1997) - Albrecht Donald
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames : A Legacy of Invention (1997) - Albrecht Donald [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Mid-century modern is a design term applied most frequently to residential (and some commercial) architecture, interior design and furniture. Related to the Space Age, the International style and Googie, mid-century modern translated the ideology of Modernism into a sleek, cool, yet accessible lifestyle.
Standard designers of the mid-century modern era include: Rudolf Schindler, Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Craig Ellwood. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-century_modern [Febg 2006]
See also: Ray and Charles Eames - architecture - design - USA
2006, Feb 26; 16:05 ::: Jean Prouve Complete Works : Volume 3: 1944-1954 (2005) - Peter Sulzer
Cradle (1936) - Jean Prouvé
designed for the daughter of a friend and collaborator, the architect Marcel Lods.
Jean Prouve Complete Works : Volume 3: 1944-1954 (2005) - Peter Sulzer [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Norman Foster and Renzo Piano invoke his name. For many architects he is a landmark - Jean Prouvé, creator of the metal curtain wall, pioneer in its application and early initiator of industrialised building techniques. His unfailing ability to combine functional engineering achievements with artistic sensitivity commands recognition. The period covered in this latest volume is significant in many respects. The post-war years placed enormous demands on housing and school construction. In his Maxéville factory Prouvé developed pre-fabricated housing, facade panelling, light filtering and other systems on a large scale. He was inspired by the works of the automobile and aeronautics industry, developing new applications for aluminium, which he presented in the 1954 Aluminium Centenary Pavilion. Moreover, Prouvé's furnitures of this period have become valuable collectors' items, some of which are now being reissued under licence.Jean Prouvé (Paris 1901 - Nancy 1984), son of Victor Prouvé, is a French architect and designer. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Prouv%C3%A9 [Feb 2006]
See also: architecture - design - France
2006, Feb 26; 15:05 ::: Thomas the Obscure (1941) - Maurice Blanchot
Thomas the Obscure (1941) - Maurice Blanchot [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
From Publishers Weekly
Admirers of Kierkegaard, Sartre and Beckett will enjoy Blanchot's philosophical rumination on existence in the form of this odd novela tragic existential romance of sorts. Thomas and Anne meet at a country hotel and believe themselves to be in love. We learn nothing of their pasts, mutual or personal, or of their plans or hopes. Such superficialities as character development do not concern Blanchot. Instead, the narrative focuses on the neurotic pair's inner worlds, where every slight notion and observation of the outer world carries explicit philosophical implications. The mental processes play unbroken for pages like impassioned and cerebral jazz piano pieces: the ocean is the modern soul, creatures are ideas, cats talk in monologues and the greatest action is a nervous collapse. With this couple, Blanchot examines the extent to which we are separated from our fellow humans by our solipsistic natures. Insight and true high comedy reign throughout these suffering-soaked chapters, remarkably and elegantly translated by Lamberton. For those who dare, this new version of the first novel by the influential French writer, a mystifying and ingenious work, will not soon leave the memory. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.See also: obscure - Maurice Blanchot - 1941 - French literature
2006, Feb 25; 20:05 ::: Frankenstein (1910) - J. Searle Dawley
1910 film version of Frankenstein
The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein, was done by Edison Studios in 1910, with Charles Ogle as the monster. For many years this film was believed lost until a print was discovered by a collector in the 1950s. This was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul and at least one European film version.
Frankenstein is a 1910 film made by Edison Studios that was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley. It was the first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The unbilled cast included Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as The Monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée. It was filmed at the Edison Studios in the Bronx, New York City. Although some sources credit Thomas Edison as the producer, he in fact played no part in the activities of the motion picture company that bore his name.
In this adaptation, Frankenstein is portrayed as something of an alchemist, creating the Monster in a fiery vat, and then fleeing in horror of his work. The Monster later reappears to torment his creator on the eve of his marriage, but fades away into a mirror in Frankenstein's study, thwarted by the power of the love between the scientist and his fiancée. As is typical of films of the period, each scene is photographed in a long shot, with little or no editing within the scene.
For many years, this film was believed to be lost, with only a single image of Ogle in costume serving to illustrate the film, and a plot description from an Edison film catalog. In the 1950s a print of this film was purchased by a Wisconsin film collector, who did not realize its rarity until many years later. Its existence was first revealed in the mid-1970s.
In 2003, this particular film version of Frankenstein was adapted as a 40-page graphic novel, written by Chris Yambar and drawn by Robb Bihun. Called Edison's Frankenstein 1910, in the spirit of the film it is drawn in black-and-white and told through narration only, without dialogue. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_%281910_film%29 [Feb 2006]
See also: 1910 - Frankenstein - film
2006, Feb 25; 20:05 ::: Manuel Bibliographique Des Sciences Psychiques Ou Occultes (1912) - Albert Caillet
Manuel Bibliographique Des Sciences Psychiques Ou Occultes (1912) - Albert Caillet [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
See also: 1912 - occult - bibliography
2006, Feb 25; 20:05 ::: Physica Curiosa (1697) - Gaspar Schott
The engraved title page of Physica Curiosa (1697) - Gaspar Schott
Image sourced here.
The earliest publication of the Curiosa, Sive Mirabilia Naturæ et Artis Libris is 1662.Gaspar Schott
Gaspar Schott (February 5, 1608 - May 22, 1666) was a German scientist, specializing in the fields of physics, mathematics and natural philosophy, and known for his piety. He was born at Königshofen and died at Augsburg (or Würzburg, sources vary).
In 1627 Schott entered the Society of Jesus. He studied first at the University of Wuerzburg but due to the Thirty Years' War he left the Holy Roman Empire, eventually finishing his studies at the University of Palermo. He studied under Athanasius Kircher, who was his mentor for many years. He corresponded with many researchers and inventors, like Otto von Guericke, Christiaan Huygens and Robert Boyle.
Schott is most widely known for his works on hydraulic and mechanical instruments. His treatise on "chronometric marvels" contains the first description of a universal joint and the classification of gear teeth. He was the author of a number of works on mathematics, physics, and magic. However, his books were largely compendia of reports he received or books he read and he mostly repeated experiments, doing little, if any, original research.
Among his most famous works is the book "Magia universalis naturæ et artis" (4 vols., Würtzburg, 1657-1659), filled with many mathematical problems and physical experiments, notably in optics and acoustics. His "Mechanicahydraulica-pneumatica" (Würtzburg, 1657) contains the first description of von Guericke's air pump. He also published "Pantometricum Kircherianum" (Würtzburg, 1660); "Physica curiosa" (Würtzburg, 1662), a supplement to the "Magia universalis"; "Anatomia physico-hydrostatica fontium et fluminum" (Würtzburg, 1663), and a several editions of "Cursus mathematicus". He also edited the "Itinerarium extacticum" of Athanasius Kircher and the "Amussis Ferdidindea" of Albert Curtz. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_Schott [Feb 2006]
The author was a German Jesuit priest and friend of Kircher. Contains 61 plates, celebrated in fantastic bibliographies such as Caillet’s. -- http://fantastic.library.cornell.edu/bookrecord.php?record=F002 [Feb 2006]
Caillet, Albert (1869-1922). Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, sciences des mages, hermétique, astrologie, kabbale, franc-maconnerie, médecine ancienne, mésmerisme, sorcellerie, singularités, abérrations de tout ordre, curiosités, 3 vols., Paris, 1912. (1831 pp.)
Considéré comme la référence des ouvrages sur les sciences occultes, cette bibliographie exhaustive classe 11 600 livres, sur la magie, l'astrologie, la Kabale, le mesmérisme, la sorcellerie et les curiosa. Caillet apporte le titre complet, l'adresse bibliographique, et la collation ainsi que des notes sur les ouvrages et de brèves données bibliographiques sur l'auteur. --http://www.rarebooks.fr/Rubrique_Approf/ourbibliographie.asp?pages=bibilographie&loc=Fr
See also: 1660s - science - curiosa
2006, Feb 25; 17:05 ::: History of Men's Magazines Volume 1-6 (2004-2005) - Dian HansonThe series is now complete:
Note division between "At the newsstand" and "under the counter", two divergent worlds.
Dian Hanson's: The History of Men's Magazine: From 1900 to Post-WWII (2004) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
History of Men's Magazines: Post-War to 1959 (2004) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
History of Men's Magazines Volume 3 (2005) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
History of Men's Magazines Volume 4 (2005) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
History of Men's Magazines Volume 5 (2005) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
History of Men's Magazines Volume 6 (2005) - Dian Hanson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
See also: Dian Hanson - men's magazines
2006, Feb 25; 17:05 ::: A John Waters Christmas (2004) - Various Artists
A John Waters Christmas (2004) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.com
Baltimore’s greatest filmmaker has demonstrated a deep appreciation for that very American crossroads of kitsch and sensationalism since the late ‘60s, at least. Of course, quirky Christmas anthologies abound already – the three best probably being Christmas Party With Eddie G, American Song-Poem Christmas, and Where Will You Be Christmas Day. But the songs on A John Waters Xmas are novelty songs for the true connoisseur, including recordings so saccharine and horrifying you wonder how the engineers did not run from the booth screaming; "Happy Birthday Jesus" by the precocious Little Cindy is likely the scariest thing you will ever hear in your life. Not everything is so "Outsider"-y and thrift store score; there’s the rocking, funny "Fat Daddy" by Fat Daddy, a delightful song by the Coctails with the singing saw as the lead instrument, and a gorgeous obscure doo-wop number called "Christmas Time Is Coming (A Street Carol)" by Stormy Weather. --Mike McGonigalProduct Description
These Christmas classics were hand picked by Waters himself: "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" by Tiny Tim, "Happy Birthday Jesus" by Little Cindy, "Sleigh Ride" by Alvin And The Chipmunks, "Here Comes Fatty Claus" by Rudolph And Gang, and "Santa Claus Is A Black Man" by AKIM & The Teddy Vann Production Company, to name a few.
2006, Feb 25; 17:05 ::: Rashomon (1950) - Akira Kurosawa
Rashomon (1950) - Akira Kurosawa [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
While this film has always been considered one of the classics of world cinema, it remained for Parker Tyler to analyze it as the archetype of modern sensibility in film. For the killing of the travelling merchant and the rape of his wife by a bandit -- reenacted four times by each of the protagonists and a presumed witness -- results not merely in four different and irreconcilable stories: more perversely, it implies that all are true and false, that "the truth" of a human situation is never simple and that objectivity cannot be achieved. Here cinema approaches the subtleties of Dostoevski, the insights of the Cubists, Futurists, and Freudians into the nature of reality as a multiplicity of overlapping, conflicting, converging strands and layers, each contributing to the "truth" of the whole -- a truth that remains "subjective" and, in terms of certainty, inevitably elusive. --Amos Vogel, 1974
Rash?mon is a 1950 Japanese motion picture directed by Akira Kurosawa (in collaboration with Kazuo Miyagawa) and starring Toshiro Mifune.
The movie's theme is the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of obtaining the truth about an event from conflicting witness accounts. Rash?mon can be said to have introduced Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to Western audiences, and is considered one of his masterpieces.
In English and other languages, "Rashomon" has become a by-word for any situation wherein the truth of an event becomes difficult to verify due to the conflicting accounts of different witnesses. In psychology, the film has lent its name to the Rashomon effect. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon_%28film%29 [Feb 2006]
See also: Amos Vogel - Akira Kurosawa - 1950 - Japanese cinema - version - truth
2006, Feb 25; 12:05 ::: Tom Wood: Photie Man (2005) - Manfred Heiting (Editor), Tom Wood (Photographer)
Tom Wood: Photie Man (2005) - Manfred Heiting (Editor), Tom Wood (Photographer) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
For 25 years Tom Wood lived in New Brighton, just across the river Mersey from Liverpool. He became known locally as "photieman" because everyday he was out on the streets with his camera. Most of the pictures collected in this book were taken within a 5-minute walk from Wood's home. The work focuses on the inhabitants of the town and its regular visitors, from Liverpool daytrippers to clubbers who attended the Chelsea Reach nightspot. Roberta Smith from the New York Times writes that "Each of his images seems to diagram a specific emotional exchange [and] are surprisingly individual in their composition and nuance. Neither ironic nor intrusive, they provide a poignant sense of the carefully disguised insecurity and age old rituals of youth." Wood presents over 170 dazzling color and tritone photographs of cocky youths, friends, lovers, fathers, mothers, and babies that provide insight into the area, its inhabitants, and the rites of passage inherent in growing up.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom Wood [Feb 2006]
Street photography generally refers to photographs made in public places — not only streets, but parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and myriad other settings — often but not always featuring people going about their everyday lives. In one sense it can be thought of as a branch of documentary photography, but unlike traditional documentary its chief aim — or at least its chief effect — is seldom to document a particular subject, but rather to create photographs which strongly demonstrate the photographer's vision of the world. Good street photography often ends up being good documentary photography without really trying, especially after the passage of a few years, but unlike documentary it seldom has an explicit social agenda or rhetorical intent. It tends to be more ironic and distanced from its subject matter. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street photography [Feb 2006]
See also: photography - documentary
2006, Feb 25; 12:05 ::: Russian Ark (2002) - Aleksandr Sokurov
Russian Ark (2002) - Aleksandr Sokurov [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
A film that was actually a single shot is the recent Russian Ark. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark [Feb 2006]
See also: shot - Russian cinema - 2002
2006, Feb 25; 10:05 ::: Point of view shotA point of view shot (also known as POV shot) is a short scene in a film that shows what a character is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction (see shot reverse shot). The technique of POV is one of the foundations of film editing.
A POV shot need not be the strict point of view of an actual single character in a film. Sometimes the point of view shot is taken over the shoulder of the character, who remains visible on the screen. Sometimes a POV shot is "shared" ("dual" or "triple"), i.e. it represents the joint POV of two (or more) characters. There is also the "nobody POV", where a shot is taken from the POV of a non-existent character. This often occurs when an actual POV shot is implied, but the character is removed. Sometimes the character is never present at all, despite a clear POV shot, such as the famous "God-POV" of birds descending from the sky in Hitchcock's The Birds. Another good example of a POV shot is that in the movie Doom, it depicts a fairly long POV shot which resembles a Heads-Up Display with the viewer watching through a character who is venturing through hallways shooting and killing aliens.
A POV shot need not be established by strictly visual means. The manipulation of diegetic sounds can be used to emphasize a particular character's POV.
It makes little sense to say that a shot is "inherently" POV; it is the editing of the POV shot within a sequence of shots that determines POV. Nor can the establishment of a POV shot be isolated from other elements of filmmaking — mise en scene, acting, camera placement, editing, and special effects can all contribute to the establishment of POV. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_view_shot [Feb 2006]
See also: point of view - shot - Rear Window (1954) example - film language - film technique
2006, Feb 25; 10:05 ::: Alfred Korzybski: people don't just eat food, but also words
Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (1933) - Alfred Korzybski [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Alfred Korzybski was born on July 3, 1879 in Warsaw, Poland, and died on March 1, 1950 in Lakeville, Connecticut, USA. He is probably best-remembered for developing the theory of general semantics.
Korzybski and to be
It is often said that Korzybski opposed the use of the verb "to be," an unfortunate exaggeration. He thought that certain uses of the verb "to be," called the "is of identity" and the "is of predication," were faulty in structure, e.g., a statement such as "Joe is a fool" (said of a person named 'Joe' who has done something that we regard as dumb). Korzybski's remedy was to deny identity; in this example, to be continually aware that 'Joe' is not what we call him. We find Joe not in the verbal domain, the world of words, but the nonverbal domain. This was expressed in Korzybski's most famous premise, "The map is not the territory." Note that "the map is not the territory," uses the phrase "is not", a form of the verb "to be." This example shows that he did not intend to abandon the verb as such.Anecdote
One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he suddenly interrupted the lesson in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row, if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. "Nice biscuit, don't you think", said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog's head and the words "Dog Cookies". The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to throw up, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. "You see, ladies and gentlemen", Korzybski remarked, "I have just demonstrated that people don't just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter." Apparently his prank aimed to illustrate how human suffering originates from the confusion or conflation of linguistic representations of reality and reality itself. (Source: R. Diekstra, Haarlemmer Dagblad, 1993, cited by L. Derks & J. Hollander, Essenties van NLP (Utrecht: Servire, 1996), p. 58).Impact
Korzybski's work influenced Neuro-linguistic programming (especially the metamodel), Gestalt Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and individuals such as Albert Ellis, Gregory Bateson, Buckminster Fuller, Alvin Toffler, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, A. E. van Vogt, Robert Anton Wilson, Tommy Hall (lyricist for the 13th Floor Elevators), and scientists such as William Alanson White (psychiatry), and W. Horsley Gantt (a student and colleague of Pavlov). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski [Feb 2006]Tip of the hat to Michel Bauwens
See also: 1933 - semantics - Poland
2006, Feb 24; 21:05 ::: Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaricAfter 1945 Theodor Adorno ceased to work as a composer. By taking this step he conformed to his own famous maxim: "writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric" (Nach Ausschwitz noch ein Gedicht zu schreiben ist barbarisch). (Adorno was, however, to retract this statement later, saying that "Perennial suffering has as much right to expression as the tortured have to scream... hence it may have been wrong to say that no poem could be written after Auschwitz.") --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Adorno [Feb 2006]
See also: Theodor Adorno - poetry - Auschwitz - 1945
2006, Feb 24; 21:05 ::: SS Normandie
SS Normandie (1935) - Cassandre
On October 29th, 1932 - three years to the day from the stock market crash - the Normandie was launched in front of 200,000 spectators. The 27,567 ton hull that slid into the Loire River was the largest hull ever launched and it caused a large wave that crashed into a few hundred people, but with no injury. [Feb 2006]Art Deco was a popular style for interiors of cinema theatres and ocean liners such as the SS Normandie.
An ocean liner is a large passenger ship, typically a motorized vessel that undertakes longer voyages on the open sea primarily for the purpose of transporting people from one place to another.
Ocean liners were the primary mode of intercontinental travel for over a century, from the mid-19th century to the 1960s, when they were finally supplanted by airliners.
The most notorious liner was the Titanic, infamous for sinking on her maiden voyage from Britain to the United States in 1912. The Lusitania was lost in 1915 to a German U-Boat during World War I while on passage from the USA to Britain. The worst disaster was the loss of the Lancastria in 1940 off Saint-Nazaire, France to German bombing with the loss of over 3,000 lives. The Cunard Line's Mauretania of 1907 was widely considered the finest of all the liners of its generation, and in decades following many had a similar devotion to the SS Normandie.
In the "Golden Age" of ocean liners in the early part of the 20th century, many offered extremely luxurious travel for a wealthy few, although even the more luxurious ships carried large numbers of poorer passengers in cramped quarters on the lower decks. Older ships were often given over to carrying immigrants at low prices. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_liner [Feb 2006]
See also: Machine Age - Art Deco - France - 1932 - 1935
2006, Feb 24; 21:05 ::: Soul Jazz Records Presents Tropicalia: a Brazilian Revolution in Sound (2006) - Various Artists
Soul Jazz Records Presents Tropicalia: a Brazilian Revolution in Sound (2006) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Product Description
Tropicalia in the late 1960s revolutionized Brazilian music mixing Psychedelic Rock, avant-garde musique concrete (tape loops, sound experiments), Samba, Funk and Soul into a truly unique combination.This is the first album to bring together all the artists involved in Tropicalia, Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, Gal Costa and more. Under the backdrop of the most violent and repressive days of the Brazilian military dictatorship, these artists created a new style of music so radical that both Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were seen as such a threat by the Brazilian dictatorship that they were arrested, imprisoned and finally deported in 1969. Os Mutantes, the sophisticated musical anarchists from Sao Paulo not only became the musical template for Beck, they were also discovered by Kurt Cobain on tour in Brazil who tried (and failed) to get them to support Nirvana.Comes complete with the customary extensive 40+ page booklet contextualising Tropicalia, exclusive photos, and slipcase. Soul Jazz. 2006.See also: Brazilian music - Soul Jazz - 2006
2006, Feb 24; 21:05 ::: On peepholesMy peephole opened on Saturday May 15, 1965.
In some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, when somebody dies, Vonnegut does not call it dying. He writes that this person had their "peephole closed" and when they are born, they simply have their "peephole opened". This, again, seems to show, that human life is no more than "peeping" through a hole and death means only an end to this. --http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4953/kv_vonnebug3.html [Feb 2006]
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (born November 11, 1922) is an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut [Feb 2006]
See also: American literature - postmodern novel
2006, Feb 23; 21:05 ::: Pan magazine
Cover for the magazine 'Pan', photo-chromo-lithograph, 1895, Museum Number: E.3099-1938 - Joseph Sattler
The German art magazine Pan was a lavish celebration of Art Nouveau. It took its name from the Greek God of nature, who is depicted here in Sattler's cover for the first edition. His goat-like form leers from the background against a sinister red sky. The scene is dreamlike, and suffused with mythological imagery and symbolism.
In the foreground a flower grows, its stamens coiling into the lettering of the title. The petals are square and curled at the edges to suggest scrolls of paper, and each bears an image of Pan's face. There is nothing natural about this flower. It is not nature, but words and images that bloom from the well-tended earth. In using this imagery, Sattler may be hinting at the role of the magazine in cultivating new art and literature.
The art magazines were central to Art Nouveau's dominance across Europe. This was particularly the case in Germany, where both Pan and Die Jugend contributed to the spread of the new style. The latter lent its name to the German name for Art Nouveau, Jugendstil. --http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1202_printroom_boxes/art_nouveau/art%20_nouveau_general_notes.htm [Feb 2006]
See also: Art Nouveau - Pan - 1895
2006, Feb 23; 17:05 ::: The Origins Of L’art Nouveau: The Bing Empire (2005) - Gabriel P. Weisberg
The Origins Of L’art Nouveau: The Bing Empire (2005) - Gabriel P. Weisberg [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
The grand opening in 1895 of Siegfried Bing’s gallery, "L’Art Nouveau," was a major event on the Parisian calendar. For Bing, a renowned dealer in Japanese art and Europe’s leading exponent of Japonisme, the beautifully designed furnishings and objects he collected—and in many cases commissioned—fulfilled his vision of a new design aesthetic that promoted harmony and elegance. Overnight, Bing’s emporium for new art became a symbol for, and the name of, an artistic movement known around the world.
Illuminating Bing’s role as a creative entrepreneur and the principal creator of the new style, this book explores his sponsorship of Japanese art; his close ties to such painters as Bonnard, Munch, and Toulouse-Lautrec; and his collaboration with Louis Comfort Tiffany and leading design studios in America and Britain. Bing’s work as an interior decorator at the Paris World Fair of 1900 demonstrated the ability of one man to influence the arts worldwide.
The Origins of L’Art Nouveau, which features three hundred gorgeous color illustrations, reveals anew how one visionary individual shaped the tastes of a generation by effectively uniting Asian, European, and American styles, techniques, and sensibilities.
About the Author
Gabriel P. Weisberg is Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota. Edwin Becker is Exhibitions Curator at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Évelyne Possémé is Curator of the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris.Siegfried ("Samuel") Bing (1838 - 1905) was a German art dealer in Paris, who started his career by dealing in Japanese art and artworks. He then opened his own store, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau showing works of artists of what would become known as the Art Nouveau movement, named after his store. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bing [Feb 2006]
See also: Art Nouveau
2006, Feb 23; 17:05 ::: Portrait of an American Girl in the Nude (1917) - Francis PicabiaIn search of the machine age
Portrait of an American Girl in the Nude (1917) - Francis Picabia
Image sourced here.See also: America - nude - Picabia - 1917 - modern art - machine age
2006, Feb 23; 17:05 ::: L'Esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris 1918-1925 (2001) - Carol S. Eliel, Francoise DucrosIn search of the machine age
L'Esprit Nouveau numero 2
Image sourced here.
L'Esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris 1918-1925 (2001) - Carol S. Eliel, Francoise Ducros [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
EXHIBITION OF WORK BY LE CORBUSIER, LEGER, AND OZENFANT
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art—LACMA—revisits the origins of the Modernist movement that made a lasting change in art and architecture with a pioneering exhibition, L’Esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris, 1918–1925. As World War I came to a close and the machine age saturated daily lives the world over, three artists formed the core of an art movement that both championed the new and reflected the classical. Purism in Paris, organized by LACMA, examines the art and writings of Amédée Ozenfant, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (better known by his pseudonym, Le Corbusier), and Fernand Léger. Purism in Paris includes rarely exhibited paintings and drawings, as well as a full-scale reconstruction of the interior of Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau (Pavilion of the New Spirit) built in 1925 for the International Exposition of Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. Opening April 29, Purism in Paris remains on view through August 5, 2001.
The basis of the Purist movement is the work made between 1918 and 1925 by Purism's founders and leading proponents, Ozenfant and Jeanneret (Le Corbusier), and the work of 1920–25 by their closest colleague, Fernand Léger. Purism evolved as a response to both the artistic and historic conditions in post-World War I Paris. Realized particularly in painting and architecture, Purism championed a traditional classicism with a formal focus on clean geometries, yet it simultaneously embraced new technologies, new materials, and the machine aesthetic. --http://www.lacma.org/info/press/purism.htm [Feb 2006]
Purism was a form of Cubism advocated by the French painter Amédée Ozenfant and the architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier).
Creation
The two objected to developments in Cubist art, particularly the decorative elements. Ozenfant and Le Corbusier wanted a return to more basic forms, inspired by modern machinery. To them, the golden section was the ideal shape, something that is reflected in their work. The theory of Purism is expounded in the book La peinture moderne, (Paris, 1925), co-written by Ozenfant and Le Corbusier and subsequently published in English as The Foundations of Modern Art.The Czech architect and painter Bed?ich Feuerstein was also influenced by Purism. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purism [Feb 2006]
L'Esprit Nouveau
Design magazine published in Paris from 1920 to 1926 devoted to the promotion of developing ideas of Modernism in art, architecture and all other aspects of design. The architect Le Corbusier and the painter Amedee Ozenfant were principal players. In the Paris Exhibtion of 1925, L'Esprit Nouveau had a pavilion designed by Le Corbusier that was a striking showcase for his ideas. A replica of the pavilion was built in Bologna, Italy in 1977. -- Dictionary of 20th Century Design" by John PileSee also: Cubism - Le Corbusier - 1920s - modern art - 1939 - machine age
2006, Feb 23; 14:05 ::: Indiavision: Hindi Film Songs and Instrumentals 1966-1984 (2005) - Various Artists
Indiavision: Hindi Film Songs and Instrumentals 1966-1984 (2005) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Indiavision (2005) is a French-compiled selection of those weird and wonderful Bollywood film composers and singers. What fascinates me in these songs is how they take influences from Western film and popular music (rock, pop, psychedelia, disco...), mix them with their own musical heritage and instrumentation, and turn them into something that is simultaneously innovative, strange (at least to our Western ears), funny and beautiful. --http://phinnweb.blogspot.com/2006/02/indiavision-weird-and-wonderful-sound.html [Feb 2006]
Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India.
The name is a conflation of Bombay, the old name of Mumbai, and Hollywood, the center of the United States film industry. Though some purists deplore the name (arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood), it seems likely to persist and now has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood [Feb 2006]
See also: India - soundtrack
2006, Feb 23; 14:05 ::: Steven Shaviro on KantNobody has ever seen Kant as anything but an awful writer (at least in the Critiques; he can write elegantly and pleasurably in some of his lesser essays, but that talent seems to abandon him in his mature major works). Nonetheless, my own proper philosophical perversion is that I take enormous pleasure in reading Kant, in reading Kant’s style. --Steven Shaviro via http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/?p=478 [Feb 2006]See also: Steven Shaviro - Immanuel Kant