(Life Magazine 1922 from here.)
(Andre Kertesz 1928 from here)
(Montparnesse Station Train wreck from here)
(Lee Friedlander Revolving doors from here)
Ok, well these images are a little unrelated but I kinda like them all the same!Happy Hump Day folks!
P.S. Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments and enthusiasm for my drawings - it's very encouraging!!
This is Sydney artist and legend Martin Sharp circa 1970. I went to a terrific retrospective exhibition of his work at the Museum of Sydney last week.
Martin Sharp, born (1942) and raised in Sydney, is seen as Australia's number one pop artist. He is best known internationally as the album cover artist for Cream's Wheel's of Fire, the exploding Jimi Hendrix painting and the Mr Tambourine Man Bob Dylan portrait.
(Top two images from Art and Australia Vol.47 Spring 2009)
(Disraeli Gears LP Cover from here)
He also co-wrote songs with Eric Clapton, published scandalous (for the 60s) magazines, restored and renovated Sydney's Luna Park, was friend and collaborator of (Tip Toe Through the Tulips) Tiny Tim, designer and artist for beautiful Sydney event posters in the 70s and 80s and a whole heap of other things! Actually, the exhibition itself is a real 4D experience with all his posters and knick knacks displayed in the one huge room. I've decided to go back sometime soon and properly photograph it.
(Top: Babylon the great is fallen, fallen. Revelations 18 v2. 2000 - 2006 from the Spring Historic Houses magazine. Bottom three images are postcards from the exhibition: The Sydney Opera House is ten 1983, Tiny Tim, The Chameleon 1982 and Eternity, Haymarket! 1977)
Hope everyone is having/ will have a fabulous weekend!
Max was the creation of master cartoonist and illustrator Pericle Luigi Giovannetti. Isn't that a wonderful name? Anyway, Giovannetti started drawing for the now defunct Punch magazine after World War One and launched little Max in April 1953.
Max was such a hit with his wordless pomposity and general shenanigans that Giovannetti even wrote several books starring the one and only Max himself.
Unfortunately, all the Max books are now out of print but I've been surfing Amazon and I think I might have found a second hand copy...
Here's another Max story:
Both cartoons are from the book: Punch, All Creatures Great and Small published by Prion.
While surfing the internet last night I chanced upon this delightful book due to be published on the 8th October: Dogs in Vogue. It has all the classic pup shots plus a whole swag of others. I love this one of Lee Radziwill (above) taken in 1960 with her pug Thomas. Here are a couple of others...
Aren't they gorgeous? I love the expressions on some of the pooches' faces - bless! They really are the stars! From top: Lee Radziwill by Henry Clark, Balanciaga hat by Henry Clark, Jean Shrimpton by Eugene Vernier, model and ball and dog by Gjon Mili, another Henry Clark and smart suit by Karen Radkai.
You can find more Dogs in Vogue here.
Happy Monday everyone!!
Hello sailor!!
Ever since the May edition of Vanity Fair I've been dreaming about the new (ish) range of jewellery from Christian Dior called Milly-la-foret. Call me insane, but I think one of these knock out cocktail rings would just be the bee's knees. I adore their outrageous prettiness! I feel that I'd never have to worry about jewellery again if I had a couple of these beauties! I've got it bad huh?
I even did something I don't ever do which is go on a hunt for them! I went to their delightful website and emailed HQ plaintively mewling "Please, where can I buy these exquisite baubles in Sydney, Australia?" No response. I even looked up all the Dior shops and outlets in Sydney and hoofed it around on foot "Do you happen to have.....?" But the utter sadness of it all is that they are not stocked here in Aus. Ah! Mon Dieu!! Quelle horreur!! I'll just have to get on a plane then won't I and go to New York and get me a couple! Seriously!!
O.K. O.K. it's not Armstrong and he's not on the moon - it's John Glenn and Scott Carpenter 1961 just about to enter a heat chamber in order to test the durability of both themselves and their suits in extreme temperatures. But I thought it was a very nice photo anyway. My mother had the foresight to collect and keep all the Life magazines she had bought from the 60s and this is a scan from one of them.
So:
The Romans called it Luna, the Greeks called it Selene and Artemis and it is now thought to be a piece of the earth that was flung into space when a meteorite hit earth trillions of years ago. Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong was the first man to actually walk on it. I find that incredible - even in this day and age!
Happy Friday everyone! As for Sydney, I take back all those nice things I said about it yesterday! It's cold (very cold!), wet AND windy! *sigh* I think for difficult to negotiate in, wet and windy takes the cake. Actually, there's a lot worse out there like blizzards and twisters, so really I mustn't grumble. Anyway, I hear the weekend is going to be glorious - so if it's going to be miserable, it may as well be during the working week I say.
To celebrate Sydney's arctic temperatures, here is a classic winter cartoon from the master of dark humour: Charles Adams.
Charles Adams was a cartoonist for The New Yorker from 1932 until his death in 1988. However, he is most famously remembered as the creator of "The Adams Family". Below is another Chas Adams cartoon which features his "family". This one was originally meant to be for the cover of the 1946 Christmas edition of The New Yorker but the editor thought it might be a bit too dark so it was put inside. However, you guessed it, it was an instant hit with the public.
Many thanks to everyone who stops by this humble blog and leaves a comment! I really get a kick out of reading your comments and thoughts and I especially love visiting your gorgeous blogs and seeing what's been happening in your world!
Have a lovely weekend all!
The story so far: Last week there wasn't a dry eye in the house at Christian Lacroix's last ever show. Apparently, without financial backers Lacroix was about to close his fashion empire. However, I've just read that France's culture Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, has decided to do something to prevent the demise of Lacroix's couture business as it would be "un désastre culturel" = a cultural disaster!
Lacroix actually studied Art History at the University of Montpellier and then went on to do further study at the Sorbonne in Paris. His ambition at this time was to be a museum curator. He then took up museum studies at The Louvre Museum as a further step towards this goal.However, in 1978, he went to work as a colourist and designer at Hermes. Then from 1981 to 1987 Lacroix worked at the fashion house of Jean Patout. Finally in 1987, he opened his own couture and ready-to-wear business.
I think you can see his love of history in his clothes. His famous opulent and whimsical designs always have a historical edge to them. Personally, it was his use of colour that I really loved.
So, I suppose we'll have to wait and see what becomes of Monsieur Lacroix and his fashion house. Meanwhile, you could do worse than have a look at his official site here - it's very pretty. If you'd like to know more about the man himself there's a biography about him here.
The top photo is from a Vogue fashion spread: Lacroix is the chap on the far right. Below that is another photo from the same spread. The photo directly above shows Lacroix receiving a standing ovation at his final (?) show last week.
