smashing into a muddy field in western Pennsylvania with my fellow Franklin and Marshall College alumnus, Mark Rothenberg, who was on that plane. And now to the art.
my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it-
Front cover. Image 0 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/mode/1upColor Plate Number 1 – An Attractive Interior with Wilton Rug, a Dominant Note in the Color Scheme. Courtesy of Marshall Field and Company. Frontispiece, Image 7 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/n7/mode/1upInterior Furnishing and Decoration. Plate 4 – The Block -Linen Draperies and the Upholstery in Tapestry, Striped Mohair and Block-Linen Harmonize Well with the Heavy Beamed (coffered) Ceiling Hand-Modeled Plaster Walls and Massive Stone Mantel. The Rather Heavy Furniture, Andirons and Wall Brackets are in Scale with the Architectural Background, While the Dark Floor and Deep-Toned Rugs Balance the Dark Beams of the Ceiling. Page 28 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/28/mode/1upColor Plate Number 3 – A Lavish Use of Vivid Yet Harmonious Color in a Bedroom. All the Colors in the Wallpaper are Echoed and Re-echoed in the Furnishings – Courtesy of Wallpaper Manufacturers’ Association. Page 70 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/n70/mode/1upPlate 11 – (1) Modern Reproduction of Chippendale Furniture. (2) Early American Furniture of Chippendale Design, now on Exhibition in the Metropolitan Art Museum. Page 92 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/92/mode/1upColor Plate 4 – The Japanese Brocade Which Inspired this Canterbury Hand-Blocked Linen is from Some Old Documents in the Art Institute of Chicago – Courtesy of Marshall Field and Company. Page 152 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/n152/mode/1upCurtain options: Plate 22 – Overlapping Ruffled Swiss Curtains; Plate 23 – Two-Tier Curtains. Page 144 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/144/mode/1upColor Plate Number 5 – A Bright and Joyous Living Room, Made So by Color and Pattern. Note how the Neutral Grey of the Walls and Floor Set off the Gay Colors of Furniture and Woodwork. The Floor is Linoleum in Tile Effect – Courtesy of Armstrong Cork Company. Page 186 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/n186/mode/1upModernizing a Living Room – Plate 49 One End of a Recreated Room. Page 195 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/195/mode/1upColor Plate Number 6 – In This Quaint and Colorful Dining Room the Color starts from the Wall. A Large Part of the Decorative Character of the Room is Due to the Fresh Color and Delightful Pattern in the Wallpaper. Page 228 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/n228/mode/1upInterior Furnishing and Decoration – Plate 58 – A Bedroom for a Man; Masculine Qualities are Expressed in the Block- Linen Hangings, Sunfast Rep Spread, Easy Chair, Bed and Table. The Best Place to Exhibit Family Photographs is the Bedroom. Page 224 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/224/mode/1upLamp Options – Plate 71. A Good Example of All That a Reading Lamp Should Not Be – Plate 72. A Good Reading Lamp. . Page 254 of The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Ross Crane (pen name of architect and decorator Charles Edgar Rosecrans), author. Published in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois USA by Frederick J. Drake and Company. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AHF-825/page/254/mode/1up
sparkling on air as deep in a botanical garden somewhere in the West something comes to life and reaches up . . . a foot one day and two the next . . . through the greenhouse roof and rising up . . . flowers jumping out up and down the trunk and tendrils that reach out and grab . . . roots like iron and impossible to chop . . . too bad the explorer didn’t leave it where he found it on that remote isle where it was . . . wanting to stay it must have and better had it not been disturbed.
my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see them all.
The Soul Hovering over the Body, illustration for an 1808 edition of Robert Blair’s The Grave. 1808. British. William Blake, illustrator (1857-1827). via amazon.com.
Nearly lunchtime and everyone waiting on the terrace for the maitre’d to toot his horn. A sort of maitre’d anyway. Hard to know, what with a childhood spent living at the Plaza with a dining staff that stretched in a line all the way from the kitchen doors to the Palm Court, but ending up in a senior lady apartment with meals with white tablecloths, everything cut up into tiny bits so you can eat it all, no matter how few teeth you have left. Getting the occasional BLT smuggled in and meeting the delivery boy by the parking lot, but not every day, just the ones when only one cane is needed so one has a free hand for a paper bag stuffed with potato chips.
my new short fiction piece published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to read the rest. It has two images with it, this one being in the collections of the Boston Public Library
winking on air as in a cornfield somewhere in Kansas the maze grabs another tourist . . . stalks that reach out and snatch . . . first someone’s poodle that ran ahead with the leash left writhing like a fallen snake . . . then a child and then who knows . . . a good day to go pumpkin picking at the pumpkin patch and all that but no . . . wanting to be home for popcorn and Netflix with everyone on the sofa and that not to be . . .
my fall series post for today published to my Substack at the link. The image is in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt in New York.
Gawd all mighty even when you’ve seen a lot of these it’s amazing how many gew gaws Victorian and Edwardian people could fit into one room.
Front cover of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. Image 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. via https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/mode/1up‘Swifts.’ (Hall) – Darling Point, N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of EDMUND RESCH, Esquire. Image 8 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n8/mode/1up‘Swifts.’ (Hall) – Darling Point, N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of EDMUND RESCH, Esquire. Image 7 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n7/mode/1up‘Linnwood.’ (Hall) – Guildford, N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of Mrs. G. McCREDIE. Image 20 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n20/mode/1up‘Edgmond’ – Wahroonga, N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of William Cooper, Esquire. Image 22 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. via https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n22/mode/1up‘Burdekin House (Drawing Room) MacQuarie Street Sydney N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of Mrs. S. Burdekin. Image 22 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n44/mode/1up“Ultimo House’ (Drawing Room) – Ultimo N.S.W. (New South Wales), Australia. Residence of Mrs. George Harris. Image 64 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 1. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 4.0. https://archive.org/details/Homes3124/page/n64/mode/1up‘Casserton’ – Gordon New South Wales – Resident of John M. Ferguson, Esquire. Image 78 of Our Beautiful Homes N.S.W, Series 2. From the collections of Sydney Living Museums/Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Caroline Simpson Library. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/OBHomes32449/page/n78/mode/1up
A seat out on the balcony, looking out towards the lake. Not a new bench you put together today and sit on tomorrow people. No, Grandmama’s settee, the one made out of twigs with the bark still on that matches the rail on the front porch. Very fashionable, the tree-trunk trend must have been, with the boathouses decked out in twigs and branches too, and the Virgin Mary behind the altar at the church with her own bark-covered oval frame to peek out of.
my new envisioning/short fiction piece posted to my Substack at the link. the image is from the 1920s.
whispering on air as in the putrid miasma of a broken into mausoleum in the abandoned cemetery down the lane the crows caw . . . cawing for whoever is buried there and forgotten . . . cawing for a past that is gone and a future no one wants at least not if they knew what was to come . . . maybe it can be changed around yet . . . maybe not . . .
my fall series post published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it. The image is a ceiling detail at the Royal Holloway Sanatorium, Virginia Water, Surrey, England.
sparkling on air on the thud of a coconut as it falls from a palm tree as on the far side of Juno under the warmth of a very distant star a sign starts to flash . . . intergalatic neon in iridescent shades like mother of pearl in the bottom of the sea but brighter like a trillion suns . . . beckoning it is and shooting up with leaps and bounds . . . another few days and earthlings can see . . . come, it says . . . maybe it would be better . . . maybe you’ll be sorry . . .
my series post for today published to my Substack at the link. Please keep scrolling to see all the pictures- These are images with a common theme but a wide variety of styles, times, artists, etc
The image is from the Dennison Company Archives @dennisonarchivist on Instagram.
Front cover, Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Image 1. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/mode/1up Entrée du Village Suisse. – Période de Construction. F. Boissonnas, Genève, photographie. Illustration, Société des Arts Graphiques, Genève. Page 12 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/n12/mode/1upIllustration on Page 5 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/5/mode/1upChalet de Suisse – Salle de Reception. Page 19 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/19/mode/1upChalet de Fischenthal. Illustration on Page 40 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/5/mode/1upAtelier de Vannier — Apprenti en travail; Ecole de Métiers de Pribourg, Section de Vannerie. Page 73 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/73/mode/1up Ornements et Tresses d’Argovie. Page 89 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/89/mode/1upAncien Costume St-Gallois. Page 155 of Le Village Suisse, Exposition Nationale Suisse, Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland) 1896. Text by Monsieur Jacques Mayor, Léon Genoud, D. Baud-Bovy, and E. de Vevey. Édité par les Soins de la Commission du Village Suisse. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/levillagesuissel00unse/page/155/mode/1up