Saturday, July 25, 2020

"The Poison of Male Incivility"

"...some of the coverage of the impact and resonance of Ocasio-Cortez’s speech perpetuated exactly the gendered power imbalances the speech was meant to challenge. The conflict started by Yoho, to which Ocasio-Cortez was responding, got retold, in the New York Times, as an instance of her aggressive political ambition, rather than as a response to the very forces that have long made political power elusive for women like Ocasio-Cortez, and an assumed norm for men like Ted Yoho."

https://www.thecut.com/2020/07/aoc-speech-ted-yoho-new-york-times.html?fbclid=IwAR3tQlTYHP0pF8CS4wkC5GBjfoWEJlPRmmFOi1nCwAmvKf5R_o39n-rkICo


Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Hemingway and Crane

Ernest Hemingway and poet Hart Crane were both born on this day in 1899!  Here's an essay about Hemingway from 1950, by Lillian Ross.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like-it-now-gentlemen

Here's a favorite poem by Crane, "Porphyro in Akron."

https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/porphyro-akron




Saturday, July 18, 2020

Enormous Bible

Recently I found this wonderful antique Bible on eBay. I placed it alongside my old Bible that I've used since college and also (shameless commerce) my Lenten Bible study. 

This site gives information about it: "Printed by Harper & Brothers in New York City ...this Bible is widely regarded as the publishing event of the 1800’s, and the most heavily illustrated Bible ever printed. This King James Version large family Bible features over 1,600 detailed illustrations, of which almost 200 are so large as to cover one-third of the page. There are also over 1,000 florally ornamented initial drop-letters, each one unique with no repeats… for example, there are over 350 different letter 'A’s'. 

"Many well-known artists were commissioned by the publisher for over six years (at a cost of about $2 million in today’s dollars) to produce all the illustrations. This Bible is also the first known example of using electrotype technology to reproduce original woodcut engraved illustrations. The undertaking was so expensive; the publisher had to sell the Bible in 54 parts from 1843 to 1846, using the money from the subscribers to pay for the ongoing production until it was completed...." 

The article goes on to say that the inclusion of the Apocrypha, including cross-references in the Old and New Testaments, made the book desirable as a reference tool in addition to a beautiful work of the printer's art. 

I liked this copy because of its red cover, which includes a depiction of Trinity Church, New York on the front cover. The book is a nice compliment to my other enormous Bibles that I write about here





























John Lewis and C. T. VIvian

Civil rights leaders John Lewis and Rev. C. T. Vivian died on the same day. Here are good summaries of their lives and work.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/18/us/john-lewis-ct-vivian-dead/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0plzC0cGaGjT0F4PNA6kQH5F5U4SoTZAqqsN75yiC7_e4hEZcNhepM_34

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/07/john-lewis-legacy-is-the-right-to-vote-and-its-under-attack/?fbclid=IwAR2MxwBD1NzXKdPYqoYwtxhsU8RyGkYoHzrqtB-XmUi4yvYh7fDBqkYlIYo

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/us/ct-vivian-death/index.html



Thursday, July 16, 2020

Landscape: Duveneck

Frank Duveneck, "Polling Landscape" (1881). Indianapolis Museum of Art


Copied under fair use principles. 

Landscapes: Bidauld

Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld, "The Park at Mortefontaine" (1806). Indianapolis Museum of Art.



"View of the castle of Meudon," 1846. Museum of art and history of Meudon


Copied under fair use principles.


Landscape: Whittredge

Worthington Whittredge, "Lake Shawangunk" (1863). Indianapolis Museum of Art.


Copied under fair use principles.

Landscape: Inness

George Inness, "The Rainbow" (1888). Indianapolis Museum of Art.




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Landcape: Corot

Artist Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot was born on this day in 1796! This is his "A View near Volterra" (1838).

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Favorite Music: 99 Luftballons

A favorite song from 1984, when Beth and I were a few weeks away from our wedding!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fmHCpfAknE

Landscape: Alfred William Finch

Alfred William Finch, "The Road to Nieuport" (1888). Indianapolis Museum of Art. 




Copied under fair use principles. 

Landscape: Pissarro

Camille Pissarro, "The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny" (1886). Indianapolis Museum of Art. 



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Landscape: Séguin

 
Armand Séguin, "Two Thatched Cottages (Les deux chaumières)," c. 1883. Indianapolis Museum of Art 



Copied under fair use principles. 


Religious Art: The Erechtheion

The Porch of the Maidens (caryatids), of the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. (Photo from 2016).  


Religious Art: St. Anne's Church, Vienna

One of our favorite churches anywhere! Emily's choir performed here in 2007, and we visit the church each time we return to Vienna. 



Peter Cartwright's Church and Family Plot, Pleasant Plains, IL







Religious Art: John Calvin's Church (St. Pierre Cathedral, Geneva)