Nostalgy of the Absolute

[fymodernflapper]

Nude beauties.

[olive-thomas]

Marguerite De La Motte c. 1918-1919, from Motion Picture Classic

[loumargi]

John Byam Shaw (British 1872-1919)

[itscolossal]

New Sparkling Blooms Photographed with Ultraviolet-Induced Visible Fluorescence by Craig Burrows

[undr]

Werner Bischof. Cuzco, Peru. 1954

[loumargi]

Henri Eugène Augustin Le Sidaner nocturne-c1905

[neaarty]

[books0977]

Dancers (c.1900). Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). Pastel and charcoal on tracing paper; mounted on wove paper mounted on board. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester.

This pastel was produced late in the artist’s life when his eyesight had begun to fail. It is possible that his diminished vision resulted in the heavy contours that surround the dancers and give only the barest suggestion of their facial features. Rather than attempting great detail, he concentrated on mapping out the unpredictable effects of theatrical lighting on the forms of the figures.

[catonhottinroof-deactivated2023]

Aurél Náray  (1883 - 1948)  

A YOUNG WOMAN WITH A VIOLIN

[books0977]

A Brocade Picture of the Elegant Arts, Edo Period (1600-1868). Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, 1753-1806). Color woodcut. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester.

These three courtesans are engaged in reading and writing poetry, one of the four “elegant arts.” Women of the entertainment quarter were often famous for their accomplishments in the arts of poetry and calligraphy as well as the usual professional attainments of song and dance. The physical appearance of these women makes clear the strict hierarchy of courtesans within the entertainment quarter: the tallest woman is the tayû, or ranking beauty; the other two, called shinzô, are her juniors. Note the subtle dark-black pattern barely visible on the tayû’s deep purple robe.

[elyssediamond]

Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川 歌麿, c. 1753 –1806) Τρεις μεθυσμένες εταίρες: (δεξιά προς αριστερά) η θυμωμένη μεθυσμένη, η μεθυσμένη πο κλαίει και η ζαλισμένη. Three Drunken Courtesans, a Triptych: the Angry Drunk, the Weepy Drunk, the Giggly Drunk (Keisei sannin yoi, sanpuku no uchi: haratate jôgo, naki jôgo, warai jôgo) 「契情三人酔　三副之内　腹立上戸　泣上戸　笑上戸」 1793–94

[source]

[thecolorblockcurator]

Women with a Yo-yo, ca. 1770. Mughal Empire

[wehadfacesthen]

Katharine Hepburn in a 1934 photo by Cecil Beaton  © The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

“She has a face that belongs to the sea and the wind, with large rocking-horse nostrils and teeth that you just know bite an apple every day.” - Cecil Beaton

[olive-thomas]

Scene from an unidentified early (c. 1911-13) Kalem Company short film which was Alice Joyce’s first lead role. Alice is being embraced by George Melford. The cowboys on Alice’s right are Richard Ridgely (husband of Cleo), next to him is J. P. McGowan.

[dame-de-pique]

Thomas O. Sheckell - Woman Sitting, c.1930

[wehadfacesthen]

Lisa Fonssagrives wears a gown and wrap by Jacques Fath in a photo by Fernand Fonssagrives, Paris, 1949

[womenandbooks]