Beauty In The Breakdown

Archaeologist, art lover

[nox-witch]

Photograph from the west frieze of the Parthenon, W. Hege, 1928.

It's fascinating to see how the figures change depending on how the light hits them. It's even more fascinating to think that this much detail was given to something that was 40 feet from the ground, behind the colonnade

[visitheworld]

Morning view from Sarangkot / Nepal (by Alex Davidson).

[josifbailey]

Kalamata by Kyriakos Kontozoglu via 500px.

[industrialwonders]

[elelelelelgreco]

“Όποιος δεν φοβάται το πρόσωπο του τέρατος, πάει να πει ότι του μοιάζει. Και η πιθανή προέκταση του αξιώματος είναι, να συνηθίσουμε τη φρίκη, να μας τρομάζει η ομορφιά”. Μάνος Χατζιδάκις

(via elelelelelgreco)

“ Anyone who is not afraid of the face of the monster means that he looks like it. And the possible extension of this axiom is that we get accustomed to horror, we get scared of beauty.”

Manos Hadjidakis on the rise of fascism and neonazism.

[ghibli-collector]

The Art Of Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday - Dir Isao Takahata (1991)

“Rather than paintings that declare ‘I am the real thing’, I prefer paintings that say ‘As you can see, I am not the real thing, but please use me as a means to imagine or remember in a vivid way the real thing that is behind me’. My intent was to have the viewers be there at the moment when the sketches were being drawn and to have them share in the emotions. I want to make sure that we don’t forget the great power of paintings drawn by lines on paper to stir our imaginations and memories.”

- Isao Takahata, on the iconic, symbolic power of visual art in animation.

[nox-witch]

[bitrates]

🌲 Nature Blog

[thefabulousweirdtrotters]

Interior production still for the film Pleasure Crazed circa 1929

[ancientart]

The seaside remains of the ancient Greek theatre at Apollonia, Cyrenaica.

Photo taken by David Stanley.

[travelingpage]

Delos, Greece

[archaeoart]

Ruins of Persepolis, Iran, circa 1923. 

[frumosfatih]

Young male beloveds in Persian miniature by Mirza Agha Emami, Iran, late 14th century.

Something sweet about male love in Ottoman Albania, just for the aesthetics of the gracious picture:

     “…Outside the town, where every afternoon lovers gather behind the tall trees and in the shady spots and flirt with their beloveds. It is a delightful gathering place for men of culture. Here, countless love-stricken young men come to sing love songs to the handsome boys they adore, whose red lips are like roses and cherries. They pour out their emotions so sweetly and sadly that the nightingales get tongue-tied with admiration. In every corner there is flirtation and fun and drinking and carousing, with music and singing and other entertainments day and night, like New Year’s eve”.

—Evliya Celebi (1511-1682)

[sumi-no-neko]

小林 清親 Kobayashi Kiyochika ( 1847 - 1915 ) 御茶の水螢, Fireflies at Ochanomizu, c.1880

[nesoicollection]

Temple of Poseidon, God of the Sea, at Cape Sounion south of Athens, Greece. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited!

[didoofcarthage]

Interior of the Parthenon, Taken from the Western Gate by William James Stillman

American, 1869 (negative) and 1870 (autotype)

carbon print (autotype)

Philadelphia Museum of Art 

[allthatweseeandseem]

Poem of the day: Cavafy - As much as you can

And if you can’t shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you can not to degrade it by too much contact with the world, by too much activity and talk.   Try not to degrade it by dragging it along, taking it around and exposing it so often to the daily silliness of social events and parties, until it comes to seem a boring hanger-on.