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Four capitals from the Benedictine abbey church at Moutiers-Saint-Jean, Burgundy, France, c. 1125-30, limestone, Harvard Art Museums (1, 2, 3, 4)

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Christina Rossetti, "In an Artist's Studio", 1856 (published 1896)

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Hugo Ball reciting one of his sound poems in a cubist costume at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich 1916. Photographer unknown.

Ball described his experience on stage during this early phase of Dada in his book Flight Out of Time (1927):

"For a moment it seemed as if there were a pale, bewildered face in my Cubist mask, that half-frightened, half-curious face of a ten-year-old boy, trembling and hanging avidly on the priest's words in the requiems and high masses in his home parish. Then the lights went out, as I had ordered, and bathed in sweat, I was carried down off the stage like a magical bishop." (71)

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First edition of George Eliot's (1819-1880) Middlemarch, in 8 parts, William Blackwood & Sons, 1871-72.

Middlemarch was something of an experiment in the serial form, appearing as it did in eight irregularly published 'books,' each with its own title. As John Sutherland notes [see Victorian Novelists, p.188], the format gave author and publisher simultaneous access to two markets, offering both "the stiff covers and narrative wholeness associated with the library volume" and "the price and deferred payment associated with the serial." Eliot's husband and acting business agent George Henry Lewes first proposed the idea to Blackwood, who required some persuading after the relative commercial failure of Felix Holt, which had sold far fewer copies than were printed. A compromise was struck, Blackwood printed close to 6,000 copies (Lewes had suggested 10,000), and the parts issue of Middlemarch sold out completely. The experiment was repeated with Daniel Deronda, also with great success. (x)

[victoriantomodern]

Fiona Foley (1964-), Butchulla people, Land deal, 1995, flour, found objects and text, NGA.

"She [Foley] says, ‘My work is talking about the racial tension that’s here in this country and is never fully articulated — it’s always under the surface.’ [...] The installation Land Deal is simply comprised of the items that John Batman gave to the Wurundjeri people in 1835 in exchange for the land where the city of Melbourne now stands." (x)

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Indonesian, man's cloth (Hinggi kombu), c. 1890, dyed cotton (warp ikat), National Gallery of Victoria.

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Jeannette Klute (1918-2009), Dogwood, c. 1950, dye transfer print on paper, Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College.

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Tom Knechtel (1952), Aria, 1988, pastel on paper, 36 x 36 cm, Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College.

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Photographs from the Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, which premiered on April 22 1895 at the Empire Theatre; it closed after only 16 performances. (1, 2, 3, 4)

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Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964), Soldier in a Wood, c. 1911, oil on canvas, National Galleries Scotland.

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Nicholas of Verdun (1130-1205), detail of the Klosterneuberg Altar (Verdun Altar) showing the Murder of Abel, 1181, champlevé enamel, Stift Klosterneuburg (JSTOR)

[victoriantomodern]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), Gelbes Stilleben (Yellow Still Life), 1911, oil on canvas, 69.37 x 55.88 cm, Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College.

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Eva Hesse (1936-1970), Contingent, 1969, cheesecloth, latex and fibreglass, 350 x 630 x 109 cm (each panel weighs 30 kg), NGA.

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Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Olive Trees, 1889, oil on canvas, 51.2 x 65.4 cm, National Galleries Scotland.

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John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Pavement, Cairo, 1891, oil on canvas, the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

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Adrienne Gaha (1960-), Going to the Beach, 1992, oil, pen, and ink on canvas, 55.8 x 40.2 cm, NGA.

[victoriantomodern]

Ethel Carrick (1872-1952), In the Nice flower market, c. 1926, oil on canvas, 59.2 x 80.9 cm, NGA.