ad astra per aspera

Nora. Art History. Snarky. Exuding an aura of confidence mixed with superiority.

[selinasdalton]

Oh, dear God. You are so like my father when you laugh.

[facesofthevictorianera]

Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, Princess Alice and the Duchess of Gloucester at Gloucester House, 1856

The Royal Collection

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Prince Philip mentioning his sister Princess Cecile who died tragically with her husband, sons and mother-in-law on november 16, 1937. 

“Philip was told the tragedy at school and never forgot “the profound shock” with which he heard the news.” Hugo Vickers.

[judicialinvestigator-deactivate]

Татьяна Николаевна и Мария Николаевна на фотографиях Евгения Фаберже, 21 октября 1914 года

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Autochrome of King George V, Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales, Buckingham Palace, 13 March 1914.

[lamus-dworski]

‘Pogoda’, from a cycle depicting old Slavic gods by Polish artist Zofia Stryjeńska, 1935.

Image source: polswissart.pl

[judicialinvestigator-deactivate]

Княжны и зверушки

[theliteraryjournals]

I’m with you. No matter what else you have in your head I’m with you and I love you.

Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden (via theliteraryjournals)

[polandgallery]

Photo Album: Old Town, Warsaw, Poland

[vanessacarlysle]

Lois, Diana and Mera in the new Justice League trailer.

[tmhollandss]

[captainheroism]

#YALLL DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND#KARA DOESNT HAVE TO HOLD BACK WITH MON-EL#LIKE AT ALL#SHE CAN JUST BE HERSELF#AND THAT’S WONDERFUL (you go phebobuffay)

[saintmichaelthearchangel-moved]

And I’m lost, behind Words I’ll never find And I’m left behind As seasons roll on by

[lamus-dworski]

‘Magic of the Slavs’ cycle by Zofia Stryjeńska (Polish, 1891-1976).

Pictures from a French edition, 1934, via Agra Art.

The cycle shows some of the most notable Slavic rituals of pagan origins that had survived to the modern era in the rural customs. Original Polish title, ‘Gusła Słowian’, uses the archaic Polish word ‘gusła’ - a hard-to-translate concept comprising magic and rituals (mostly of shamanic nature) along with superstitions. Mrs Stryjeńska created 8 plates for this cycle. The illustrations include also the artist’s interpretations of old-Slavic gods (lesser/local deities as well as the major gods and goddesses).

On the plates above:

Svetovid’s Oak Tree

Śmigust (read: Śmigus-Dyngus)

Wianki (wreaths)

Kupala Night

Oczepiny (rite of a passage of a bride)

Dożynki (harvest festival) 

Walking with turoń (read: kolędowanie)

Drowning of Marzanna’s Effigy 

[9th picture is a cover art of the French edition of the booklet]

Full sets of this cycle are extremely rare, because in the past the booklets were often decompleted, and the illustrations hung on the walls as decorations.

[lamus-dworski]

Here I need to share a thing with you. 

I published the images above thinking that this is (finally) a complete set of this cycle, but it looks like Zofia Stryjeńska was working on other plates as well. Maybe not all were eventually chosen for publishing? I’m extremely curious now because more of them might be discovered with time.

To the point: I stumbled across the plate below that is dedicated to Slavic funerary customs. It was included (as a b&w print) in a catalogue from an exhibition of Polish art from the year 1930 (Stryjeńska created this cycle in late 1920s). I never saw that one before, and hope that the color original is not lost, or that at least some color copies or prints do exist nowadays. Reverse image searching didn’t show me anything, sadly.

[source]

[polandgallery]

Polish Literature: The Stones by Grażyna Chrostowska (1921 - 1942)

I used to like watching stones, They are naked, simple like a truth. Silent rough beings. Without tears and love - without complaint… Thrown on huge, wide earth… Stripped yearnings, free from hope Stand, belonging to nobody, yet with grief… Of their hard eternity Free from illusion - Alone in nothingness. And I sorrowed unwisely over something, That I might cry among those mute rocks, That winds chop them up, Storms are passing by, But they last - And nobody rules    over them, Because they had lived And became human hearts.

■ Grażyna Chrostowska was born on 21 October, 1921 in Lublin, Poland. She was a member of the underground KOP (Komenda Obrońców Polski) organization during the Nazi Germany occupation of Poland. She was arrested by Gestapo in Lublin on 8 May, 1941. Together with her sister she was sent to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp on 23 September, 1941. On 18 April, 1942, Grażyna Chrostowska (aged 21) and her sister were executed by firing squad in the camp.

[imperial-russia]

I.S. Kulikov: Boyarishniya, 1911

[judicialinvestigator-deactivate]

“На переходе из Севаст. в Ялту. Март 1914 г.” ГА РФ, ф. 673. оп. 1 д. 203 л. 12

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/117578/98255750.2f2/0_1aa45d_dfe274c6_orig

[leroichevalier]

→ History meme:  3 Wars (Bonus/3): The Seven Years’ War  1754/6 - 1763. (France, Holy Roman Empire, Russia, Spain, Sweden, …VS Prussia, Great Britian (including the colonies), Portugal).