Surreal case of the Dalí images and a battle over artistic licence
Month: January 2009
Macho men
An ad campaign which can’t possibly be ignored given the present train of obsessions. Andrés Ramírez photographs a collection of tight packages for underwear manufacturer, Macho. I’m not sure what a group of Roman gladiators would be doing sparring in what appears to be a Bollywood boudoir like the one in Moulin Rouge! but, ya know…underwear and swords… Consistency is the hobgoblin of fevered imaginations.
Via Queerty.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The men with swords archive
The art of Maxwell Armfield, 1881–1972
De Profundis.
I’ve known Maxwell Armfield’s work in the past mainly for the appearance of his paintings in books of late Victorian or even Pre-Raphaelite art. His depiction of Faustine (1904), which illustrates a Swinburne poem, is probably the most popular of these, with a subject resembling Rossetti’s portraits of Jane Morris. So it’s a surprise to find his illustration work using a very different, more open style based on Ancient Greek art and (possibly) Classical enthusiasts such as John Flaxman. Among the online examples, the redoubtable Internet Archive has a few book downloads available including a volume of Armfield’s rather tepid poetry, The Hanging Garden, and other verse (1914), which nonetheless includes the fine illustrations shown here. In addition there’s a curious fable by Vernon Lee, The Ballet of the Nations; a Present-day Morality (1915) in which Death stages a ballet (aka another war) to decimate humanity, and a short book Rhythmic Shape; A Text-book of Design (1920), Armfield’s guide to art and design theory.
“Out of the East he came.”
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Less money to spend…less second-rate art
Less money to spend…less second-rate art | And not a moment too soon.
Battle of the Naked Men
An engraving from circa 1470 by Antonio Pollaiuolo (1433–1498), presented in part for all those who arrive here searching for “naked men” although this also fits the men with swords category. One-handed Googlers will no doubt be disappointed by a mere drawing but that’s their problem. The British Museum site looks at the possible interpretations of this work and speculates about its creation.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The men with swords archive
• The etching and engraving archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Behold the (naked) man