Sep 9, 2009

Peacock and Peahen (18th c.).
I’ve had an untitled Japanese painting of a peacock as a desktop image for a while now, its origin forgotten, and I’ve wondered a few times who the artist was. A recent posting about Maruyama Okyo (1733–1795) at Bajo el Signo de Libra made me think that Okyo might be the [...]
May 19, 2009

La femme au paon (Woman with peacocks): from L’Estampe Moderne (1897).
Two works by British Art Nouveau poster artist and illustrator, Louis Rhead (1858–1926). The first of these is very typical and resembles many of his magazine covers of the period. The cover illustration for The Century, meanwhile, must count as the only time I’ve seen [...]
Mar 17, 2009

Louis Rhead (1916).
Continuing from the weekend’s book discovery, a browse at Archive.org reveals many PDF editions of the Arabian Nights. No surprise given the enduring popularity of the stories, and no surprise either that the texts are of variable quality, most of them diluted from the earthy and inventive originals to the status of the [...]
Jan 13, 2009

“For all the world I was led like a dancing bear” by NC Wyeth (1911).
This year’s reading began with a desire to explore some of the Robert Louis Stevenson volumes in my collection which I’ve so far neglected. At the moment I’m thinking of maybe reading everything I have by RLS, having begun with [...]