{ feuilleton }

The 1922 edition of Hamlet “decorated” by British artist John Austen (1886–1948) is a lot more visible today than it was a few years ago, thanks to a reprint by Dover Publications in their Calla Editions series. The scans here are from an original printing at VTS. Austen’s Hamlet is often rated as his chef […]

Cartouche with Macabre Symbols and a Hairy Skull (no date). Some macabre things for a macabre month. Jacopo Ligozzi was a Mannerist artist, and the date of his birth here is the most commonly cited one, some sources give later years. The excesses of Mannerism—distorted figures, sensational subject matter, grotesquery in general—used to be regarded […]

Demon (sitting) (1890) by Mikhail Vrubel. Another Symbolist painting ferreted out from the collections at the Google Art Project, this is actually one of a number of demon figures painted by Mikhail Vrubel (1856–1910). The subject marks it as Symbolist but the almost Expressionist style is very 20th century which makes its date of 1890 […]

Cyril Goldie. Selections from Modern Book-plates and their Designers, an overview of British, American and European designs published by The Studio magazine in 1898. These small Studio books are always good to see, not least for the period ads in the opening and closing pages. A couple of the designs are familiar from later reprints, […]

A couple of panoramic views from the celebrated Sedlec Ossuary in the Cemetery Church of All Saints at Sedlec, Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The quality of these isn’t as good as some of the panoramas I’ve linked to in the past but they help give an idea of the crypt which is now […]

Some revelations courtesy of a new venture, the Google Art Project, in which we’re given the opportunity to wander some of the world’s great art galleries and examine a selection of paintings in detail. Holbein’s 1533 masterpiece, The Ambassadors, is the default work for the collection from the National Gallery, London, and it’s a great […]

Magick Kruller Alefbet Lamen of the Golden Dawn. People cast around the superlatives when describing Hunter Stabler’s hand-cut paper artworks with good reason. The skull below is an ink drawing but the artist’s website features many paper works which are just as intricate. Via Phantasmaphile. Hare Christmas Maharishi. Previously on { feuilleton } • The […]

The Spirit of “Haschisch” by Sidney Sime. Once upon a time, the discussion of drugs in British society wasn’t characterised by hysteria, paranoia and the repetition of falsehoods, but could encompass an open-minded curiosity. This is easier to do, of course, when the narcotics in question haven’t been subject to prohibition; it also helps if […]

top left: Scorpio; top right: Gemini. bottom left: Cancer; bottom right: Libra. Following the zodiac sets from August, here’s a distinctly homoerotic variation on the theme by Australian photographer and fashion designer Richard de Chazal. See the full set here. Also on his site is a selection of his erotic photography which may interest some […]

Ah, sweet serendipity… What are the odds, dear reader, of two blogospheric friends posting equally splendid pictures of everyone’s favourite hand-stitched and reanimated woman within days of each other? (It helps that Evan P and Monsieur Thombeau share a number of interests but let’s not spoil the moment.) The Gray’s-like dissection above is the work […]

Macbeth. “I’m a creative catch-all; a designer / illustrator / printer on a mission to cover the world with my hand drawn patterns and motifs,” says Johanna Basford. “I’m not a Vector Technician, but one of the dwindling number of creatives who still likes to put pen to paper.” Beautiful, intricate work. Via ~Wunderkammer~ (again). […]

Self portrait (2009). More carved antlers, horns and bronze skulls at Shane Wilson’s website. Via ~Wunderkammer~.

The Shaman. Gorgeous drawings from this American artist, none of which are as innocent as they first appear. Some of my friends with Wunderkammer obsessions will be interested in the three-dimensional constructions detailed on her blog and her Flickr pages. Via Phantasmaphile. Arsenic. Previously on { feuilleton } • The art of Juliet Jacobson

It’s a curious feeling when a drawing which is nearly 26 years old makes it out into the world. The image above is the cover of a new 7″ single release, Dominion of Avyaktam by metal band Orator, the picture being something I drew in 1984 entitled Mahakala after the Tibetan deity which it depicts. […]

“He was a Brothers Grimm of fashion, enchanting and captivating the audience with the most incredibly beautiful clothes, only to make their stomachs lurch with the underlying menace that shot through his work. Because every show contained outfits designed to thrill, shock – and catch the eye of picture editors – many people never realised […]

Song of Retail #1 (Pink Skull Monkey) (2004). Retail might be more interesting if it involved pink monkeys beating skulls. There’s more at Laurie Hogin’s website and at Littlejohn Contemporary. Via Chateau Thombeau. Diorama with Palliated Species (2007). Elsewhere on { feuilleton } • The  fantastic art archive

Dragon Skull Ring. Jewellery by Swedish designer Maria Nilsdotter. Looking at her blog posts I’d guess that her snake bangle is inspired by the serpentine ring and bracelet set designed by Alphonse Mucha and Georges Fouquet for Sarah Bernhardt. Snake bangle (blackened silver). Previously on { feuilleton } • The Divine Sarah • Lalique’s dragonflies

Skull Vision by Michael Ayrton (1943). The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art: great title for an exhibition, a shame that it’s all the way down in Cornwall at Tate St Ives. This group exhibition takes its title from the infamous 1962 book by St Ives artist Sven Berlin. It will explore the […]

Photography by Steven Klein, styling by Nicola Formichetti. Not a Tom Waits album, Bondage Machine is the title of a feature in Vogue Hommes Japan which plays with bondage and fetish imagery to striking effect. What’s not to love about a huge skeletal necklace and leather underwear? Fetish gear is the aesthetic dimension of erotica […]

An obscure occult artist even among catalogues of obscure occult artists, Julien Champagne (also listed as Jean-Julian) is known principally for his associations with the persistently elusive 20th century alchemist Fulcanelli. Champagne provided a frontispiece (below) for Fulcanelli’s examination of architectural symbolism, Le Mystère des Cathédrales (1926), and is continually rumoured to have been Fulcanelli […]