{architecture} – Page 118

The panoramic towers of Prague

The Tower at Charles Bridge, Old Town.

More panoramas of Prague from 360 Cities by Jeffrey Martin, a photographer who’s made a speciality of capturing the city in 360º views. Among his collection are a number of photos taken from Prague’s many towers and steeples including a few where he’s managed to remove the supporting building, as in the view from the Charles Bridge above. This gives the effect of floating in weightless suspension above the city and may well induce alarm in vertigo sufferers. Needless to say, all these are best viewed on the full screen setting.

The Powder Tower (Prasna Brana).

Mikulas Tower.

Prague TV Tower Babies 1; one of David Cerný’s crawling baby sculptures looks over the city. See also the 18 gigapixel view from the tower.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The panoramas archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Karel Plicka’s views of Prague

Albrecht Dürer’s Triumphal Arch

Albrecht Dürer’s Triumphal Arch (1515), a wall-sized print produced by 192 separate print blocks. I had a good look at this the last time I was the British Museum. The Museum’s site has some sample details of the work but the size of them isn’t so good, unfortunately. This is one of those pictures you either have to see in situ or find a huge digital copy to scrutinise in order to fully appreciate its incredible detail.

The Triumphal Arch is one of the largest prints ever produced. It was commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519). The programme was devised by the court historian and mathematician, Johann Stabius, who explains underneath that it was constructed after the model of ‘the ancient triumphal arches of the Roman Emperors’. (More.)

• The Triumphal Arch at The American Institute for Conservation | An overview of the prints and some good views of the full scale of the work.
• The Triumphal Arch at Backtoclassics.com | A large view and some details.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive

The art of Melchior Lechter, 1865–1937

The first issue of yesterday’s arts and crafts magazine Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration includes an article about Melchior Lechter, a German artist and designer whose illustration work I knew from books by gay poet Stefan George but who seems unjustly neglected by fin de siècle art histories. The reminder prompted me to search a bit more actively and doing so turned up another Internet Archive document, Melchior Lechter, a monograph from 1904 by Maximilian Rapsilber. These are Google scans and the quality is very good for once, with a collection of impressive graphic works in Lechter’s religious Art Nouveau style, as well as photos of his furniture and stained glass window designs. I can’t say much more about artist since all the available documentation is in German but the visuals in Rapsilber’s book make me wish we could see more of his work.

(Note: if you want to download the full PDF, do so here.)

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration

Exposition Universelle catalogue

Regular visitors here will know that the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 is never far away, and this is another addition to the surfeit of information about that event. Following last week’s delve into University of Heidelberg’s digital archives—which I really ought to have properly investigated when I first looked at them last year—I’ve been going deeper into their collection which isn’t always easy when many parts of the site are German-only. One section is devoted to books from 19th century expositions with a sub-section of works concerned with the Exposition Universelle.

The Palace of Electricity.

Among various publications they have the lavish three-volume exposition catalogue which is a real treat to see, not least for its quality. Much of the content is familiar from other books but new views of these remarkable Winsor McCay-like structures are always welcome.

The three volumes are here, here and here.

Main entrance gate.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Exposition Universelle publications
• Exposition cornucopia
• Return to the Exposition Universelle
• The Palais Lumineux
• Louis Bonnier’s exposition dreams
• Exposition Universelle, 1900
• The Palais du Trocadéro
• The Evanescent City

Subterrania

German Military Underground Hospital, Channel Islands (2004).

Photographs of undercrofts, catacombs and deserted passageways from Fiona Croft’s Subterrania series comprise a solo touring exhibition currently showing at the Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall until April 17, 2010.

Meanwhile, if you’re in London and you fancy braving the chills of the St Pancras Church Crypt in the Euston Road, the Warnings Project is staging a short season of MR James readings/performances about which they give away few details in order to preserve surprise. There’s slightly more information at their minimal website.