Checkerboard and Playing Cards (1915) by Juan Gris.
Happy new year. 02015? Read this.
Composition No. 23 (1915) by Jacoba van Heemskerck.
The Double Dream of Spring (1915) by Giorgio de Chirico.
Category: {painting}
Painting
Max Ernst album covers
The Road To Ruin (1970) by John & Beverley Martyn. Art: Un Semaine de Bonté (1934).
Having already looked at cover art featuring the work of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, a similar post for Max Ernst seemed inevitable. I did search for Ernst cover art after the Dalí post but at the time there were fewer examples. As usual there may be more than these since Discogs is the main search tool and they (or the albums) don’t always credit the artists. Despite having several books of Ernst’s work I’ve not been able to identify all the artwork so the Ernst-heads out there are welcome to fill in the gaps.
The Road To Ruin was John Martyn’s fourth album, and the second he recorded with wife Beverley. I’m surprised that this is the earliest example, I’d have expected a classical album or two to have predated it.
Martinu’s Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies Symphoniques) / Vorisek’s Symphony In D Major (1971); New Philharmonia Orchestra, Michael Bialoguski. Art: Bottled Moon (1955).
Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók (1976); Tatiana Troyanos, Siegmund Nimsgern, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez. Art: The Eye of Silence (1943–44).
Bluebeard’s Castle is my favourite opera, and The Eye of Silence is my favourite Ernst painting, so this is a dream conjunction even if the match doesn’t work as well as it did for the cover of The Crystal World by JG Ballard. One to seek out.
Weekend links 237
Le Palais des Merveilles, 1907 – 1927 – 1960 by Clovis Trouille.
• “Why is it OK to show a male ejaculation but not a female one? What are the qualifications of those who cobble together these rules?” Suzanne Moore on the latest batch of discriminatory restrictions against porn production in the UK. Porn laws in Britain have long been like the drug laws, sprouting fresh Hydra-heads of unwarranted bans and crackdowns after the previous bans and crackdowns have been discredited. Last month Zoe Williams talked to women who make niche porn for other women. This week she discovered that some of those she interviewed now find their work is illegal under the latest restrictions.
• “[Derek Jarman] considered In the Shadow of the Sun to be just as important as any of the feature films that he made in the 1970s.” Film producer and archivist James Mackay talking to Beatrix Rux about Derek Jarman’s Super-8 films. Related: Tilda Swinton is GQ’s Woman of the Year.
• The Art of Big O by Michael Fishel (author) and Nigel Suckling (editor), a collection of the fantastic and psychedelic poster art published by Peter Ledeboer’s company in the 1970s. Good to see but at $67 (really?) I’d expect a better cover design.
• New electronica: More “confusing English electronic music” from Moon Wiring Club; Shut-Eyed Stories, an album by Jim Cheff; and Shapwick by Jon Brooks, previously vinyl-only and out-of-print, now has a digital edition.
• JK Potter Mutates the Story: Christopher Burke & David Davis talk to the horror illustrator about his photographic work.
• Beth Maiden on The Fascinating Life of Pamela Colman Smith, artist of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck.
• Under the Influence: The Sexy, Sordid Surrealism of Clovis Trouille by Kirsten Anderson.
• Geoff Manaugh on The Fiery Underground Oil Pit Eating LA.
• Mix of the week: Secret Thirteen Mix 137 by Teste.
• The Young People (2010) by Belbury Poly & Moon Wiring Club | Goat Foot (2012) by Belbury Poly | Walking Through Me (2014) by Moon Wiring Club
December
December (1732) by Jacob van Huysum.
Paintings of December often resemble Christmas cards so this small selection is an alternative to views of snow-covered fields. John William Buxton Knight’s painting does a better job of evoking the more common damp and dreary British winter.
Between Veneux and By – December Morning (1882) by Alfred Sisley.
Old December’s Bareness Everywhere (1908) by John William Buxton Knight.
Homosurrealism
Untitled (2012) by Brian Oldham.
Jack Sanders was in touch recently about his online art showcase Homosurrealism, a gallery of homoerotics, the surreal and the occult. The fourth issue has just gone live, and the contents could just as well be described as Homo-occultism given the predominance of esoterica. Jean Cocteau and Kenneth Anger are in there, also William Burroughs via Gus Van Sant’s film of the Thanksgiving Prayer which receives a lot of exposure at this time of year.
La Petite Mort by John Waiblinger.
Also featured is my Sephiroth of the Great Old Ones from the Haunter of the Dark collection. Credit should be given there to Alan Moore who was responsible for the attribution of the various gods to the different spheres. In the book the chart is followed by my renderings of the sinister pantheon together with Alan’s description of each god and sphere.
The Great Old Ones: Sephiroth (1999) by John Coulthart & Alan Moore.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Salivation Army, a film by Scott Treleaven