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New Austin Spare grimoires

The latest Starfire catalogue has news of the unearthing of two unfinished grimoires by Austin Osman Spare both of which are due for publication later this year. The two books—The Focus of Life & The Papyrus of Amen-AOS and The Arcana of AOS & the Consciousness of Kia-Ra—date from 1905–06 and I presume the picture from the catalogue shown above is from one of these. No details yet as to price of either volume. Via Arthur.

These two grimoires by Spare are at once enigmatic and full of haunting beauty. The paintings and drawings from each notebook are here reproduced in full colour. With analytical essays by Michael Staley, Stephen Pochin and William Wallace, and an introduction by Robert Ansell, this publication adds to our understanding of Spare’s early years as an artist, mystic and philosopher, and sheds light on the early development of his sigillisation techniques.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Austin Spare absinthe
• Austin Spare’s Behind the Veil
• Austin Osman Spare

The art of Yannis Tsarouchis, 1910–1989

Man with butterfly wings sitting on his heels, study from life (1965).

Two paintings by Greek artist Yannis Tsarouchis among whose homoerotic works can be found obsessively recurrent depictions of men with butterfly wings. Via Bajo el Signo de Libra.

Winged spirit buttoning his underpants (1966).

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Butterfly women

Schott’s Physica Curiosa

Pages from Physica Curiosa (1697) by Gaspar Schott, a collection of natural anomalies and the usual debatable creatures which belong in a fantastic bestiary. Some of these are similar to illustrations from the same period which I’ve used in Ann & Jeff VanderMeer’s Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals, due for publication soon by Tachyon.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive

Anger in London

It’s that man again… Following on the heels of the occult-themed Strange Attractor Salon (which is running events throughout this month, it should be noted; tickets here), the Sprüth Magers gallery, London, has a Kenneth Anger exhibition opening on February 19th based around Anger’s delirious short film Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) and his scurrilous anthology of movie tragedy and gossip, Hollywood Babylon. Anger himself presents a showing of his films on the same day at Tate Modern.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Arabesque for Kenneth Anger by Marie Menken
• Strange Attractor Salon
• Edmund Teske
• Kenneth Anger on DVD again
• Mouse Heaven by Kenneth Anger
• The Man We Want to Hang by Kenneth Anger
• Relighting the Magick Lantern
• Kenneth Anger on DVD…finally

Secession posters

Alfred Roller (1901 & 02).

A selection of posters for the Vienna Secession at Lawrence University’s Art of the Poster site. Alfred Roller’s stylised lettering on the poster below was famously adapted by Wes Wilson for his psychedelic designs in the 1960s.

left: Koloman Moser (1902); right: Alfred Roller (1903).

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Henri Privat-Livemont, 1861–1936
• Wilhelm Kåge
• Art Nouveau illustration