tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30670989189142685032024-03-29T22:02:50.237+11:00ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainlyHistory, art history and architecture of Britain & Empire, Europe, Mediterranean & North America, 1640-1940.Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comBlogger1667125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-41880095655625143892024-03-26T18:00:00.034+11:002024-03-26T22:59:38.820+11:00Bluestockings: cultured, literary women!<div class="separator">A <b>Bluestocking</b> was a mid C18th intellectual woman with strong scholarly or literary interests. A group was founded to discuss the arts, started by two high society ladies in Britain: heiress <b>Elizabeth Montagu</b> (1718–1800) and intellectual <b>Elizabeth Vesey</b> (c1715–91). Mrs Vesey organised the first functions in Bath. It wasn’t until she moved to London that any competitiveness developed between them.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBj81yCF9XDGkX7H3Mi4lmxtWlNkvCL-NmvJUsgXzF6dYPyrc4SmN2hSKDISrgLyr803zqcBDnO4XA5dBMNKKQSr_SaK4hnPhcFFSHnrwwHGvk6Z4sCduCwWempNzIXIZWcEbe__lp9fjJRY/s1600/BlueStockingsRichard+Samuel1778+portrait.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBj81yCF9XDGkX7H3Mi4lmxtWlNkvCL-NmvJUsgXzF6dYPyrc4SmN2hSKDISrgLyr803zqcBDnO4XA5dBMNKKQSr_SaK4hnPhcFFSHnrwwHGvk6Z4sCduCwWempNzIXIZWcEbe__lp9fjJRY/s400/BlueStockingsRichard+Samuel1778+portrait.jpg" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Portraits of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo (above)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Richard Samuel, 1778 132 x 155 cm, Nat Portrait Gall</span> </div><div><br /></div>
Their London salon was for intelligent discussion over tea; a change from the endless card games and harmless flirtation that was the norm for mixed-gender high society gatherings. Worse was when women had been limited to gossip and embroidery, while the men sat in the study and discussed poetry and politics. <br />
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There were challenging female brains in those early gatherings, more than equal to male intelligence, including linguist-classicist <b>Elizabeth Carter,</b> novelist <b>Fanny Burney</b>, courtier-diarist <b>Mary Hamilton</b>, <b>Hester Chapone</b>, <b>Mary Monckton</b> and playwright and anti-slavery campaigner <b>Hannah More</b>. Montagu patronised a number of authors, including Anna Barbauld, Sarah Fielding, James Beattie and Anna Williams. Samuel Johnson's hostess,<b> Hester Thrale</b>, was also an occasional visitor to Hill Street. Elizabeth Montagu was not the dominant blue stocking personality, but she was the woman of the greatest means. It was her house and power that made the society possible.<br />
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Here is a story I DID know. When Vesey invited the learned <b>Benjamin Stillingfleet </b>(1702–71) to one of her parties, he declined because he lacked appropriate dress. So she told him to come in the ordinary blue worsted stockings he was wearing. He agreed, and Bluestocking society became the group’s nickname. The bluestocking women, also in their ordinary blue woollen legwear, “enjoyed society in undress”; it created informality and equalitarianism at their salons.<br />
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But the Venetians used blue stockings first. In the 1400s they had an elite <a href="https://bluestockingssociety.wordpress.com/the-blue-stocking-history/">salon called <b>della calza</b></a> for their fancy leg wear. And the Parisian <b>Bas Bleu-</b>bluestocking label emerged in the 1500s for groups of French literary women. So the Georgians were clearly quoting a European heritage of learned gatherings in their name.</div><div><br />
And another thing. The Society’s members were <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">not all wealthy or aristocratic</a>. Novelist Fanny Burney worked as Keeper of the Robes for Queen Charlotte. Poet-essayist Anna Laetitia Barbauld had worked as a housekeeper at Palgrave Academy Suffolk. Hester Chapone was the writer daughter of a farmer who later married a solicitor.
By 1770, her <b>home on Hill St London</b> had become the premiere salon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nonetheless these women held salons to which they invited men of letters, and members of the aristocracy with literary interests: <b>David Garrick, Earl of Bath, Lord Lyttleton</b>, man of letters <b>Horace Walpole,</b> artist Sir <b>Joshua Reynolds</b>, philosopher <b>Edmund Burke</b>, author <b>Dr Samuel Johnson</b> and biographer <b>James Boswell.</b><br />
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The original bluestocking salons launched similar social gatherings across London and then across Britain. Poet-playwright Hannah More published her poem Bas Bleu Conversation in 1786, in homage to the soirees. Her use of “bas bleu” in the title was a nod to the scholarship of the circle. The group was a support network for women scholars and artists i.e an informal university.<br />
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Luckily the patrician bluestockings packaged their “female social rebellion” as an elegant balance between fashion and learning. The first bluestockings were seen as Georgian ideals of feminine sophistication and virtue. The artist <b>Richard Samuel</b> (see above) painted the original <b>Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo </b>in 1778, hoping to capture the public imagination. So successful was his ploy that it became a popular print, depicting the women sacrificing to the goddess Britannia in lieu of Apollo. NB the print featured in a famous pocket diary in 1778, to inspire women to write down their own musings. <br />
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At first it was a great publicity campaign, sweeping in the idea of stylish female learning at a time when women had no rights to money or property, and were effectively a servant class to men. <br />
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Then, as the <b>American War of Independence</b> (1775–83) and the <b>French Revolution</b> (1789-99) made the idea of egalitarian learning more dangerous than sexy in the late C18th, the bluestockings faced attacks. Few people wanted these women forgetting their rightful place. Montagu was satirised by <b>Lord Byron</b> as the ridiculous Lady Bluebottle in his 1821 Literary Eclogue. Byron laughed at best-selling poetess Felicia Dorothea Hemans, suggesting she should ‘knit bluestockings instead of wearing them.’ <br />
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<b><u>Criticism</u></b><br />
<b>Admiral Edward Boscawen</b> scorned his wife’s literary pretensions. Mrs <b>Frances Evelyn Boscawen </b>neé Glanville had been a popular Blue Stockings Society hostess and elegant letter writer. T<b>homas Rowlandson</b>’s 1815 cartoon “Breaking Up of the Blue Stocking Club” depicted screaming harridans attacking each other, grabbing hair and ripping clothes, with tea cups flying. And French satirical cartoonist <b>Honoré Daumier</b> attacked across the Channel with his etchings of grotesque women scholars, Les Bas Bleus, and targeted liberated femmes eg novelist <b>George Sand</b>. <br />
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But it wasn’t only savage men. Bluestocking Fanny Burney wrote her first play <b>The Witlings</b> about pretentious women patrons of the arts. The satire was to be staged by <b>Sheridan</b> at Drury Lane, but she withdrew it before it got her into trouble with Montagu. Depictions of unfeminine bluestockings became more sinister eg the character of mannish feminist <b>Harriet Freke</b> was based on radical writer <b>Mary Wollstonecraft</b>, in Maria Edgeworth’s 1811 novel Belinda. <br />
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Not surprisingly it was sex that damaged the bluestockings in the end. <b>Catharine Macaulay</b>’s radical 8-volume History of England, arguing for democratic republic to replace monarchy, made the Establishment bring her down. But she was ridiculed for her scandalous private life filled with inappropriate partners!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bluestockings Displayed: Portraiture, Performance and Patronage 1730–1830 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">by Elizabeth Eger (ed)</span></div>
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Macauley’s scandalous sexual antics weren’t innocent; they were as political a statement as her writing. She considered it an outrage that virtue in a woman meant only one thing: chastity. Mary Wollstonecraft, author of <b>A Vindication of the Rights of Women</b>, agreed with her, and lived out her own life with even less approval. Imagine her radicalism, passionate female friendships, love affairs, illegitimate child and suicide attempts. Far from embracing her as a role model, C19th suffragettes felt obliged to ignore her. <br />
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Mostly the participants discussed books and ideas, but sometimes they debated political controversies! Perhaps it was too much when women went from national treasures to dangerous rebels. Within a decade, bluestocking gatherings launched radical political thinkers who spoke out ahead of their time for the equality, liberty and social justice. Women who consequently got themselves ostracised and denigrated fuelled the backlash that transformed the label bluestocking from an affectionate nickname into an insult. </div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy<b> Bluestockings Displayed: Portraiture, Performance and Patronage 1730–1830</b> by Elizabeth Eger ed, Cambridge UP, 2013. And thank you to <b><a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2008/brilliant-women/the-bluestockings-circle">The Bluestockings Circle</a></b> at the National Portrait Gallery.<br />
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</div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-26208699918439480332024-03-23T06:00:00.009+11:002024-03-23T06:00:00.122+11:00Could black men graduate from Oxbridge?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cole at Oxford</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">History Extra</span></div>
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<div>The first black man recorded as graduating from <b>Cambridge</b> was mixed-race violinist <b>George Augustus Bridgetower</b> (1778–1860). He was elected to <u>Royal Society of Musicians</u> in 1807, and attended <b>Trinity Hall</b>, Cambridge where he earned the degree of <u>Bachelor of Music</u> in 1811. He was the first West Indian graduate recorded in university records.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second black man was New Yorker <b>Alexander Crummell </b>(1819–1898) who was sponsored by American Anglicans and admitted to <b>Queens’ College</b>, Cambridge as a family man in 1848. He certainly experienced verbal racism, even as late as the day of his graduation ceremony in 1853. Crummell then went to <b>Liberia</b> as a missionary, successfully spending the next 20 years there as a parish rector and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Science at <b>Liberia College</b>. <br />
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Had no African student applied to Oxford before 1870? Perhaps had some applied and were rejected <b><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-40429917">Christian Frederick Cole</a></b> (1852-85) was born in the village of Waterloo, in the British colony of <b>Sierra Leone</b>. His adopted father, a Church of England minister, gained a scholarship for their son to attend the best college in sub-Saharan Africa, a <b>Freetown</b> missionary school with high standards in the Classics. <b>Principal Rev E Jones</b> had been the first African-American to graduate from <b>Amherst College</b> in the USA and it was he who encouraged young Cole to apply for Oxford Uni. So Cole applied, sat for Greek, Latin, arithmetic & algebra exams, and was accepted.<br />
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In 1872 Cole’s father died and his uncle took over the guardianship responsibility. Despite Britain’s racist colonial views, Cole enrolled at <b>University College</b> to read for an honours degree in Classics, becoming the first black African to study at the university. He was constantly subject to ridicule and sarcasm verbally and in writing, but apparently was never physically harmed.<br />
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Christian Cole was not a residential student, but his uncle did pay for lodgings in the city and for university fees. Cole’s presence attracted attention both inside and outside the university. As a member of Oxford Union debating society, Cole actively debated in the given topics. His academic essays were commended by his tutors and lecturers, and after 4 years of hard study, Cole got his honours degree in 1877. It only fell apart when his uncle ran out of money to support his loved nephew. Instead Christian used his great musical talent to teach music to some undergraduates, and prepared other under-graduates for their divinity exams. Eventually he sought the assistance of the Master of University College in winning exemption from paying fees, but the request failed and Cole had to return to Africa. <br />
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By 1879 his friends in Sierra Leone had raised enough money to return him to London and to make a career in Law. He became the first black African member of the <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2019/05/legal-london-training-barristers-in.html">Honourable Society of the Inner Temple</a></b>, one of London’s prestigious <b>Inns of Court</b>. After 4 more years, he was called to the bar as the <i>first </i>African barrister to practise in British courts. <br />
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How sad that despite being called to the bar, Cole couldn't secure any chambers in Britain and so took a barristership in <b>Zanzibar</b> instead. Even that success was short lived. Just a year later Cole contracted smallpox and died in Dec 1885 aged 33. In his brief life, Cole had carefully worked his way through the racial and cultural barriers of Victorian Britain to create two historic firsts. Who knows what other remarkable successes this young man might have achieved? </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cole's plaque, Oxford, </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">2017</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">BBC</span></span></div>
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A <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-40429917">plaque</a> to honour Cole’s successes was placed on University College’s exterior wall, opposite the College’s Law Library Oxford. What a very long time to make the honour happen! <br />
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Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-56814922357507327172024-03-19T18:00:00.095+11:002024-03-19T18:00:00.131+11:00Capt Cook's Cottage Melbourne <b>James Cook Snr</b> brought his large family from <b>Scotland</b> in 1736 where he had secured more reliable employment on estate farms. As a bonus, he could send young James to school at his employer’s expense.<div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTK0hG5MyDOTX1LHYR3qdP8R9ARuSQIUYij-1IeAbRsH-k2h5EACP9K4sS2yPziey79Xie_aaLvKThvG7uC5zx6uC0mUBvpwYiGZxAcvY0nsf8sDJXihbljZgWZ_O3JTH67F9QtqIqDPlOePbGeMrOYx0Vae6xrC1svn10Gq2NcLGc-_bFB39jTLC64xILJt7tt8k/s451/CaptCookCottage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="451" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTK0hG5MyDOTX1LHYR3qdP8R9ARuSQIUYij-1IeAbRsH-k2h5EACP9K4sS2yPziey79Xie_aaLvKThvG7uC5zx6uC0mUBvpwYiGZxAcvY0nsf8sDJXihbljZgWZ_O3JTH67F9QtqIqDPlOePbGeMrOYx0Vae6xrC1svn10Gq2NcLGc-_bFB39jTLC64xILJt7tt8k/w400-h301/CaptCookCottage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Capt Cook's Cottage</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">transplanted brick by brick to Melbourne </span><span style="font-size: small;">in 1934</span></div><div><br />Navigator-explorer <b>Capt James Coo</b>k (1728-79) never lived in the cottage when his parents James and Grace built it in 1755 in <b>Great Ayton village, North Yorkshire</b>. [1755 was inscribed in the cottage’s stone-work]. The lad had started his sea-faring apprenticeship in that year, even though he’d have stayed with his parents on trips home, enjoying fishing in the River Leven. So this connection to the Cook family home was enough to link the cottage and young James. <br /><br />Leap forward to June 1933, when Great Ayton villagers crammed into the Buck Hotel for the auction for Cooks’ Cottage. The house’s legacy of being connected, however distantly, to one of Britain’s most famous explorers meant that many people arrived to witness its fate. Originally Cooks’ Cottage had been placed under strict conditions that any buyer could not remove the building from England, although this was later waived at the auction. Later the Yorkshire cottage was sold to Melbourne scientist and philanthropist <b>Sir Russell Grimwade</b> for £800.<br /><br />Even in the 1930s, not everyone was happy about Cooks’ Cottage being removed from its Great Ayton site. Some locals complained that the house belonged to British history. Others were excited for the move, seeing it as a strengthened tie between the two British nations. <br /><br />Then there was the job of dismantling the cottage. Each beam, rafter, flagstone and brick was individually numbered as it was painstakingly removed and placed into 253 wooden crates. Attention to detail was important: only the modern parts of the house were left behind eg a fireplace inglenook that had been built after the Cooks left. The crates were taken by a fleet of lorries to a train which delivered them to the port of Hull. There the Commonwealth and Dominion Liner Port Wellington was waiting. <br /><br />The ship left port in Feb, carrying 16,851 ks from the Cook Cottage to Australia. A site in the <b>Fitzroy Gardens</b> was selected to rebuild the cottage, where it went up brick-by-brick and opened to the public to mark <b>Melbourne’s 100th centenary 1934</b>. Construction work was completed in 6 months then the cottage was handed over to the Lord Mayor by Grimwade in Oct 1934 in time for the centenary ceremony. Combining modern interpretations of Capt Cook's adventures, original furniture, a lovely English cottage garden, volunteers in C18th costumes and a new museum in the stable. The Cottage was perfect when I visited (1958).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgF_53BFr7TQ53sI8bDwfaU6kdb0C7a2ti-sAJlUqlhMGvm2WWyDmYOUQXV2L2JwfJuINfGIiFjjagx7-zaBLzmCPBTU27SCgWOwEZtenaU-b4_WiZno1XRZzqOQ06hnCf-nSivr6O7rawZbkAOhdbHUyIcfiV5_y6CThV7ODZSdCO3DgY-Z25O-ShP2vXCtalMFG/s600/CaptCookCottageInterior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgF_53BFr7TQ53sI8bDwfaU6kdb0C7a2ti-sAJlUqlhMGvm2WWyDmYOUQXV2L2JwfJuINfGIiFjjagx7-zaBLzmCPBTU27SCgWOwEZtenaU-b4_WiZno1XRZzqOQ06hnCf-nSivr6O7rawZbkAOhdbHUyIcfiV5_y6CThV7ODZSdCO3DgY-Z25O-ShP2vXCtalMFG/w400-h400/CaptCookCottageInterior.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Original 18th century furniture</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div></div></div> Actually Capt Cook lived on his ship <b>HM Endeavour</b> and never actually lived anywhere on land. The closest he actually came to the future-city was from the deck of the Endeavour, a few ks from <b>Point Hicks in Gippsland</b> (which Cook named). Thus the cottage became a historical fluke, in a place with no connection to Melbourne, yet for decades successfully miscast as a nationalistic colonial icon.<br /><div><br /></div><div>The loss of Cooks’ Cottage to Great Ayton was quickly remedied with a gift from the Australian government. An obelisk now stands on the original site of Capt Cook’s Cottage, made out of Point Hicks granite. NB this was the first land Cook aw on his 1770 Australian trip! <br /><br />So why was the cottage erected in the Fitzroy Gardens if Cook was never in Melbourne? Partially because the area was surrounded by large shady European trees, historian Linda Young noted that journalist Hermon Gill created a Cook–Melbourne connection. It was argued that the first Australian coastline, observed by Cook’s 1770 expedition, was here. Since Melbourne was about to mark 100 years of settlement in 1934, Gill suggested that Melbourne was the proud guardian of the cottage of the man who had made the centenary possible! It’s now a museum to colonial history. <br /><br />As the cottage structure had been altered considerably by a succession of British owners following the Cook family's occupation, its Australian assemblers had to restore the cottage as accurately as records would permit to its mid C18th appearance.<br /><br />But before it had even been moved, there were discussions in Melbourne about where to rebuild Cook’s cottage. Some citizens didn’t want an unpretentious little building without any architectural value stuck beside the stately national buildings in Swanston St. But by the time Cooks’ Cottage appeared in Fitzroy Gardens in Oct 1934, the public seemed to have warmed to the building: a large crowd watched the centennial ceremony. Mrs Dixon of Great Ayton presented the original key of the cottage to Grimwade.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJADCGERdG_5uD87u1_eNvbXF427f5gWPaoSyRC_xEcBECYlQvpjdMTI1KfuBB3Knkaun6V8Ov__m8ukT4hb-JBin1pcK4TIA6DpqBVUe61lI7lSpfOYnJBOgaTLmtkS8H5BZye1Kc09rytnQYltI55Dfk9w3lKKimN2UCsQULBDoDphXM6NgGnyY5AV38RUzjkFt/s535/CaptCookCottageGardensStatue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="535" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJADCGERdG_5uD87u1_eNvbXF427f5gWPaoSyRC_xEcBECYlQvpjdMTI1KfuBB3Knkaun6V8Ov__m8ukT4hb-JBin1pcK4TIA6DpqBVUe61lI7lSpfOYnJBOgaTLmtkS8H5BZye1Kc09rytnQYltI55Dfk9w3lKKimN2UCsQULBDoDphXM6NgGnyY5AV38RUzjkFt/w400-h269/CaptCookCottageGardensStatue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Statue of Capt Cook in </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">the herb garden behind the cottage</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRP6MN9UW-wSS7JxfwFTGu3ZYM5T3L65F-DDTwp1nPYJ2PwVAfgrVdZKf5VPnlJ228lsESkxzEhqNa9SybCo6hp-M78g8-o7staNtKrcq9gukSTK3veD5U2FBHCBogbRjqHQgC6xLSFQHvcLdM6FN3f3aTbWMjQUGGuJsc_8tqA2fTzdGNmslrcHHuoSibb2xyfLV6/s600/CaptCookCottageGuide.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="441" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRP6MN9UW-wSS7JxfwFTGu3ZYM5T3L65F-DDTwp1nPYJ2PwVAfgrVdZKf5VPnlJ228lsESkxzEhqNa9SybCo6hp-M78g8-o7staNtKrcq9gukSTK3veD5U2FBHCBogbRjqHQgC6xLSFQHvcLdM6FN3f3aTbWMjQUGGuJsc_8tqA2fTzdGNmslrcHHuoSibb2xyfLV6/w294-h400/CaptCookCottageGuide.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Guides in 18th century clothes</span></span></div><br />Today, Cooks’ Cottage remains open, looking very much like it did back in Great Ayton in the 1700s. The exterior shows a reddish brown brick cottage, reminiscent of many in the English countryside, complete with a <a href="https://coralwaightravel.com/2016/08/04/Capt-cooks-cottage-fitzroy-gardens-melbourne/">customised, traditional English <b>garden</b></a><b>.</b> The herb and vegetable garden behind the house has been planted as it would have been at the time. In C18th, families relied on home-grown produce for their food supply. Poultry shared the space with vegetables, mixed fruits and flowers. Most families had a good knowledge of herbs uses for cooking and medicine, using them to cure illnesses and injuries. Cook prevented scurvy in his crews by including scurvy grass/New Zealand spinach and sauerkraut. <br /><br /><u><b>Critique</b></u><br />Recently the Capt Cook story is coming under criticism. The cottage was one of a few colonial monuments vandalised on Australia Day, as public opinion of the once legendary Capt Cook changed; more details of his interactions with First Nations people have emerged. Some First Nations people described the cottage as an oppressive space with a lack of information about the illegal treatment of Indigenous Australians by white settlers. <b><a href="https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/statues/">Opponents pulled down statues of Capt Cook</a></b> because the statues presented an image of heroism within the colonial narrative, without recognising the colonial violence that these men promoted and committed.<br /><br />The English garden that accompanies Capt Cook’s House was designed before the cottage’s reconstruction here, and the sweet peas, hollyhocks, mignonettes and other English flowers were NOT grown in Yorkshire. Rather they came from nurseries in Melbourne. Only the ivy that climbs on the exterior walls was brought from Great Ayton along with the dismantled house, still living in the warm soil. <br /><br />Fortunately the cottage has undergone two restorations. The first was in the late 1950s and the second in 1978, when a thorough effort was made to investigate and restore the building, furnish it with contemporary C18th materials, and surround it with an C18th garden. <br /><br /><a href="https://co ralwaightravel.com/2016/08/04/captain-cooks-cottage-fitzroy-gardens-melbourne/">Photo credits</a>: ralwaightravel<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-75210328631427496562024-03-16T06:30:00.151+11:002024-03-16T17:04:00.043+11:00magnificent Resurrection of Jesus Christ Church, St Petersburg<b>Czar Alexander II </b>(ruled1855-81) was a great Russian royal, one of his successes was emancipating serfs in 1861, ending the obscene slavery of Russian peasantry. This was before the US finally ended its obscene slavery in 1865.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DLft2Y1K0jYp8XvAUzl3lpsMJuXBF-2kon6rh5KazMrDjClqHoSZjXrs0P92CLT5eOmmF_iJWF14SupRD0iAXaP7M_7RDe4sGj0myhmWBw1Il3B9qw2ai0mJE4RmUwA1AV4Outg1ncA4bbFCIBnAyL2OOkS27cJPoi36DEqmzYvjkWh-05eTetQWYUkgeJUD8tJu/s1566/StPetersburgSpilledBlood.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1566" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DLft2Y1K0jYp8XvAUzl3lpsMJuXBF-2kon6rh5KazMrDjClqHoSZjXrs0P92CLT5eOmmF_iJWF14SupRD0iAXaP7M_7RDe4sGj0myhmWBw1Il3B9qw2ai0mJE4RmUwA1AV4Outg1ncA4bbFCIBnAyL2OOkS27cJPoi36DEqmzYvjkWh-05eTetQWYUkgeJUD8tJu/s320/StPetersburgSpilledBlood.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Alexander II was writing a national constitution, and just before he announced his reforms, young revolutionaries who opposed the changes threw a <b>bomb at his royal carriage, Mar 1881</b>. His successor, son <b>Czar Alexander III</b> (ruled1881–94), chose instead to pursue more severe policies. Still, Alexander III planned to immediately erect a church on the site of the assassination by bomb, in his father's memory: <b>Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, St Petersburg</b>. <br /><br />This <a href="https://buffaloah.com/a/archsty/byz/index.html">Russian Byzantine Revival style church</a> was to be <i>very</i> different architecturally from St Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture was mainly Baroque & Neo-classical, but this church referred back to Russian Byzantine architecture in the spirit of traditional nationalism.<div> <br />Beginning in 1883, and locally referred to as the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood, architects were asked to plan the building in traditional Russian style. After Alexander had rejected several architects' designs, the job was eventually given to <b>Alfred Parland</b>. <br /> <br />Finished by 1907, the building’s 16th and C17th Russian taste was largely funded by the Imperial family and rich donors. It resembled the C17th Volga-city of Yaroslavl churches and had a similar façade to <b>Moscow’s famous St Basil's Cathedral and Kiev’s Vladimir Cathedral</b>. Its special multicoloured exterior made the church differ from the city’s strict architectural proportions and colour mixes, sharply contrasting to nearby <b>Baroque, Classical and Modernist architecture</b>. <br /><br />An elaborate <a href="http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/church-resurrection-jesus-christ/">shrine</a> was built on the spot where Alexander II lay, still a special place within the church's interior, with columns of grey violet jasper as the shrine’s base. Rising up the shrine, small rectangular columns united the carved stone awning and the decorated mosaic icons with images of the Romanovs’ patron saints. The columns were supported by a frieze, cornice and a stone-carved pediment with vases of jasper to the corners. <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySB6BVvN3vRDHweuxcnA1u6iHc6axY_79epPXqrtq4glN5juF_Yr1krybULqrCigKIbrjE4W9Ij1sZjhMpdHG_xoVAcPt4rnGFfD8hsFNF1w8kTYxiWtxzxxYhcdgqVYPuG3SVebdOvGXeZ7b6OiIof0YKrysYfvVZ9eiS_Xc4rzkdjRcKUV4JC_5pDP4RwOs4tWj/s1300/StPetersburgInterior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="1300" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySB6BVvN3vRDHweuxcnA1u6iHc6axY_79epPXqrtq4glN5juF_Yr1krybULqrCigKIbrjE4W9Ij1sZjhMpdHG_xoVAcPt4rnGFfD8hsFNF1w8kTYxiWtxzxxYhcdgqVYPuG3SVebdOvGXeZ7b6OiIof0YKrysYfvVZ9eiS_Xc4rzkdjRcKUV4JC_5pDP4RwOs4tWj/w400-h254/StPetersburgInterior.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Intricate mosaics of biblical scenes or figures</div><div style="text-align: center;">with fine patterned borders around each picture.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZlSTr2vqPiWSpXle_kIzhc8MfHA2tv9EmEjKftsMpsD07VyEAZ7pX4bZGbniU_lYnt3M6PFTc-m9GgBnW0AIWWYA4SCeYVP_JuExT65b-gcNiY_IGmsFfVrnRthzvadZ3_IsXdqvqCqs-F2ihPXq9jOWuyqwkZbat3lnhjg-75DTYEkFqFfPxVG9fpK_lGXUpM8A/s1280/StPetersburgArk1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1280" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZlSTr2vqPiWSpXle_kIzhc8MfHA2tv9EmEjKftsMpsD07VyEAZ7pX4bZGbniU_lYnt3M6PFTc-m9GgBnW0AIWWYA4SCeYVP_JuExT65b-gcNiY_IGmsFfVrnRthzvadZ3_IsXdqvqCqs-F2ihPXq9jOWuyqwkZbat3lnhjg-75DTYEkFqFfPxVG9fpK_lGXUpM8A/w400-h260/StPetersburgArk1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">stone carving art were represented by the iconostasis</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St Petersburg Guide</span></div><div><br /></div></div></span><div>The highlight of the interior and exterior of the Cathedral were its <a href="http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/church-resurrection-jesus-christ/">mosaic decorations</a> designed and created by prominent Russian artists then: <b>Mikhail Vrubel, </b>(d1910)<b> Viktor Vasnetsov </b>(d1926) and<b> Mikhail Nesterov</b> (d1942). The huge area made it one of the largest mosaic collections in Europe, emphasising the church’s very obviously Russian aspect. The church has an outstanding and varied collection of mosaic icons. Several icons were completed in the traditions of academic painting, modernist style and Byzantine icon painting. The large icon of the medieval St Alexander Nevsky was created to a design by Nesterov. The icons of the main iconostasis Mother of God with Child and The Saviour were painted to designs by Vasnetsov. The mosaic panel depicted Christ, blessing with his right hand and holding the gospels in his left. It was on the platform of the central cupola, painted to a design by N Kharlamov. Parland completed the framed icon mosaic ornaments.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>The Cathedral was decorated with <a href="https://www.travelallrussia.com/savior-on-blood ">Italian limestone and semi-precious stones</a> eg jasper, mountain crystal and topaz. The exterior displayed 20 granite plates which told the most important events of Alexander II's reign. <br /><br />The <b>Russian Revolution of 1917</b> broke out only 10 years after the completion of the Church on Spilled Blood when the Cathedral was looted, lost its funding, was plundered for its valuables and its staff was arrested. In Oct <b>1930 the Central Executive Committee</b> ordered the church’s closure and it was left to rot. Incredibly the church was declared to be of no historical or architectural value so its demolition was planned. This was interrupted only when the thugs were conscripted, given the Nazi invasion of Russia in mid 1941. 1944's catastrophic <a href="http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/great-patriotic-war-and-siege-of-leningrad/">Siege of Leningrad</a> damage is still seen on the church's walls.</div><div><br /><u><b>Restoration </b></u><br />After WW2 the church was used by the Small Opera Theatre warehouse. The valuable shrine was very largely destroyed. 4 jasper columns with mosaic mountings in them, and a part of the balustrade were all that remained. The Church in St Petersburg looks amazing from the outside but it’s even more impressive inside. Its interior walls are covered with 7 sq km of mosaic! These mosaics covers the cathedral’s interior, created by the workshop of <b>Vladimir Frolov</b>. The artwork depicts religious narratives and figures as well as natural motifs, the first time mosaics provided the primary décoration of a Russian church. Designed to be viewed from a distance and using an incredibly rich array of shades, some of the mosaics are very realistic, capturing light, colour & emotion of the depicted scenes. <br /><br />Management of the church was handed to <b>St Isaac's Cathedral </b>so it could be used as a museum of mosaics. If fact 80% of the church's restoration in July 1970 was funded by profits from St Isaac's. The decades of deterioration and then restoration culminated in an episodic use of the church in Aug 1997, when thousands of visitors gathered around. The projected cost had been c3.6 mill rubles, but ended up costing 4.6 mill rubles, due to the mosaics’ overrun. The mosaics linked Alexander II's murder with the crucifixion. <br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHxVHiGRbZGhFMkVFN1hzHTrBfXM-RGs1xIRrkcKK6x3RUejfRMhnhLWeBfmM88exkoCXNcn0VNMbDW1yhmbg6hGlKbWPaQElF54V42fw4GXizw5ViSgS8mwUoZeZQ7aNXF3aRyO5BGwJnzIB1crTNRodri-OVCpWbMCjN82_RbU2EQFIl2Dj7rYpcgh_N-q22_LZ/s871/StP%C3%A9tersburgOnionDomes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="871" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHxVHiGRbZGhFMkVFN1hzHTrBfXM-RGs1xIRrkcKK6x3RUejfRMhnhLWeBfmM88exkoCXNcn0VNMbDW1yhmbg6hGlKbWPaQElF54V42fw4GXizw5ViSgS8mwUoZeZQ7aNXF3aRyO5BGwJnzIB1crTNRodri-OVCpWbMCjN82_RbU2EQFIl2Dj7rYpcgh_N-q22_LZ/s320/StP%C3%A9tersburgOnionDomes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Onion domes</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"> </div></div><div>People admire the 5 <b><a href="https://buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/o/onion.html#:~:text=Onion%20domes%20are%20popularly%20believed,Domes%20standing%20alone%20represent%20Jesus">onion domes</a>,</b> vibrantly coloured and enamel covered. They were popularly believed to symbolise burning candles, often appearing in 3s, representing the Holy Trinity. Or 5 representing Jesus Christ and the Four Evangelists. A dome standing alone stood for Jesus.</div><div><br />It took c24 years to construct a majestic structure like this Church and, after early Soviet vandalism, another 27 years to restore. Reconstruction ended in 1991, just as the Communist regime ended.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWumxznL45wjSz_-eeD_r-d_JX9NXSLGYcSQTipHHQKjc0fj1K61aMBRdNMCFH5aUPJF3MdEL8mw26R__Y20DIh9Qr6KdTNQqryvUkzQ3GlPOwF6cp-xCHHF0cSH5mNhYiDbF6JRlkMF65rez1RSVIZ_jycOMDe69XoAkl-a3T6GknEksWrAnuJZSHDcQ1ifN-Cec8/s1175/StPetersburgSGrandChoralSynagogue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="1175" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWumxznL45wjSz_-eeD_r-d_JX9NXSLGYcSQTipHHQKjc0fj1K61aMBRdNMCFH5aUPJF3MdEL8mw26R__Y20DIh9Qr6KdTNQqryvUkzQ3GlPOwF6cp-xCHHF0cSH5mNhYiDbF6JRlkMF65rez1RSVIZ_jycOMDe69XoAkl-a3T6GknEksWrAnuJZSHDcQ1ifN-Cec8/w400-h241/StPetersburgSGrandChoralSynagogue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Grand Choral Synagogue, St Petersburg</div><div style="text-align: center;">built in Moorish style in 1880-88 by</div><div style="text-align: center;">architects Shaposhnikov, Bakhman, Shreter</div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-85605625922586360792024-03-12T18:00:00.106+11:002024-03-12T21:37:48.847+11:001000 years of Hebrew books, Melbourne <b>Jews, Christians and Muslims</b>, Peoples of the Book, shared a common basis of their religious beliefs in the Jewish Bible aka the Old Testament. Recognising the two older systems as precursors to their own, Muslims granted freedom of worship to Jews and Christians within their dominions. The importance of canonic scriptures within these three related traditions set them apart from all cultures (<b>Christopher Allen</b>, The Australian 7/3/24). <div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIfOteaVxnWGj2bJpQKPisrDnMrJ-2JUHzZNkYHroreH1oT52E-3dMJGfVEaWowDKel2LWb8jr3dw6jBOCKJQ455ktNfV0cDRJhNCnL8IkrjrPlvfn2s9rsx7Qj-IbUDyw1WSp8CwoWfMeRwl8JBqtCMaWzOYGzIc4a-2pVrCjfmOHRCLbY6u_4Ngxn9GSoZXIQZP/s876/BritishMaimonidesGuidePerplexedc1350.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="590" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIfOteaVxnWGj2bJpQKPisrDnMrJ-2JUHzZNkYHroreH1oT52E-3dMJGfVEaWowDKel2LWb8jr3dw6jBOCKJQ455ktNfV0cDRJhNCnL8IkrjrPlvfn2s9rsx7Qj-IbUDyw1WSp8CwoWfMeRwl8JBqtCMaWzOYGzIc4a-2pVrCjfmOHRCLbY6u_4Ngxn9GSoZXIQZP/w270-h400/BritishMaimonidesGuidePerplexedc1350.jpg" width="270" /></a></div></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>Spain, </span><span>1325-74</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">British Library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>ALL civilisations had books of religious doctrine, scripture, wisdom and mythology. The <b>Greeks</b> had a body of Homeric and other hymns, but Greek religious belief was always evolving. The <b>Indians</b> had many sacred books, from several related religious traditions. The <b>Chinese</b> had the ancient divinatory texts, plus the different teachings of Confucius and Lao Tzu. But only the 3 Peoples of the Book developed a strict canon in which every sacrosanct word was credited to divine revelation. Such a strict approach to scripture favoured continuity, but also promoted orthodox thinking. <br /><br />The role of the Book in ensuring the continuity of tradition was central. In the centuries after the <b>Roman Empire</b> fell, the Bible became the vehicle for culture and cohesion AND largely the only vehicle for <b>calligraphy and illumination</b>. In the Jewish and Islamic worlds there was an even greater emphasis on the <i>writing</i> of the word, since images were limited by the 2nd Commandment. <br /><br />All books were portable, but the Bible was the one sacred text carried across the world. Pre-literate cultures were often tied to specific locations; but books allowed culture to be carried and established wherever people settled. The portability of culture was important in the history of Jews. Considering the centrality of the Promised Land in their tradition, they survived for a lot of their history in exile, until their return to their ancestral homeland. Being exiled from Israel seemed to have <i>strengthened</i> Jewish identity! <br /><br />But even in Israel itself, Jews lived largely under foreign colonialisation: <b>Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs or Turks</b>. After the Temple’s destruction by Titus in 70 AD, the Jews spread across the Roman Empire. There were already large communities in cities like Alexandria where the Bible had been translated from Hebrew to Greek 250 BC. Life under these foreign masters was difficult, and Jews had to maintain their own identity and strict code of laws, while complying with local laws. <br /><br />Jewish communities also faced persecutions, riots and expulsions. Christians knew that their religion was founded on Judaism, as was their Old Testament. But they believed that <b>Christ</b>’s birth led to a new honour, and that the Jews were persisting in obsolete beliefs. Many Christians blamed Jews for executing Christ, although in strict Christian theology the death was necessary to bring salvation into the world. Other ancient peoples lost their identity via intermarriage with other ethnic groups; only the Jews remained substantially the same people they’d been in antiquity. <br /><br /><b>Luminous: Thousand years of Hebrew manuscripts</b> was a cool exhibition in Melbourne using 37 volumes lent by the British Library, illustrating the beauty and importance of Hebrew texts related to life, culture, science, religion, philosophy, music & magic. They were part of its <b><a href="https://v21artspace.com/hebrew-manuscripts-journeys-of-the-written-word#:~:text=Through%20rarely%2Dseen%20treasures%20from,communities%20that%20they%20lived%20in.">Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word Exhibition</a></b>, 2020. Plus there were loans from the <b>Jewish Museum of Australia</b>, private collections and State Library’s Rare Books.</div><div><br />The biblical scriptures were represented by a handsome Torah scroll which spoke of the global spread of Jewish culture: it was copied in the C17th in <b>Kaifeng</b> China, where a C10th Jewish community migrated from the Middle East. There were no images, but several displays showed how the sacred scriptures were used in everyday life.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIrugax8tunXacT5-RKM0m6ngZWXisM3pxYAFJb7NXfDI1anPNoPhpXCKG2PhMRF0GgD3ZPmhcSbiZCab-X1ULU5lMwxpZ_tnW_h88R8pEnI3ljTsOrd2AIPakJtzyg9msuZCTpK0_iPWY80t7kV3o8DqrK_jGKEqjq0-7i70gJyd0cix9gwBDuY37PBvUPSAivQ5/s1880/BritishLibraryTorah17thC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="1880" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIrugax8tunXacT5-RKM0m6ngZWXisM3pxYAFJb7NXfDI1anPNoPhpXCKG2PhMRF0GgD3ZPmhcSbiZCab-X1ULU5lMwxpZ_tnW_h88R8pEnI3ljTsOrd2AIPakJtzyg9msuZCTpK0_iPWY80t7kV3o8DqrK_jGKEqjq0-7i70gJyd0cix9gwBDuY37PBvUPSAivQ5/w400-h204/BritishLibraryTorah17thC.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Torah scroll, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kaifeng China, 17th century, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">British Library</span></div><div style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"> </div></span>The exhibition also showed that marginal illustrations-<b>micrography</b> could be acceptable if they took the form of figures composed of tiny words, of textual commentary. In an C18th collection of prayers books, less sacred than the Torah itself, some remarkable illuminations included a view of <b>Moses bringing Tablets of the Law from Mt Sinai</b>. <br /><br />The exhibition offered insights into the complex cultural interactions and exchanges between the Jews and others among whom they lived, often in the East. Thus there were stories and poems in Judaeo-Persian, Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Urdu, all written in <b>Hebrew</b>. <br /><br />A maths treatise was written in Judaeo-Arabic and annotated in the margin in <b>Arabic</b>, showing the importance of linguistic and cultural exchange here. Hebrew itself had only been read by scholars since Hellenistic times, but the translation of Avicenna’s Canon medicinae into Hebrew endowed the language with a new medical and scientific vocabulary.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lnxSGhyphenhyphenfaGW33PwaeXovbs_qoPciyNG5iWiJkoBVADh3_spWb5xwU2xlFGXlPlTlDBN9zFMttvdR0DZ3UzNBeyQZXFx0Pq2AKFHcqwOld1OaQ-EsDwox3-pY9CvxJoRsU9lfHNz5lOOApG8V1leJ8mnEfdxtJgDOmmmzhUap4np_hm62GJiJjE9_AyKC0bwdQXak/s539/BritishLibraryAstronomicalTables.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="539" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lnxSGhyphenhyphenfaGW33PwaeXovbs_qoPciyNG5iWiJkoBVADh3_spWb5xwU2xlFGXlPlTlDBN9zFMttvdR0DZ3UzNBeyQZXFx0Pq2AKFHcqwOld1OaQ-EsDwox3-pY9CvxJoRsU9lfHNz5lOOApG8V1leJ8mnEfdxtJgDOmmmzhUap4np_hm62GJiJjE9_AyKC0bwdQXak/w400-h295/BritishLibraryAstronomicalTables.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Astronomical tables, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Southern France or Spain, C15th, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">British Library</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>All of these <b>Sephardic</b> texts were from Oriental, North African and Iberian authors. But after the expulsions from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s, the texts were later relocated to England and Holland. The central and eastern European Jewish tradition was called <b>Ashkenazi</b>. One Ashkenazi book was written in Hebrew letters but used Yiddish-German words.</div><div><br />There were works by the clever medieval Jewish philosopher, <b>Maimonides</b>. But Jewish intellectual life leant more to legalistic commentary than to philosophy, and over time commentaries accumulated. But unlike the Muslims, the Jews embraced <b>printing</b> when it was invented (C15th) and one display showed the ingenious way that the main commentaries were laid out around the sacred text itself. <br /><br />In this exhibition several Jewish books were on mystical <b>kabbala </b>which fascinated Christian intellectuals. And there were important texts that bore witness to the Hebrew texts being subject to censors’ examination; they made sure the texts did not contain any anti-Christian ideas. Censorship was usually carried out by Jews who’d converted to Christianity, since reading Hebrew was difficult for Christians. See some Hebrew texts annotated with censors’ signatures.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GGx7NKNPZNsMzhgossVpWcfm6a5dsfpz9X12XAvhyCdj035QT9fum54aYnHZbZcJw2coxvPYoa71zlLGu6QF-d4MOBxFgZXuIq8MOfZZvhFMzzY1oQtLelUos7f-_Tcp91yf9q1L5kj872etiDw7kDiDzamDVJHh4I1FoH-Cvk4H_tk3VNwRflIcRU84jXAEueFW/s1790/BritishLibrarySloaneHaggadah.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="1790" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GGx7NKNPZNsMzhgossVpWcfm6a5dsfpz9X12XAvhyCdj035QT9fum54aYnHZbZcJw2coxvPYoa71zlLGu6QF-d4MOBxFgZXuIq8MOfZZvhFMzzY1oQtLelUos7f-_Tcp91yf9q1L5kj872etiDw7kDiDzamDVJHh4I1FoH-Cvk4H_tk3VNwRflIcRU84jXAEueFW/w400-h236/BritishLibrarySloaneHaggadah.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Sloan Haggadah for Passover</div><div style="text-align: center;">Germany, 1740</div><div style="text-align: center;">State Library Victoria</div></span></div><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKk9JVve2ZPqFaPxxejbonKH8-Duu-s7JuHLHBLuc49WjUOl_YNMafuC2t9gfWn6s19fFHuPk6fwgd3mnYMikl8nbXoMwbSZU_5czcyAMlMVPlMBukhEC6MpQtVh0SPv09Qvlx_6KF7endQtEnBT0acH7XKa9z4MnhldC7qg0lFnJPuHcQnX-PN95LUoR5HqasysT/s947/BritisshLibraryMicrography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="947" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKk9JVve2ZPqFaPxxejbonKH8-Duu-s7JuHLHBLuc49WjUOl_YNMafuC2t9gfWn6s19fFHuPk6fwgd3mnYMikl8nbXoMwbSZU_5czcyAMlMVPlMBukhEC6MpQtVh0SPv09Qvlx_6KF7endQtEnBT0acH7XKa9z4MnhldC7qg0lFnJPuHcQnX-PN95LUoR5HqasysT/s320/BritisshLibraryMicrography.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">image created from micrography</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">quirkbooks</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://ehkern.com/2017/07/14/quirky-history-micrography-or-minuscule-medieval-images-drawn-with-letters/">Micrography</a></b> was an art form unique to Judaism that developed during the Middle Ages, when illuminations were frowned up. Here reading, writing, and imagery come together in one, particularly in Spain and Portugal. Each letter might have been only 1 mm high.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Many thanks to <b>Christopher Allen</b> in <b>The Australian</b> and <a href="https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/luminous/">Victorian State Library</a>.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-12726422772036690592024-03-09T06:00:00.013+11:002024-03-09T13:12:07.634+11:00Lednice Castle, Liechtensteins, Czech heritage - guest writerI left <b>Czechoslovakia</b> at 3.5 years old, and remembered almost nothing. But my mother thought her homeland was the most beautiful country anywhere. So tours back home as an adult were very impressive, starting with <b><a href="https://www.revisitinghistory.com/castles/czech-republic/lednice-castle/">Lednice</a></b>. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7V-YKBet-paOl0RaipglC72GX9KVBk2MS_1OTDxebB_3hBmW5ptJttgAnWMh8oi4vdH8CFoC2T4b6KiIOY-ueXMfHToRwU2KM9VjoE0rKzTuDyqSNSN912gcPyqmO1kwsM64qGm0_mH9HWhQGk-_ElrbjMJpEQcRJWcg_aEQY3_wMhUzE28sEz6heOKgnBAGlKvG/s917/LedniceCastleUNESCOWorldHeritage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="917" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7V-YKBet-paOl0RaipglC72GX9KVBk2MS_1OTDxebB_3hBmW5ptJttgAnWMh8oi4vdH8CFoC2T4b6KiIOY-ueXMfHToRwU2KM9VjoE0rKzTuDyqSNSN912gcPyqmO1kwsM64qGm0_mH9HWhQGk-_ElrbjMJpEQcRJWcg_aEQY3_wMhUzE28sEz6heOKgnBAGlKvG/w400-h204/LedniceCastleUNESCOWorldHeritage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lednice, in English Tudor neo-Gothic style </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Lednice traced its Czech history back to a <b>1222 document of Bishop Robert</b> when it was a Gothic fort. The Gothic fortress stood above the town of Dyjí which guarded the river crossing and the trade route. Later Lednice manor became the property of the noble <b><a href="https://www.revisitinghistory.com/castles/czech-republic/lednice-castle/">Lichtenstein family</a> from Styria in SE Austria</b>; it stayed in their ownership for until 1945, when Lednice castle became a state property. In the SE corner of the Czech Republic, it is visited by c400,000 guests annually. Later the Liechtensteins also built <b>Valtice Chateau</b>, 8 ks away on a fine road. The two chateaus area is a very large landscape c300+ square ks.<br /><br />During the C16th, Lednice became a Renaissance chateau. Karel Liechtenstein served as the representative leader of Moravia in the early C17th and was given the title of Prince. When the <b>Czech Protestant nobility</b> rebelled against the <b>Catholic Habsburgs</b>, the Liechtensteins supported the monarchy, so they were not punished when the Protestants lost. The family became very wealthy via planned marriages and the careful purchase of confiscated property after the <b>Battle of Bílá Hora 1620</b>, becoming the richest noble clan in all of Moravia.<br /><br />The family demolished the original medieval water fortress and ordered a rebuilt Renaissance castle in its place, which was later modified in the Baroque style, and a large park. The current neo-Gothic design was from 1846–58, designed by court <b>architect Jiří Wingelmüller</b> and used as the Liechtensteins’ summer residence.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxFtVPsSGS6CXRuqWbxz8oeCKEOmh98I3jUDFf0ZWfj6-NVbRza3weqiaLCpP1jwf73kV_Y18skvGmegUxPn5zP2ztE5TOH5Yneb7UQ7RfoLtByV9DDJOHxAoQCg9daQK69xsvnazIQm0bnVEb0wY-6AzjRjIKHK-sPoF1lDGQjM6Rtb6iBZnFW5v1MNdYq2yrb1p/s925/LedniceCastleStairsCzech.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="564" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxFtVPsSGS6CXRuqWbxz8oeCKEOmh98I3jUDFf0ZWfj6-NVbRza3weqiaLCpP1jwf73kV_Y18skvGmegUxPn5zP2ztE5TOH5Yneb7UQ7RfoLtByV9DDJOHxAoQCg9daQK69xsvnazIQm0bnVEb0wY-6AzjRjIKHK-sPoF1lDGQjM6Rtb6iBZnFW5v1MNdYq2yrb1p/w244-h400/LedniceCastleStairsCzech.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Spindle shaped staircase, leading from the library</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">built in 1840s. Facebook</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPSlSpQJWfcRJ74NodsINx2R19XadMdXQhi7td7HqMP84jRF4woTs81vU1A70ljgfoHRV5rbor9ky93N9r92bD8wH2ux9O-i0j6FZUhteVnjBWFRmsjRhCLr7_FjKumb4ZiiGAKqS_AbREbnOegLfdt4lxh3OynzFLvogU0D2gKj_LHBWSjhNHhBfuDtTf6IzLTwi/s760/LedniceLibraryStairs.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="760" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPSlSpQJWfcRJ74NodsINx2R19XadMdXQhi7td7HqMP84jRF4woTs81vU1A70ljgfoHRV5rbor9ky93N9r92bD8wH2ux9O-i0j6FZUhteVnjBWFRmsjRhCLr7_FjKumb4ZiiGAKqS_AbREbnOegLfdt4lxh3OynzFLvogU0D2gKj_LHBWSjhNHhBfuDtTf6IzLTwi/s320/LedniceLibraryStairs.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Library</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Histouring</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The castle’s most fascinating part is the spindle-shaped staircase. It came from a single oak tree, commissioned by <b>Liechtenstein’s Prince Alois II</b>, a fan of English Gothic, and was created by the Viennese firm of <b>Karl Leister</b> during the castle’s neo-Gothic reconstruction, 1851. The carved details of the spiral stairs have plant and animal motifs, based on Burgundian and English Gothic. The staircase goes up to the castle library where the wood panelling is very special, accompanied by dark blue wallpaper. Even the woodwork on the door is exquisite.<br /><br />The <u>Chinese Lounge</u> is a delight, with royal blue furnishings and a Chinese lantern. Its walls are covered with early C18th hand-painted wallpaper made from Chinese paper, showing an idyllic landscape with bright figures. The<u> Red Smoking Lounge</u> has wine-red wallpaper and lavish furnishings, including stunning chandeliers. The <u>Family Hall </u>displays simple elegance, including a fine porcelain collection. See the elegant desk in <u>Princess Frances’ Bedroom</u> and great Neo-Gothic chairs with complex back patterns. The <b>Turquoise Hall</b>, named for its turquoise wallpaper, features carved wood décor as well as a superb chandelier. The Liechtensteiners loved to travel, to Italy, France and Africa, as seen in the objects they brought back. Because the family removed many furnishings in WW2, most of the original interior décor was salvaged.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFE6X3lHb7UbX2jui8JPjNT3eXOrv473s_HH9kVdrk5eVtGWScOsOahJvlhny32tuBICz5JVFpXXariM8EdROPgx2yxE78d1c629dk-xivfKvjTgbCQ-Tj_B0-TE1BE8dIzib3XWuMhCkmkSNaUy5Nx7eQ0nz35P7vPyuLXR3tJJnM5LEnDbyL3nV7VLrNJToCLICy/s500/LedniceTurquoiseHall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFE6X3lHb7UbX2jui8JPjNT3eXOrv473s_HH9kVdrk5eVtGWScOsOahJvlhny32tuBICz5JVFpXXariM8EdROPgx2yxE78d1c629dk-xivfKvjTgbCQ-Tj_B0-TE1BE8dIzib3XWuMhCkmkSNaUy5Nx7eQ0nz35P7vPyuLXR3tJJnM5LEnDbyL3nV7VLrNJToCLICy/w400-h300/LedniceTurquoiseHall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Turquoise Hall with wallpaper and carved wooden decor</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvdAFtI95T0KVk7bnDRFhiAmie0iWEHbBtL1jYS03GG3VeYdg13V7TanK4yHxD7WdQGSe-V9yWXiU6bfSo0V0pA4WyTnrQUlrB5UaDWf07p075QXBST8-hvrMnhKQ3R5AyhHt77gTfq9lByWMFzZxUszHAs0DzLdTse4DcuVIaL_DeEMZ_d08pHsFAZTUFsEFygDK/s1280/LedniceBlueRoom.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="878" data-original-width="1280" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvdAFtI95T0KVk7bnDRFhiAmie0iWEHbBtL1jYS03GG3VeYdg13V7TanK4yHxD7WdQGSe-V9yWXiU6bfSo0V0pA4WyTnrQUlrB5UaDWf07p075QXBST8-hvrMnhKQ3R5AyhHt77gTfq9lByWMFzZxUszHAs0DzLdTse4DcuVIaL_DeEMZ_d08pHsFAZTUFsEFygDK/s320/LedniceBlueRoom.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Blue Room</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Histouring</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Around the castle and in the <b>Chateau Park</b>, the family commissioned many romantic buildings that fitted into the landscape, including <b>Temple of Three Graces, Temple of Apollo</b>, a romantic 1817 chateau;<b> Reistna </b>and<b> Chapel of St Hubert</b>. The 92 ms long, cast-iron greenhouse with arched roof was progressive when it was built in the mid C19th and still tourable. Valtice’s chapel is a fine example of Central European Baroque design. <br /><br />Another park highlight is a <b>Moorish-style Minaret</b> (1797-1804), designed by <b>Josef Hardtmuth</b> and decorated with Arabic inscriptions. It includes lower arcades, 8 oriental rooms on the upper floor, and a 3-storey tower and gallery serving as a site for the Liechtensteiner collections from their travels. A helmet and half-moon crown the breathtaking structure, the ?oldest preserved observation tower in the Czech Republic. Steps lead up 3 storeys, making it possible to look right round from the Minaret top, enjoying the beauty of the park and lakes with remote islets. <br /><br />Sailing through the Lednice estate was noted with the discovery of gondola drawings on which the Liechtensteiners once sailed on the Dyja River. After the modernising of the channel, the first ships could sail. A modern company has now continued the gondola legacy of the Liechtensteiners. Travel the Dyja River on 2 routes: one from the <u>Moorish Waterworks to the Minaret</u> (25 mins) and one from the <u>Minaret to Jan Castle</u> (40 mins). Jan’s Castle is a romantic castle whose artificial ruins were created in the early C19th to Josef Hardtmuth’s plans. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDgHWYbtPXfuKexHHEL9sH_KLdXwRxUuhIKy9ytL197SpcePKn2GiMtk1vGp0ul0fCxjr8OAhuGaZ0rSXweQjkPkqVR_1Pq3VqlCAMZwSXsdfoXv1giHtZ7viZh_e0EdgXV6l0avviX8xOdprlvGo9dr59Vyz0UZWn9I4fDdyVymDJAUMxuGg1wJXM_HHB8AzVEnL/s290/LedniceGreenHouseGardens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDgHWYbtPXfuKexHHEL9sH_KLdXwRxUuhIKy9ytL197SpcePKn2GiMtk1vGp0ul0fCxjr8OAhuGaZ0rSXweQjkPkqVR_1Pq3VqlCAMZwSXsdfoXv1giHtZ7viZh_e0EdgXV6l0avviX8xOdprlvGo9dr59Vyz0UZWn9I4fDdyVymDJAUMxuGg1wJXM_HHB8AzVEnL/w400-h240/LedniceGreenHouseGardens.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Greenhouse and gardens</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCR7_BOtGz6J9J0YiiLCj4DBeK7pO57beYD_O0U8IukyTjSxqqqgrudLCVj6ACmg2ZI1bd1I4JsYs3f72JTGnpirl6MiPwu1upQCRqDzFzFDq4uLerqtzRZGw9gb2kFK8JippYKlwRAyB_XeWbcpM3cjcMDtA4SWGknnhXB9ADHIs7MiQRxB6SpJwygmBYjCTc2pxf/s601/LedniceCastleMinaret.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="601" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCR7_BOtGz6J9J0YiiLCj4DBeK7pO57beYD_O0U8IukyTjSxqqqgrudLCVj6ACmg2ZI1bd1I4JsYs3f72JTGnpirl6MiPwu1upQCRqDzFzFDq4uLerqtzRZGw9gb2kFK8JippYKlwRAyB_XeWbcpM3cjcMDtA4SWGknnhXB9ADHIs7MiQRxB6SpJwygmBYjCTc2pxf/s320/LedniceCastleMinaret.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Minaret across the park and lake</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Visit World Heritage</span></div><div></div></div></div><br />Lednice was recognised in 1996 by UNESCO on its <b>World Cultural and National Heritage List</b>. The basic tour goes around the Representative rooms while further options are the Private Princely apartments, Children's room & Museum of marionettes. All tours offer visitors a great experience.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdmTu8zrFO9CY-lRrSJWGRs9-hnBsPuBYN7Jzf66p1Ncb2Z_cx5Z35RD7gZerN6W3NeN56xI_AsFS4S_mSPStsPnWGUz6jSZ-a6GxnFW3v3j894mdLeGqoV8qOk_1dzp17Qkca4mKtwAWVeyRTFlabj1D2_K_WBd6oolfv6h2HxAmwCmVzhyphenhyphendyhMXyIRke4aOuv-u/s724/LedniceCzechMap.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="724" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdmTu8zrFO9CY-lRrSJWGRs9-hnBsPuBYN7Jzf66p1Ncb2Z_cx5Z35RD7gZerN6W3NeN56xI_AsFS4S_mSPStsPnWGUz6jSZ-a6GxnFW3v3j894mdLeGqoV8qOk_1dzp17Qkca4mKtwAWVeyRTFlabj1D2_K_WBd6oolfv6h2HxAmwCmVzhyphenhyphendyhMXyIRke4aOuv-u/w400-h246/LedniceCzechMap.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Czech Republic map</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">with Lednice on the southern border near Austria</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">CZ Euro Tour</span></div><br /><div>By Czech born Joseph </div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-64585441735586766702024-03-05T18:00:00.000+11:002024-03-05T18:00:00.162+11:00Brilliant business family Wertheimers and Coco Chanel<b>Ernest Wertheimer</b> (1852-1927) emigrated from Alsace to Paris in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Ernest purchased an interest in the innovative theatrical make-up company, <b>Bourjois</b>. Later his sons <b>Paul </b>(1883–1948) & <b>Pierre</b> Wertheimer (1888–1965) joined their dad in the family business, Bourjois. In 1905, Pierre left for London and Paul moved to New York, making Bourjois an international enterprise. Their Rochester NY facility manufactured and distributed <b>Helena Rubinstein</b>’s line face creams.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m3-_nJYliTdToEgeV6y8MBT18CL-p579utUEDSqmD4ukOxDy8iWP772XxdrBjnpqVMHYB6eATVd7h8AlYykx76IEhq6IkU5ltpv0fRPppgWN-iQWE_dHqdZ6XLNrLXuskYEPPdI_SkZTAy0/s1600/WertheimerPierre.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="151" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m3-_nJYliTdToEgeV6y8MBT18CL-p579utUEDSqmD4ukOxDy8iWP772XxdrBjnpqVMHYB6eATVd7h8AlYykx76IEhq6IkU5ltpv0fRPppgWN-iQWE_dHqdZ6XLNrLXuskYEPPdI_SkZTAy0/w242-h320/WertheimerPierre.jpg" width="242" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTulZ5ClP-LYqWWZcylYqQ8YKg_AYdoQE8i0lsWXW37C0yaF58n0epvHIyizoOPfgLLiUXBGUks8qBz0h2VhFDH27xTo87MwjsTS46ERALtQ7MBK1nGD8qR-Ki1ZYV0Qw41darAqoDZHZyL5k/s1600/WertheimerPaul.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="150" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTulZ5ClP-LYqWWZcylYqQ8YKg_AYdoQE8i0lsWXW37C0yaF58n0epvHIyizoOPfgLLiUXBGUks8qBz0h2VhFDH27xTo87MwjsTS46ERALtQ7MBK1nGD8qR-Ki1ZYV0Qw41darAqoDZHZyL5k/w240-h320/WertheimerPaul.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Pierre (top) and Paul Wertheimer</span><br /><br />Both brothers married in 1910, and both had babies. But the joy ended when the new fathers were mobilised in WW1. By the time the sons took over the company’s directorships, Bourjois became the largest cosmetic-fragrance company in France. In the next decade, Bourjois had already signed licences in 100+ countries – a huge success!<br /><br />Pierre was also an avid horseman who began a great racing dynasty, important in the Wertheimer story because it was at Longchamp racetrack that Pierre Wertheimer met <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2011/06/coco-chanel-from-neglected-orphan-to.html">Coco Chanel</a></b>. They were introduced by <b>Théophile Bader</b>, founder of <b>Galeries Lafayette</b>.<div><br /></div><div>In 1922, Chanel’s <b>#5 perfume</b> was launched. It had been available to an elite clientele IN her exclusive Paris boutique, but to market the perfume professionally, Coco needed someone with wide experience in commerce, international business connections and access to large amounts of capital. In 1924 Pierre and Paul Wertheimer became Coco's business partners in the House of Chanel.<br />
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Would the perfume business have survived, had Chanel been alone? NO! For a 70% share of the company, the Wertheimers provided ALL financing for production, marketing and distribution of Chanel #5. Théophile Bader, who was selling Chanel #5 to the public in his Galeries Lafayette, was given a 20% share. Chanel herself received the other 10% of the stock, licensed her name to Parfums Chanel.<br />
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Chanel needed people who could help her career, including <b>Christian Dior, Elsa Shiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent</b>. But Chanel never married! In 1925, <b>Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke Westminster</b> met <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel">Chanel</a> in Monte Carlo and purchased a London home for her in prestigious Mayfair district. In 1927 he gave her a parcel of land on French Riviera, to build her villa. This pro-German, anti-Semitic British Duke liaison with Chanel lasted for 10 years, the same time Chanel's friendship with <b>Winston Churchill</b> also blossomed.<br />
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Chanel’s lover from 1930 until his death was designer- illustrator <b>Paul Iribe</b> (1883–1935). His art showed aggressive patriotism, fuelling anti-Semitism and fear of foreigners.<br />
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The <b>Duke & Duchess of Windsor</b> married in June 1937, combining their dislike of Jews, trade unions, socialism, Freemasons & communism. The royal couple settled in Paris amid a glamorous social set of designers, Nazi sympathisers, American heiresses, British ex-pats and idle rich. Including Coco Chanel!<br />
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WW2 brought the Nazi seizure of Jewish owned property and businesses, and anticipating Nazi mandates against Jews, the Wertheimers quickly protected their company. While still in France the brothers legally turned control of Parfums Chanel over to a Christian, French industrialist <b>Felix Amiot</b>. As Germany was invading France, the brothers fled to New York, where <b>Estée Lauder</b> (1908-2004) helped set them up.<br />
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From NY the brothers sent an American emissary, <b>H Gregory Thomas</b>, back to France with a mission: to get the formula for #5 and the main ingredients (jasmine oils) from Grasse. Thomas also helped Pierre's son Jacques escape to US.<br />
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Chanel had never been satisfied with the ownership contract so in May 1941, as the Occupation took half of France, she used her Vichy connections to try to force the brothers out of the contract. Calling the company abandoned, Chanel argued that company Les Parfums Chanel had been Jewish property that should be confiscated & redistributed solely back to her, an Aryan. Felix Amiot ensured she failed!<br />
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After middle-aged Coco Chanel closed her Paris fashion business, she continued to live across the street at the plush <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2014/08/hotel-ritz-in-paris-german-occupation.html">Hotel Ritz</a></b>, Nazi headquarters in Paris. She soon began a romance with a young, athletic officer named <b>Hans Gunther von Dincklage</b>, a Nazi propaganda officer<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Coco Chanel and Gen Walter Schellenberg, chief of the Abwehr </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">warhistoryonline</span><br /><br />Chanel was also very close to Nazi <b>Gen Walter Schellenberg</b>, chief of SS intelligence. Clearly Chanel collaborated with this Abwehr agent, honoured by Hitler & Goebbels, and was herself recruited as an agent into Abwehr. It paid off! Chanel kept a car, driver and petrol all war: no one but a Vichy Minister had that!</div>
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Note that on several occasions, Félix Amiot was summoned by the Gestapo. But in Sept 1944, when Chanel was questioned by the Free French Purge Committee, they had no documented evidence of her German collaboration and had to release her. Perhaps Winston Churchill intervened with the French government, via <b>Viscount Duff Cooper</b>, British ambassador to the French provisional government.</div>
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Coco escaped quietly to Switzerland, and Felix Amiot turned Parfums Chanel back to the Wertheimers.</div>
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So in the early 1950s, Pierre Wertheimer visited Chanel at the Beau Rivage hotel in Lausanne and they came to a mutual agreement. Pierre gave her $9 million for her percentage of the perfume sales during the war. The tens of millions that she made later, thanks to this perfume, made her one of the richest women in the world. Her future share would be 2% of all perfume sales worldwide. Pierre Wertheimer took full control of Chanel in 1954, paying for the remaining 20% from Théophile Bader’s family. Returning to Paris in 1954, Coco was back in Rue Cambon.</div>
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At 87 Chanel was busy working but died in Jan 1971 and was buried in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne. When she died without family, who inherited the business? In the ultimate irony, her old perfume company partners, Pierre & Paul Wertheimer, did. When they died, the company was passed down to Pierre’s son <b>Jacques Wertheimer</b>, and then to Jacques’ son<b>s, Alain & Gerald Wertheimer.</b> In 1983 German fashion designer <b>Karl Lagerfeld</b> (1933-2019) became, and remained Chanel’s creative director.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wartime-Sites-Paris-Steven-Lehrer/dp/1492292923"><b>W</b></a><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wartime-Sites-Paris-Steven-Lehrer/dp/1492292923">artime Sites in Paris: 1939-1945</a></b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>by</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>Steven Lehrer </span><span>is excellent for Wertheimer family history</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span><br />
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<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=jWzAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA191&dq=brothers+Paul+Pierre+Wertheimer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjotuu4jNrmAhW7xzgGHSzpC1gQ6AEIKDAA"></a><br /></div>
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<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=jWzAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA191&dq=brothers+Paul+Pierre+Wertheimer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjotuu4jNrmAhW7xzgGHSzpC1gQ6AEIKDAA"> </a></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-2581002100312771762024-03-02T06:00:00.075+11:002024-03-02T06:00:00.138+11:00The delicious history of ice creamI REALLY wanted to buy a beautifully hand painted pair of <b><a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/328199891598841955/">Coalport porcelain ice pails</a></b>, c1802. An orange pheasant with golden wings perched on branches blooming with red and gold flowers. Then see panels of deep cobalt blue containing swirling gold leaves and flower medallions. On the top of each lid was a pagoda style cottage next to streams and trees. <b>Imari colours of iron red, blue and green, with rich gold</b> covering the scrolled handles and the twisted branches, were exotic. These porcelain coolers were traditionally placed on the dining-room sideboard, the bottom was filled with ice, then cream & fruit were added. [Most pairs of Georgian ice pails sold for $2,500-10,000, sadly for me].<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2F35lIKEIS8edvDt8gsnuVg5zhxgBW5OLf8vIeD7nz3kV1I8HlG0XKyl9AjTceaYraxr94x5SetVVWlGriZOFrf1hyphenhyphenxq6E1PNgQe0mqVs-wGmj-XR_C7MXZy41qiuUOlXdWLl22HsNyxhsA/s688/IcecreamCoolerCoalportc1802.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="563" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2F35lIKEIS8edvDt8gsnuVg5zhxgBW5OLf8vIeD7nz3kV1I8HlG0XKyl9AjTceaYraxr94x5SetVVWlGriZOFrf1hyphenhyphenxq6E1PNgQe0mqVs-wGmj-XR_C7MXZy41qiuUOlXdWLl22HsNyxhsA/s320/IcecreamCoolerCoalportc1802.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Coalport porcelain ice pails, c1802, <br />1stDibs New York</span><div><br /></div><div>And royal porcelain factories like <b>Sèvres</b> near Paris produced ice-cream cups and saucers for shops and homes, as wealthy families joined the ice-cream excitement.</div><div><br />This led to me reading histories of ice-cream, the best being <b><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2020/07-08/how-long-everyone-screamed-for-ice-cream/">Alfonso Lopez</a></b> who explained that cold treats went back to the ancient world. Chinese people, for example, enjoyed a frozen syrup. By 400 BC, sharbat was a popular Persian treat, featuring syrups made from cherries, quinces and pomegranates cooled with snow. Thus the modern words sherbet, sorbet and syrup. <b>Alexander the Great</b> enjoyed ices sweetened with honey in 330 BC. Roman <b>Emperor Nero</b> enjoyed cold fruit juices mixed with honey at his banquets. <br /><br />If icy products first evolved in Asia, they may have been introduced to Europe by <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2018/08/marco-polo-and-his-travels-over-silk.html">Marco Polo</a></b> after he arrived home from <b>China</b> in 1295 AD with recipes for flavoured ices. Chinese dealers procured ice from cold, mountainous areas, handlers packed it with straw to reduce melting and carried it to urban areas. Finally it was stored in icehouses. <br /><br />The best known British recipe for ice-cream was published in <b><a href="https://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/2012/04/lady-anne-fanshawes-icy-cream.html?fbclid=IwAR2vzxGbbgVlOngYNWZdYAH5Va1Cbr2gsuohghEaPrJ3eVBhiXgA4HdjrNI">LadyAnn Fanshawe</a></b> in the mid 1660s. Presumably Lady Ann, whose husband Richard was <b>Charles II's ambassador to King Phillip IV’s Spanish court</b>, learnt about iced refreshments at the Madrid court. Her ingredients, mace and orange-flower water, became popular. Fruits and herbs, tea or coffee, honey and crumbled biscuits were also added.The<b> term ice-cream in English first appeared in May 1671</b>, among other elaborate dishes served at Windsor’s <b><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2020/07-08/how-long-everyone-screamed-for-ice-cream/">Feast of St George</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECd00RvhdJVi7RWuQQ2mlcmraJFlkZ9_1cdAR_BuTR3sjyo8ETAIHIHJgtGd_Qh0Gl7F09uPh2p8P5Ej8NVU8l5SViw6MPAWxm7sXe6v1EuTtWFGj-S9ri01UHZqlDdN1L1W3H7XMcivULMg/s563/IcecreamEnglishUpperClass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="563" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECd00RvhdJVi7RWuQQ2mlcmraJFlkZ9_1cdAR_BuTR3sjyo8ETAIHIHJgtGd_Qh0Gl7F09uPh2p8P5Ej8NVU8l5SViw6MPAWxm7sXe6v1EuTtWFGj-S9ri01UHZqlDdN1L1W3H7XMcivULMg/w400-h235/IcecreamEnglishUpperClass.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ice cream was exclusively for the upper classes when it arrived in Britain</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dream Scoops<br /></span><div><br /></div><div>The C17th saw ice drinks being made into frozen desserts. With added sugar, sorbet was created. <b>Antonio Latini</b> (1642-92) was working for a <b>Spanish Viceroy in Naples</b>, and credited with being the first person to print a sorbetto recipe. And he was responsible for creating a milk-based sorbet, which most culinary historians call the first official ice-cream. In Naples, climate and culture came together and in 1690 a book on sorbetti appeared: <b>New and Quick Ways to Make All Kinds of Sorbets With Ease</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TyX2n7FopFRwXrHN-s6IiJQ0eT8O8aO0eKjYgjJy9aUy3Yb4McBl5f4TYxLv0SV9R3ofTb5uFwZH3OL0PDyrNqZJUznJ3ZgtECHIJMJaNQeexVHCLC4PyHhPVcMzNERVr7BufMSDLU9vi3Q/s600/IcecreamBookLatini1690s.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="600" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TyX2n7FopFRwXrHN-s6IiJQ0eT8O8aO0eKjYgjJy9aUy3Yb4McBl5f4TYxLv0SV9R3ofTb5uFwZH3OL0PDyrNqZJUznJ3ZgtECHIJMJaNQeexVHCLC4PyHhPVcMzNERVr7BufMSDLU9vi3Q/w400-h295/IcecreamBookLatini1690s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Latini's book, 1694<br />New and Quick Ways to Make All Kinds of Sorbets with Ease</span><div><span face="minion-pro" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span>By the C17th private European estates had icehouses, then large public icehouses were built in cities. In some cities the ice trade was regulated by the authorities, who set prices & penalties for illegal sales. Then Sicilian <b>Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli</b> opened a Paris café in 1686, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Il Procope</a>. The site became a meeting place for noted intellectuals eg Benjamin Franklin, Victor Hugo, Napoleon. A perfect combination: intellectual social life and ice-cream! The café introduced gelato, the Italian version of sorbet, to the French public. It was served in small porcelain bowls resembling egg cups. Thus Procopio became known as the Father of Italian Gelato.</div><div><br />Europe’s growing middle classes discovered the pleasures of frozen sweets in local shops. Along with sorbetti i.e ices churned during freezing, there were granitas (fruit and ice), and sorbetti con crema (milk added). <br /><br />An ice-cream recipe book was published in France in 1768: <b>True principles for freezing refreshments</b>.</div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWLl9JDNgMaeNb7IZBdMYtveXLUm1Z_lAkCDMkccn1eOkAVTUASVcgKV2DZblt5bkXNvc-woTm82ye3ron8j-9nddbVInbPv9mCUj_XfLGEZNKbDFclssRSXdAJvgKudmGtHD-92zR38pYYY/s1900/IcecreamStreetVendorValencia.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1266" data-original-width="1900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWLl9JDNgMaeNb7IZBdMYtveXLUm1Z_lAkCDMkccn1eOkAVTUASVcgKV2DZblt5bkXNvc-woTm82ye3ron8j-9nddbVInbPv9mCUj_XfLGEZNKbDFclssRSXdAJvgKudmGtHD-92zR38pYYY/w400-h266/IcecreamStreetVendorValencia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Lady of the house, examining the trays of icecream prepared by the household staff. <br /> Valencia 1775</span><div><br />Sorbetiera were Naples street vendors who sold sorbetto. Travellers to Naples often remarked on sorbetto in their scenes of the city’s street life. In 1839 the <b>Countess of Blessington</b> wrote: The gaiety of the streets of Naples at night was unparalleled. The ice-shops and cafes were crowded by the beau monde, the portable barrows in the streets were surrounded by more ordinary people. Naples alone had 43 legal ice sellers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5yP1ByppMxndz8JfB-IhsCEISilpP-GCXyhPRhdi2JEpqvY3CRhrGX8dRIjNDg8_NBYtq-bPa0cigpsK1I2pf6AVWl8nsAE9hs7fubzxEecyFOnpCbaolNSCswDv9M56Ou10110bS9fgq2k/s768/IcecreamNaples19thC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="768" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5yP1ByppMxndz8JfB-IhsCEISilpP-GCXyhPRhdi2JEpqvY3CRhrGX8dRIjNDg8_NBYtq-bPa0cigpsK1I2pf6AVWl8nsAE9hs7fubzxEecyFOnpCbaolNSCswDv9M56Ou10110bS9fgq2k/s320/IcecreamNaples19thC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Naples street vendor selling sorbetto,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">18th century<br /></span><div><br /></div><div>Although the craze soon spread to the North American colonies, it was still an expensive luxury in the C18th. A New York merchant showed that <b>Pres. George Washington</b> spent c$200 for ice-cream in summer 1790! But the <b>USA</b> was where ice-cream finally became affordable to the masses. In 1843 New Yorker <b><a href="https://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/ice-cream/the-history-of-ice-cream3.asp#:~:text=In%201843%2C%20New%20Yorker%20Nancy,)%2C%20the%20delicious%20treat%20emerged">Nancy Johnson</a></b> invented the first hand cranked ice-cream maker that drastically reduced production time, receiving the first US patent for a small-scale ice-cream freezer. American firms improved on her design and built new machines that lowered production costs. In 1851 <b>Jacob Fussell </b>of Baltimore Md built the first ice-cream factories!</div><div><br />By mid-C19th, ice-cream saloons were plentiful along New York’s avenues, experimenting with different productions. Parkinson’s on Broadway created pistachio ice-cream. Patent Steam Icecream Saloon, named for its steam-operated freezing unit, catered to middle class women, wives of substantial tradesmen, mechanics and artisans. And <b><a href="https://streetsofsalem.com/2020/07/28/break-for-ice-cream/">Salem</a></b>! <br /><br />After <b>America’s Civil War (1861–5)</b>, ice-cream’s popularity exploded across U.S, with specialist shops appearing for the middle classes. Their ice-creams, sorbets and sherberts were still a bit exotic: <b>Mrs DA Lincoln</b> produced several editions of pamphlets, including Frosty Fancies 1898 and Frozen Dainties 1899, published for the freezer manufacturer White Mountain. She used ice-creams made with arrowroot, cornstarch and gelatin, not eggs. <br /><br />Although American street vendors started selling ice-cream only a few decades after France and the UK, America’s industrial revolution had to focus on the refrigeration issue. So note that in the US, continuous refrigeration became a reality with electrical freezers in 1926. <br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_TKOVpvunMSvpUzFZGcokYvq6OppyOeQAAMiWWVos0Lm7mBxUSg9nUL7BneK1m_VvaaiWIEL_kP0oLREfoTH4J1pAFyOFj9T3MqE_G_igLsxZ8JtFE4EGVgw71ltlK_9QbS3_3iz1x7S11o/s1498/IcecreamCartLondon1877.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1498" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_TKOVpvunMSvpUzFZGcokYvq6OppyOeQAAMiWWVos0Lm7mBxUSg9nUL7BneK1m_VvaaiWIEL_kP0oLREfoTH4J1pAFyOFj9T3MqE_G_igLsxZ8JtFE4EGVgw71ltlK_9QbS3_3iz1x7S11o/w400-h300/IcecreamCartLondon1877.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">London ice cream cart</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">1877</span></div><div><br /></div>Photo credits: <b>Dream Scoops</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> </div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-28668868193364258372024-02-27T18:00:00.019+11:002024-02-29T12:11:33.745+11:00Anne Lister: Georgian businesswoman, diarist, traveller, gay <b>Anne Lister</b> (1791-1840) was born in <b>Halifax Yorks</b> and spent her childhood in her parents’ home. And she was a regular visitor to her aunt’s grand family estate Shibden Hall. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYWNBsH3UCtxiwDW93WL09Esc9_L5KBj1ZUpgFlFqyZ663AoxuzGumUvOPWFfZCB-MhJSXP-iymFpcSiTZpiVXvNVMikchdFns79W12ae40yi18cZjnVx_Rak5SeHjGUHt2dDbzrQbQv7RWlfdCdenRlaAqDHN1jd2P6USn_vH4BEXMcNsT58_zDsI_rln5kT92qC/s987/ListerDiaries.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="782" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYWNBsH3UCtxiwDW93WL09Esc9_L5KBj1ZUpgFlFqyZ663AoxuzGumUvOPWFfZCB-MhJSXP-iymFpcSiTZpiVXvNVMikchdFns79W12ae40yi18cZjnVx_Rak5SeHjGUHt2dDbzrQbQv7RWlfdCdenRlaAqDHN1jd2P6USn_vH4BEXMcNsT58_zDsI_rln5kT92qC/w318-h400/ListerDiaries.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: start;">Portrait of Anne Lister in her customary dark clothes,</span><br style="text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">by Joshua Horner c1830, Shibden Hall</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Lister was not raised to be in business, but to be a wife. When she was 7 she was sent to school in Ripon. In a society that taught girls to be ladylike, Lister emerged as a fiercely intelligent and strong-willed student. Next she was educated at home by the local vicar in 1801, then she was at boarding school. This was where Lister first fell in love with <b>Eliza Raine</b>, the illegitimate daughter of a deceased East India Co surgeon who’d later inherit a fortune. Raine dreamed of making a life with Lister when school ended, but that failed. Lister become closer to other girls at school and after just 2 years, she was expelled. It didn’t matter; as an adult Lister was passionate about travel, making many trips abroad. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/gentleman-jack-inside-shibden-hall-anne-listers-yorkshire-home-that-you-can-visit-1755342 "><b>Shibden Hall</b></a> was W. Yorkshire manor house near Halifax, built c1420. Later it was bought by the wealthy Savile family, then the <b>Waterhouse</b> family. When Waterhouse sold Shibden in 1612, it was bought by Lister cousins. In 1614 Samuel Lister lived there, a tailor who, by careful marriages, brought Shibden into Lister ownership. <br /><br />Lister met her land-owning neighbour<b> Ann Walker</b> when she moved to Shibden Hall in 1815. But it was years before the two women fell in love and exchanged vows in church. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCZtDOtjL18UzL3o4p-xFvRLoobEVxA1QAw6kL9Pj7AXE1Oy-zppRehOmpwF1fohSOpfkE2_o5IVIBlFRRp-2z37fhT_oS_qw9iJcQIAIP9ZGVsPGU4HRxTTGnb2jjm6jOz1AkGNQgYfKP1SSBCJz25KMl5IqJD6s6Gi9a7xTtj4xoY2N-RprlI2vEZc3MjnmMqy1/s1249/ListerHolyTrinityChurchYorkWiki.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1249" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCZtDOtjL18UzL3o4p-xFvRLoobEVxA1QAw6kL9Pj7AXE1Oy-zppRehOmpwF1fohSOpfkE2_o5IVIBlFRRp-2z37fhT_oS_qw9iJcQIAIP9ZGVsPGU4HRxTTGnb2jjm6jOz1AkGNQgYfKP1SSBCJz25KMl5IqJD6s6Gi9a7xTtj4xoY2N-RprlI2vEZc3MjnmMqy1/w400-h274/ListerHolyTrinityChurchYorkWiki.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>Holy Trinity Church, York</span><span> </span><span>where the couple took communion</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>to seal their union, </span><span>1834, </span><span>Wiki</span></span></div><div><br />Lister had to set a business education programme for herself in a male-dominated society; that way she could manage the estate of c400 acres, with revenues from agricultural rents. In addition to income from agricultural tenancy, Lister's finances came from buying and selling property, shares in the canal and railway industries, mining and stone quarries. And she took control of her business interests herself, deciding on the investments with or without professional advice. Additionally Ann Walker’s fortune was very well used by Lister. What an amazing business mind!! <br /><br />After her aunt's and father's death, Lister had full control of Shibden in 1836 and used her business income to recreate the estate. With architect <b>John Harper</b>, her changes included: terracing of the south lawn, opening of the low ceiling house, Norman tower, ornamental lake and carriage drive to the gatehouse. Other planned changes stopped. <br /><br />Lister’s early <b>diary</b> habit grew into an obsession, calling the diaries her private memorial which helped to comfort her. She wrote her journals in volumes from 1817, and as time passed, she expanded on the details she wrote in her tiny handwriting. She jotted down notes on a slate and wrote up her journal later that day. She used her own code to record her most private feelings, and accounts of the relationships with the women in her life. In any case, she was careful about who heard of the diaries. <br /><br />The two Annes went on their final trip together in 1839, via <b>France, Denmark, Sweden </b>to<b> Russia</b>. Her last diary entry was for Aug 1840 when she was in <b>Georgia</b>’<b>s Caucasus Mountains</b>. 6 weeks later she died in Sept 1840 at 49, from a fever. Her wife Ann Walker brought the body back from Georgia, together with at least some of the diaries. From a 1850 list of the Shibden papers, it was clear that there was a bundle listed as <u>Diaries and Journals of Mrs Lister</u>, kept behind the panels at Shibden. Ann Walker inherited Shibden. <br /><br />Following Walker’s death in 1854, <b>John Lister</b>, Anne Lister’s distant relative from Wales moved to Shibden with his family. <br /><br /><u><b>after Anne Lister’s death<br /></b></u>In 1885 all male homosexual acts became illegal and public opinion was very hostile, as seen in the 1895 trials of Oscar Wilde. The diaries went back into storage and when John Lister died in 1933, his knowledge of the coded diaries was lost. Halifax Borough now became owners of Shibden, and the Borough Librarian spent 2 years cataloguing John Lister’s books and letters. Tracking missing diary volumes, they contacted <b>antiquarian Arthur Burrell </b>who found diary volumes and cracked Lister’s code.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_Tkz4sv0CKKK1TEpp_B3hnbCEYTWNAoRbHm2_CcSECcXZ5rGp1Q1w3227Lp3SsD6WW7CQnecg_HP3Fst-hgyKwyV_Q3_LulvxgOCLCMdbGH6asqUtLAGNZDf7i_TFHY__dRt2yz3HilCZTHErR3zCzH7cYbChbE3eoTxFfEfLk3i9X6k7ZO2em4yV9zv4v5-ZtTi/s565/ListerShibdenHall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="565" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_Tkz4sv0CKKK1TEpp_B3hnbCEYTWNAoRbHm2_CcSECcXZ5rGp1Q1w3227Lp3SsD6WW7CQnecg_HP3Fst-hgyKwyV_Q3_LulvxgOCLCMdbGH6asqUtLAGNZDf7i_TFHY__dRt2yz3HilCZTHErR3zCzH7cYbChbE3eoTxFfEfLk3i9X6k7ZO2em4yV9zv4v5-ZtTi/w400-h290/ListerShibdenHall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Shibden Hall, Calderdale Museums<br />Anne Lister lived there from 1815 </span></div><div> <br /></div><div>In <b>1984 <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-anne-lister/54392729/?locale=en-AU">The Guardian</a></b> wrote <b>The 2 Million Word Enigma</b>, opening up the diaries to a much wider audience. <b>Helena Whitbread</b> came into the <u>West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale</u>, became intrigued by the diaries and produced two key publications in 1988 and 1992. <b>Muriel Green</b>’s <b>Miss Lister of Shibden Hall</b> (1992) was published concentrating on letters. They were inscribed in the <u>UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register</u>, making a substantial cultural significance covering all aspects of her life: as landowner, business woman, traveller and gay woman. <br /><br />See <b>Gentleman Jack, </b>Anne’s life in Halifax, BBC/HBO TV.</div><div>See the <b>Shibden Hall Exhibition</b> (Mar-Ap 2024). <br />Or read <b>Anne Lister’s Diaries</b>, by Manchester U.P, 2023</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-24111498201618460292024-02-24T06:00:00.011+11:002024-02-24T13:16:36.307+11:00Australian art dealer, collector, patron: Joseph BrownBorn <b>Josef Braun</b> (1918-2009) in Lodz Poland, he arrived in Australia with his father and siblings in 1933. At 15 he settled in <b>Melbourne</b> and attended Princes Hill Central School. Brown showed an early talent for drawing and was first exhibited at his school.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOyudXGnNYND1K1LN_Tk4QxEamHuO3uFlkCjOKzDuoPsRDSmBUiuq1H22p4pDF5bwWvpI5_dp6ABeMg5xJgUkumfW8JOLO8r83bp071ft-lAgCvJxjF68cccfAMpXjDlWen8foonevSuh6IfeiyCvskXaw_HlOvAqJfuutdmUAXa0PiuN3cUZNtEdgHmnVtSDgQ/s1280/BrownJBushTrackDromana1875.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1280" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOyudXGnNYND1K1LN_Tk4QxEamHuO3uFlkCjOKzDuoPsRDSmBUiuq1H22p4pDF5bwWvpI5_dp6ABeMg5xJgUkumfW8JOLO8r83bp071ft-lAgCvJxjF68cccfAMpXjDlWen8foonevSuh6IfeiyCvskXaw_HlOvAqJfuutdmUAXa0PiuN3cUZNtEdgHmnVtSDgQ/w400-h269/BrownJBushTrackDromana1875.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bush track Dromana, 1875<br />by Louis Buvelot</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56sFRA1C4yRzQEyTyaflKVs_vCrzMdVBv5dwyaUwW-yFZX9nkBXFqDSqk5OxIm-2gVqFaNtxIk1-YX2CdvrDMx3kEgNmmzpSeTLBehiopnlw2EWvqBCUHvOZsrhrOgGCjUTh3Vsn8jiAGDMfurlJXgz8yITlq_YED3jPkM-d8Zprq-6DI1InoHUyRrUHlUFzNbg/s1600/BrownJAutumn%20MemoriesByMcCubbin,NGV.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="1600" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56sFRA1C4yRzQEyTyaflKVs_vCrzMdVBv5dwyaUwW-yFZX9nkBXFqDSqk5OxIm-2gVqFaNtxIk1-YX2CdvrDMx3kEgNmmzpSeTLBehiopnlw2EWvqBCUHvOZsrhrOgGCjUTh3Vsn8jiAGDMfurlJXgz8yITlq_YED3jPkM-d8Zprq-6DI1InoHUyRrUHlUFzNbg/w400-h338/BrownJAutumn%20MemoriesByMcCubbin,NGV.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Frederick McCubbin, Autumn Memories, 1899<br />donated by Brown to the National Gallery of Victoria in 2004</span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jMfJ1vExKLpaupGtV8_DZqM8dMVLFFJ9jDVdDdmbthwX1JWNfBIU5eunGDqSauhOcAwDhF--KCcA-IAu76J-EddaXNfPVR5o8nxkmn2trbIGWqfxGDCveBKc7buJtSUxfKM2Zwgls1rdAEgj12aN-VK6kOEgbpEQ1WRhzyGnI5kisIbexHEomLjiJYikdNdPTg/s1920/BrownJFarm%20landscape1905LongSid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1216" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jMfJ1vExKLpaupGtV8_DZqM8dMVLFFJ9jDVdDdmbthwX1JWNfBIU5eunGDqSauhOcAwDhF--KCcA-IAu76J-EddaXNfPVR5o8nxkmn2trbIGWqfxGDCveBKc7buJtSUxfKM2Zwgls1rdAEgj12aN-VK6kOEgbpEQ1WRhzyGnI5kisIbexHEomLjiJYikdNdPTg/w254-h400/BrownJFarm%20landscape1905LongSid.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Farm landscape, </span><span style="font-size: small;">1905</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Sid Long, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiWdShDQYN4NYEr7lTJtfRMKHM21rcT0eYbppSZly7YJB0pukjH-CJiqoEA_Fq_2-1MXom3Tk1i5AD3FkRqed_L3h7Kxb_IA1m0xES7BFEwOeGpXr2GokfVuxBhK8am1jqvPB1EKS2VpXFt3ogkxou515vGUgFuUmt4vus0onfZBFP39v9uEvO6RhXE_7ZhtnFA/s1569/BrownJSelfPortraitLambert.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1569" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiWdShDQYN4NYEr7lTJtfRMKHM21rcT0eYbppSZly7YJB0pukjH-CJiqoEA_Fq_2-1MXom3Tk1i5AD3FkRqed_L3h7Kxb_IA1m0xES7BFEwOeGpXr2GokfVuxBhK8am1jqvPB1EKS2VpXFt3ogkxou515vGUgFuUmt4vus0onfZBFP39v9uEvO6RhXE_7ZhtnFA/w326-h400/BrownJSelfPortraitLambert.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Self-portrait, 1906 <br />by George W lambert<br /></span><br />Along the way his surname was anglicised to Brown, and after school he began night art classes in painting and sculpture at the <b>Working Men's College (RMIT Uni</b>) in 1934 under artist <b>Napier Waller</b>, and won a scholarship to the <b>Brunswick Technical College</b>. But the ongoing Depression forced him to abandon studies to help support his family. By the late 1930s Joseph Brown was part of Melbourne’s artistic and intellectual circle and friends with <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-angry-penguins-art-in-war-time.html ">Albert Tucker</a>, Noel Counihan </b>and<b> <a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/01/yosl-bergner-australian-years.html ">Yosl Bergner</a></b> etc. <br /><br />Despite WW2 in 1939, Brown continued to make some art. Then in 1940 he enlisted in the Australian Army and served in the 13th Armoured Regiment AIF until 1945. After returning from war service, he became more involved in the fashion industry. That year he married and set up <u>J Brown Mantles</u>, a fashion design business in Flinders Lane. He specialised in evening gowns, occasionally painting and sculpting. <br /><br />He exhibited with the <b>Victorian Sculptors’ Society</b> in the 1960s but ultimately the demands from his growing fashion business made it difficult to concentrate on art. Over the following decades, Brown established himself in the Australian art world as a collector-dealer. In becoming a leading art dealer and consultant, he promoted a wide range of Australian historical and contemporary artists. He reclaimed the work of forgotten artists, mentored some new artists and was a great advocate for portraiture as an art form. <br /><br />In 1967, life changed. He sold his fashion business, bought a Victorian mansion in classy South Yarra, and established himself as a commercial art dealer in classy <b>Collins St</b>. Brown had found his vocation, and for the next 15 years the <b>Joseph Brown Gallery</b> held many mixed exhibitions of historical and modern art; plus solo exhibitions. His taste was broad, promoting many artists & genres that had become unfashionable to collectors & academics, including colonial art, marine painting, women artists, sculpture and portraiture. Meanwhile he’d created a striking private collection of Australian art. <br /><br />Brown loved <b>John Russell</b>, Australia's lost Impressionist who lived on Belle Ile off Brittany and was a friend of <b>Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse</b>. In 1968 <b>John Peter Russell 1858-1930: Australian Impressionist</b> opened at Brown’s gallery, with works received from the artist's family. Thus the reputation of one of Australia's most significant artists was rebuilt. Brown also supported and promoted living artists, and the many <a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2013/11/judy-cassab-from-hungary-to-australia.html .">portraits painted of him offered a visual record to their affection</a>.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SiklfLoso5yKbz_1prNnsCgvStCRRkrmKzjSIzMoWyTFo_TCqgrS6wF6hwwC-MwyQkUtNPDbNRVWWIAuglGgLkPiKhvDMSzt5YI_q7GJo40KdXmG_-8i73wYMe2sswAlXrk98XF8CK0ezAnGENG0LRhyg3yPw22mVk6Md1RA4X1QpCuHvzmTvL-enb8epCd7BQ/s779/BrownJPortraitbyCassab.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="564" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SiklfLoso5yKbz_1prNnsCgvStCRRkrmKzjSIzMoWyTFo_TCqgrS6wF6hwwC-MwyQkUtNPDbNRVWWIAuglGgLkPiKhvDMSzt5YI_q7GJo40KdXmG_-8i73wYMe2sswAlXrk98XF8CK0ezAnGENG0LRhyg3yPw22mVk6Md1RA4X1QpCuHvzmTvL-enb8epCd7BQ/w290-h400/BrownJPortraitbyCassab.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><div> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Portrait of Joseph Brown, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> by Judy Cassab, 1996 </span></div><div><br /></div><div>Brown also was the trusted adviser to many private individuals, corporations and nearly all state, regional and university galleries, the <b>Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory</b> in particular. And collections assembled by commercial organisations. People who collaborated with him to form significant private collections included Marc & Eva Besen, Joseph & Gerda Brender, Dudley & Barbara Cain, John & Pauline Gandel, and Kerry Stokes. <br /><br />From 1966 on, Brown donated 460 works of art to public collections! In 1973, he received the Order of the British Empire, then in 1990 by an Order of Australia and honorary doctorates from <b>Monash, Melbourne and La Trobe unis</b>. <br /><br />Over time, Brown built up a fine private art collections and made major contributions to the Australian art story. A major survey of his work, <b><a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2925675">Dr Joseph Brown, a Creative Life: 65 Years a Private Artist</a></b>, was presented by the <b>Ian Potter Museum of Art at Melbourne Uni</b> 1999. <br /><br />With age, Brown became anxious to find a permanent home for the rest of his collection of Australian art, and he was clear that the works would have to be displayed in dedicated rooms. Luckily he was guaranteed that his works would remain on permanent display as a independent collection by the <b>National Gallery Victoria/NGV</b>. So in May 2004 he made the largest and most generous gifts of 19th and C20th Australian art to any public Australian gallery: 154 works worth $35 million. This Joseph Brown Collection recorded the difference he made to Australian culture. <br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OsvR0RyuO05khKE_Epz4peyK5Jp6lnhVB-1hPyumRYayBbbuNLbEijM4Z1G9fFSEcDYz8GF6bU3RZh_HRytP6iWBmcMKGXkESn43iJu6OrVjD_aIa-NB9XIuahXegH_Xf7Hb0MC7qEhA-jVdqkLUKrL_1vWf6SvS2uLHF6n2Er4dOtAsjDLLxI2b2hc7Cs0QyA/s800/BrownJCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OsvR0RyuO05khKE_Epz4peyK5Jp6lnhVB-1hPyumRYayBbbuNLbEijM4Z1G9fFSEcDYz8GF6bU3RZh_HRytP6iWBmcMKGXkESn43iJu6OrVjD_aIa-NB9XIuahXegH_Xf7Hb0MC7qEhA-jVdqkLUKrL_1vWf6SvS2uLHF6n2Er4dOtAsjDLLxI2b2hc7Cs0QyA/s320/BrownJCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Outlines of Australian art: Joseph Brown collection.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Daniel Thomas, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Melbourne: Macmillan, 1989</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div></div>Just before he died, Brown supported the exhibition of <b>Masterpieces of Australian Impressionism</b> to raise funds for Cabrini Health. Then Australia's most generous and respected art dealer died aged 91, survived by his wife and large family. Including my closest friend, Joseph's niece.<br /><br />An edition of the Joseph Brown Collection publication was produced to coincide with the 2018 centenary of Joseph Brown’s birth. Photo credits: <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/custom/screens/josephbrown/index.php?chapter=2">Joseph Brown Collection</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-64583062854157181552024-02-20T18:00:00.032+11:002024-02-29T12:24:12.201+11:00Coffee and culture in Budapest’s N.Y Cafe<div class="separator">In 1894, during <b>Budapest</b>'s golden fin-de-siècle era, a grandiose facility was built in the city centre. <b>Alajos Hauszmann</b> was commissioned to plan the design and along with <b>Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl</b>, he created a lavish, 4 storeyed palace with a ground-floor café. The <b>New York Café</b> soon became the centre of Hungarian cultural history, the favourite meeting place of artists, writers and poets. </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: right;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdGFqk5avHBAFSPFY-VmzETgtAN1Waj7pOp3LqPxFU6HOiz0ZLutdugrioHlQCFGo6oqWBqujDZEOSnh1oBW7pyTofE3HVc1cPEeNccq8LIQCcK3LaabFjLybaXKehEc65SGcP3WrmmCzehYlvxjhZyhVns3UHuE-gqJo8AWt4WWylempz7rKYQHNclyW7L5HA3ff/s735/BudapestNYFacade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="735" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdGFqk5avHBAFSPFY-VmzETgtAN1Waj7pOp3LqPxFU6HOiz0ZLutdugrioHlQCFGo6oqWBqujDZEOSnh1oBW7pyTofE3HVc1cPEeNccq8LIQCcK3LaabFjLybaXKehEc65SGcP3WrmmCzehYlvxjhZyhVns3UHuE-gqJo8AWt4WWylempz7rKYQHNclyW7L5HA3ff/w400-h271/BudapestNYFacade.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Front of NY Cafe, Pinterest</span><br /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPO0-1isWtMj96TYh4sblu1QQbRdnC7PT7d3D31sPxyesngJdzMSbyCBR4Fg9x744N2xWFdhLzZ69rAg7LnFUCMf2DJLEM2zThcLn1EQ1r1oSwhIw2VWAcEy_xBuh7gp1xC5bEXmR9OVT7jCquGdN0PceLWlgTbhfZk39XszjX5ZIUVKZ38UcaTzb9vHkd-3rd3f2/s784/BudapestNYCaffeTables.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="784" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPO0-1isWtMj96TYh4sblu1QQbRdnC7PT7d3D31sPxyesngJdzMSbyCBR4Fg9x744N2xWFdhLzZ69rAg7LnFUCMf2DJLEM2zThcLn1EQ1r1oSwhIw2VWAcEy_xBuh7gp1xC5bEXmR9OVT7jCquGdN0PceLWlgTbhfZk39XszjX5ZIUVKZ38UcaTzb9vHkd-3rd3f2/w400-h300/BudapestNYCaffeTables.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Tables surrounded by marbled columns, ceiling frescoes and crystal chandeliers.</div></span><div class="separator"><br /></div><div>The site’s history, closely entwined with literature, lived through different eras and historical changes, always providing comfort for artists. There is no literature without a Café, said C20th writer <b>Sándor Márai</b> who frequented this historical building for inspiration.<br /><br />There has always been live <b>gypsy music</b> in N.Y Café, but since 1995 the musicians have played every day until 5 PM. Music accompanies the delights of a good coffee, delicious food and atmosphere. The <b>Lugosi Salon Gipsy Band</b>’s huge repertoire means they can play many pieces by heart, classical as well as modern music, with traditional Hungarian gypsy instruments. The band interprets Hungarian folk and gypsy music, plus music by <b>Brahms, Kodály, Bartók or Liszt</b>. <br /><br />When it comes to an elegant event venue in Budapest, NY Coffee House is unbeatable. Its history and heritage, this “most beautiful coffee house in the world” greatly raises its prestige and makes it more appealing for guests. The building will dazzle all its guests as soon as they arrive in the street, the exclusive interior and the specially qualified staff ensures that formal events go through with no complications. <br /><br />The opulent, roomy interior has enjoyed the spotlight since the early years of the building. The interior spaces are separated by spiralled marble columns. The ornamental brass statues on the Café's exterior are the 14 sinister fauns, created by <b>Károly Senyei</b>, as the symbols of sensuality and mockery. The figure of El Asmodai can also be found here, as the representation of the spirit of coffee and thinking, so as to provide inspiration for the artists dropping in. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvckJqxkOmEe4cYORBJ-a9eOuL7u_0bpSrRhda1Kad6xYu9rQiLjg6-c_oIC_ePv2kLbvhsjkvqfGrouDMNrLCOk04wEBAxzaSXSY3jIxpKsUjrUNj4HY8947OjBZpuTax7ZITBc0i6K8I7eVnZmYjQ3hvbG-DWpzO4fm-D3KlozM_d2SFpNVJzTEySjrgrMyswj-/s940/BudapestNYCaffeStairs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvckJqxkOmEe4cYORBJ-a9eOuL7u_0bpSrRhda1Kad6xYu9rQiLjg6-c_oIC_ePv2kLbvhsjkvqfGrouDMNrLCOk04wEBAxzaSXSY3jIxpKsUjrUNj4HY8947OjBZpuTax7ZITBc0i6K8I7eVnZmYjQ3hvbG-DWpzO4fm-D3KlozM_d2SFpNVJzTEySjrgrMyswj-/w400-h268/BudapestNYCaffeStairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Full decoration continues around the stairs</span></div><div><br /></div><div>The presence of history can be felt when entering the building. Several famous Hungarian writers and poets spent their time here. The iconic Hungarian work of “Pál utcai fiúk” was also written in the Café by <b>Zsigmond Móricz</b>. <br /><br />The site was the gathering place of many famous Hungarian writers of distinction, such as <b>Mihály Babits, Géza Gárdonyi, Frigyes Karinthy, Dezső Kosztolányi, Gyula Illyes and Sándor Weöres</b>. No wonder, since the central placement of the building and the mentality that promoted arts provided the young artists with an atmosphere in which they could exert their creative potential to the fullest. Back then, the not so well-known and often poor writers could get access to the Writers’ Bowl at a small expense, thanks to the innovation of the <b>Harsányi</b> brothers. <br /><br />The <b>Nyugat Bar</b> upstairs, with its dim light, is one of the cosiest places in the cafe. It offers a view of the Salon Restaurant and the lobby of the hotel while sipping coffee and enjoying the piano music</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8Q4rFZZXz3X7m4WdHwH3FMdSofdXrqMpCNIr9eLbHoRW9IwamaRi2yLBYnapB0GZdYr3rMM3jt7oRe6D8Q9FS7FKakXcnUcYErGVoc-2Ph3W1B7L27RWd7UpFmRXFKml7x1CbzhODZYzhyphenhypheng-xg1qRmBJVStWeb1k3ViPPp822HwfuI1T_gB93F6ONOEiOubY9X9n/s640/BudapestNYUpstairsBar.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8Q4rFZZXz3X7m4WdHwH3FMdSofdXrqMpCNIr9eLbHoRW9IwamaRi2yLBYnapB0GZdYr3rMM3jt7oRe6D8Q9FS7FKakXcnUcYErGVoc-2Ph3W1B7L27RWd7UpFmRXFKml7x1CbzhODZYzhyphenhypheng-xg1qRmBJVStWeb1k3ViPPp822HwfuI1T_gB93F6ONOEiOubY9X9n/w400-h268/BudapestNYUpstairsBar.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Nyugat Bar upstairs</div></span><br />Originally the building was the head office of the <b>N.Y Life Insurance Company</b>, but it soon became an important public venue. The café was established on the ground floor, and the Company offices were on the first floor. <br /><br />The cultural scene needed a central venue. The fact that the ceremonial opening in Oct 1894 was attended by the best literary and art stars proves how real this need was. Without advertising, the N.Y became a literary café. <br /><br />While other cafés were established in existing buildings, it was not a secret that the aim was to create a venue that could represent the Insurance Company appropriately and could fascinate whoever enters the building. This is why the N.Y Café was extraordinarily ornate and polished, and the café became the main attraction of the building: it wanted to captivate visitors and demonstrate the Company’s unlimited wealth. First-hand accounts about the opening event talked in superlatives about the grand interiors. <br /><br />In 1918, <b>Miksa Aczél and Co</b>. took over the café. Not all the remodelling was universally liked, especially critical were the artists and members of the press. In the Deepwater Room, the billiard room was turned into a restaurant, and the rooms behind the upper balcony were converted into a bar. But a few years later, after more remodelling, the cosy space was called Mahogany Bar, much loved <br /><br />In 1927, the restaurant was expanded in major reconstruction. Immediately the locals and famous guests loved the <b>Mahogany Bar</b>: built symmetrically to the marble hall over the doorway. Guests were thrilled about the hidden lights and the alabaster columns that emitted a delicate opalscent light. Built in <b>Renaissance/Art Nouveau style</b>, with marble columns, sparkling chandeliers, stuccoed angels, amazing frescoes and gilding, the cafe takes visitors back to another era. The exclusive bar soon became the centre of Budapest nightlife. A few years later, Budapest artists were given desks and furniture.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHRDldVSugHbsYcPtVQa3FG4IUmvqv2B9Fmo5Ic6Mwob-jCZ5zvjJaEnvM6FukyZL3pl0EVYLYxCeraFOLdFa66K-GzgLApvahAaw8EuVZLjOtgQJagY7LTSuTC0HG7j1cJySgZva7kRdvhoPt3ejUgimZ6OzIotbP2kmCUQRsooB3DsMIXC-cJG8LrxfTJZUBCbJ/s960/BudapestNYCaffeMusic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="960" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHRDldVSugHbsYcPtVQa3FG4IUmvqv2B9Fmo5Ic6Mwob-jCZ5zvjJaEnvM6FukyZL3pl0EVYLYxCeraFOLdFa66K-GzgLApvahAaw8EuVZLjOtgQJagY7LTSuTC0HG7j1cJySgZva7kRdvhoPt3ejUgimZ6OzIotbP2kmCUQRsooB3DsMIXC-cJG8LrxfTJZUBCbJ/w400-h285/BudapestNYCaffeMusic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lugosi Salon Gipsy Band</span></span></div><br />The café suffered very badly during WW1 and WW2, and the N.Y Café was briefly turned into a sports goods store in the 1950s. But it rose from its ashes in 1954, and was renamed Hungária Café. The real revival came in 2006 when a major renovation allowed the New York Café to regain its former gilded glamour. The café is open Mon–Sun 8 AM–midnight.<br /><br />New York Cafe is just a short walk from the popular <b>Jewish District</b> where my in-laws once lived, and Andrassy Ave. </div><div>Thank you to <b><a href="https://newyorkcafe.hu/en/">New York Cafe</a></b> for the history and photos. </div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Courier New;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-53617473106438876412024-02-17T06:00:00.003+11:002024-02-17T23:25:07.962+11:00Australian Utopia in Paraguay part 2After the crises of the Maritime Dispute in 1890, Shearers’ Dispute in 1891 and the Great Depression of early 1890s, many in Australia’s working class believed that their nation could never be a workingman’s paradise. Some were drawn to a utopian settlement in Paraguay. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXqzQTCH_ArLWjpR6XBPr1Uvs4j4CYnC1rZ7_Ie6ADlQ0nsVG4fs6R-pf6HFmfi5LZ2ZXQLbprv41yzHD24pMD7xOKLmzk1-3Ryh0EGN4XHZiObQcla88s0_X45sm_fwssyiM9j7XqexDVj7UzBkV3_CmlgHgooGInLxjOhi-iF4etp4vQDcYybI9txIHLznL1PZS/s884/CosmeWilliamLane1892.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="665" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXqzQTCH_ArLWjpR6XBPr1Uvs4j4CYnC1rZ7_Ie6ADlQ0nsVG4fs6R-pf6HFmfi5LZ2ZXQLbprv41yzHD24pMD7xOKLmzk1-3Ryh0EGN4XHZiObQcla88s0_X45sm_fwssyiM9j7XqexDVj7UzBkV3_CmlgHgooGInLxjOhi-iF4etp4vQDcYybI9txIHLznL1PZS/s320/CosmeWilliamLane1892.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">William Lane, c1892</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wiki</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div>British-born <b>William Lane</b> (1861–1917) was the popular editor of <b>Brisbane Worker</b> newspaper, inspiring the 1890s Australian labour movement. Lane loathed oppressive industrial laws, dangerous work practices and Chinese migration. He loved the Women’s Suffrage Movement, progressive taxation, and utopian societies. <br /><br />Why did the <b>New Australia Movement</b> chose the <a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-australian-socialist-utopia-in.html">remote nation of <b>Paraguay</b></a>, full of jungles. The New Australia Association originally thought farming would be best in Argentina, but that government was unhelpful. <br /><br />After a long dictatorship, Paraguay had declared war in 1865-70 against its neighbours <b>Brasil, Argentina and even Uruguay</b>. Devastation followed when two-thirds of Paraguay’s population were damaged or killed. The national government offered migrants desirable land grants, to boost its population of fit young men and help the local economy. <br /><br />This was the first-ever organised emigration project from Australia, but was opposed by local newspapers. So the group continued working and seeking members, and published the monthly Journal of New Australia commencing Nov 1892. Men had to pay £60 each to join the colony, a large outlay! Still, Lane signed up 238 shearers, farmers, stockmen, unionists and their families. <a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-australian-socialist-utopia-in.html">The Co-operative bought the S.S Royal Tar</a>, intending to transport many shiploads of members to the new paradise. They all gathered in <b>Sydney</b>, but the NSW government used all its maritime rules to delay the first voyage.</div><div> <br />In July 1893 the tall ship finally sailed, across the Pacific, round Cape Horn and up the Argentine coast. In Sept, 500 Australians arrived in Paraguay’s capital, <b>Asuncion</b>. From there they continued by train to their promised land, facing bullocks, wagons, rivers and mosquitoes until they arrived. 75,000 hectares of FREE land, but nothing like the arable land they’d wanted. <br /><br />Eventually the Royal Tar sailed from Adelaide with another shipload of emigrants for Paraguay, the utopia of equality, fairness and communal living. But while many of the settlers seemed both skilled and well motivated, some New Australia settlers were not well suited to rural life, couldn’t tolerate grim conditions and spoke no Spanish. <br /><br />Alas Lane was an autocrat; his controlling leadership style was already clear aboard ship. His strict rules banned alcohol or socialising with local women, very difficult for the single shearers. And there were few single Australian women. But even with Lane’s total control, how horrible that committed men were expelled! <br /><br />New Australia soon comprised a few small villages and farms but many settlers left to seek a better city-based life. In response to falling numbers and failing finances, and appalled by the behaviour of the young shearers, Lane left. <br /><br />Paraguay’s government was still generous, granting Lane’s second group another area of land in the south. This even more faithful group of 63 Christian socialists moved to a new settlement, <b>Cosme</b> 72 ks away, starting to clear the bush, build houses and plant crops. And a shop soon opened.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhbZRxNOxmEiyibGzb2aMz1nM3i-t2RtW0AuJQCzV6wip80nAcLcdyHy1DLSpomECD-4fY07fGzFL41JscS76K1oXLGd-LASdMgzYHb-RLoI3T2NaJ1rKk-ByFsKGUcIWtOS-s_yE87CzZtXbi4sNEC3kDhR6u7J0hLDSNuqPp2miNjJZGBuWPsGnvqLcTJJxg0O2/s960/CosmeShop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhbZRxNOxmEiyibGzb2aMz1nM3i-t2RtW0AuJQCzV6wip80nAcLcdyHy1DLSpomECD-4fY07fGzFL41JscS76K1oXLGd-LASdMgzYHb-RLoI3T2NaJ1rKk-ByFsKGUcIWtOS-s_yE87CzZtXbi4sNEC3kDhR6u7J0hLDSNuqPp2miNjJZGBuWPsGnvqLcTJJxg0O2/s320/CosmeShop.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cosme's first shop</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">University of Sydney</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Cosme’s philosophy had the aims of an idealistic society: 1] everyone was equal, with commitment to the superiority of English speaking whites, 2] lifelong marriage and 3] teetotalism. Even in the 1890s, this was a strange mix of radicalism and conservatism, perhaps following the views of Australian working-class movements then. But it was difficult. <br /><br /><b>Cosme Monthly</b> was a small news journal, from Nov 1894-Dec 1896, handwritten by William Lane. All issues were 4-6 pages, some printed by Trade Union Printers of E. London. Subscriptions for Cosme Monthly were accepted at Trades’ Halls in all Australian capitals, showing propaganda and progress reports. Regarding social life they reported dancing classes, gala nights, cricket matches, chess games, the Literary and Social Union and school dates for the 22 pupils. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe9oQDkX2rxpquRDA4bI05JSDSMZDZ0qxmZnp73JVmbqYuC67l0uk07H_3hCewgNWaBeC0rnXPCmCYpfbDnLSURW8fgxPSyJq9u5LKaS6E9aseZfAop6-kz7klJQRCz2Ss7Xf1osVbTKbI4OAQdX3YMp_DSACxE6HBfRusvQo4iPO_-0UwJ-3FTGM1wdMSjEGoj_T/s960/CosmeCricket.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="960" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe9oQDkX2rxpquRDA4bI05JSDSMZDZ0qxmZnp73JVmbqYuC67l0uk07H_3hCewgNWaBeC0rnXPCmCYpfbDnLSURW8fgxPSyJq9u5LKaS6E9aseZfAop6-kz7klJQRCz2Ss7Xf1osVbTKbI4OAQdX3YMp_DSACxE6HBfRusvQo4iPO_-0UwJ-3FTGM1wdMSjEGoj_T/s320/CosmeCricket.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cricket match, Cosme</span></div><div><br />The settlement’s dire situation could be seen in the final issue (June 1904) of Cosme Monthly headed: Consider Before Coming: Intending migrants to Cosme should carefully consider the following</div><div><i><u>Health</u>: The work here is entirely manual, the summer climate is trying and the food is very limited. <br /><u>Temperament</u>: Disappointments in the industries are common in Cosme; after 10 years, still in debt. Our population decreased since last May </i><br /><br />One of Australia’s most famous writers, <b>Mary Gilmore</b>, was a colonist who edited the newspaper, taught Cosme’s children and married a settler. Gilmore, who’d always believed in socialist ideals, wrote about her time in Paraguay saying “It wasn't a success, however it was a great experience. Under Lane’s dictatorship it would never work!”</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9XdP-ZXEQx7XAEZHd1z5eydFMzqV5ZTtzkmHckoI4GhjpBEwipy3anbRYR4HCenNMgC-NpoRev8Q6q2bTT3XSwRMCDjOa2Xc9kmfwxBJh_rGJkRliYDNGm2Ho_t8awWgZ8X4zbn4lcQ7Knha9F37XIef9ZI7eVrLpayjhsCkc1UtIU_sDsV1pfXIrOlSDSRNhpdE/s400/CosmeFarmWorkers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="400" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9XdP-ZXEQx7XAEZHd1z5eydFMzqV5ZTtzkmHckoI4GhjpBEwipy3anbRYR4HCenNMgC-NpoRev8Q6q2bTT3XSwRMCDjOa2Xc9kmfwxBJh_rGJkRliYDNGm2Ho_t8awWgZ8X4zbn4lcQ7Knha9F37XIef9ZI7eVrLpayjhsCkc1UtIU_sDsV1pfXIrOlSDSRNhpdE/s320/CosmeFarmWorkers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Australian farm workers in Cosme</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Courier Mail</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Cosme’s sense of lost ideological and financial investment must have been heartbreaking. Within a few years most of the families started to move elsewhere in Paraguay, sailing to UK or returning home. Eventually the settlements were dissolved as a cooperative by the Paraguay government, and settlers who stayed were given their own private land. Lane resigned as Chairman in June 1899 and left. But even now, there are descendants of the original New Australians in Paraguay, with names like Jones or with red hair. <br /><br />5 years after leaving Australia, Lane ditched his socialist utopia and moved to <b>N.Z</b> where he returned to journalism for a right-wing newspaper!! From N.Z, Lane was invited by the <b>Australian Workers’ Union</b> to become editor of the Sydney Worker. He was back with the Australian Labour movement but he only for 3 months because his views were no longer compatible with Labour values. He’d advocated a strong imperialistic line during the Boer War!! When <b>WW1</b> started in 1914, this became a platform for rabid British patriotism and anti-German views. Lane was reluctant to talk about Paraguay but died in Aug 1917 anyhow. <br /><br />The New Australia & Cosme Collection in NSW’s Powerhouse Museum analyses the socio–politics of late C19th Australian colonial society, history of our labour movement, migration of culture between nations, and Paraguay’s New Australia utopian settlement. See the <a href="http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/1893-the-new-australia-colony-collection/">Migration Heritage Centre</a> with its Cosme Monthly, a great source of contemporary settlement information. <br /><br /><u><b>Summary <br /></b></u>Paraguay was trying to rejuvenate its economy by offering immigrants free land, tax exemptions and farming assistance. Paraguay made a deal with Lane’s New Australia Co-operative Association - that he’d receive c230,000 hectares of land in exchange for 1,200 migrants. Nueva Australia started off well (1893) and within the first few years, the colony had prominent residents. But by 1902 the utopian dream had failed, due to William Lane’s autocracy and due to the tough South American jungle. Some of the original settlers moved to an Australian community c70 ks away and others moved away totally. <br /><br />There aren’t many descendants of the original Australians left in Nueva Australia/now Nueva Londres, but there is still an Australian flag on the welcome sign. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-23229652646715883742024-02-13T18:00:00.016+11:002024-02-17T22:27:03.657+11:00Quokkas - Australia's lovable marsupial<b><a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/may/marsupials-might-be-the-more-evolved-mammals.html#:~:text=try%20again%20later.-,',via%20Antarctica%20using%20land%20connections">Scientists</a></b> believe that marsupials evolved in Nth America, spread to Sth America and thence to Australia, formerly connected continents. Most marsupials died out in the Americas, beaten by placental mammals, but they thrived in Australia. By the time Sth America, Australia and Antarctica separated millions of years ago, Australian mammals had evolved.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9vsez1rmFsDcwUAr1h2NRuvuJFeruALjY_bpoY-I8LvFtunYjMVpGSNV5mQKljS7qu-SMKD43oLpcwKqW_cYaTHQng1FHh72H7SF_srjUQXUS3T6bilbvY9Js5jSSj3qqqS9h9CWHvNadPkvXg4_IB6ARvmhoufw2u81uUwT7vjT1CMYllrz_62AmOKgiLhk3pYY/s683/QuokkaFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9vsez1rmFsDcwUAr1h2NRuvuJFeruALjY_bpoY-I8LvFtunYjMVpGSNV5mQKljS7qu-SMKD43oLpcwKqW_cYaTHQng1FHh72H7SF_srjUQXUS3T6bilbvY9Js5jSSj3qqqS9h9CWHvNadPkvXg4_IB6ARvmhoufw2u81uUwT7vjT1CMYllrz_62AmOKgiLhk3pYY/w369-h400/QuokkaFamily.jpg" width="369" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div>A quokka family on Rottnest Island,</div><div>Wiki</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div>Australian quokkas were first discovered by <b>Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh</b> in 1696. One of the first Europeans to reach these shores, he met the strange animal near the Swan River, and across mainland SW Australia in swampy shrublands. These quokkas were still abundant when Europeans colonised the region in the early 1800s, but a century later their numbers had fallen. They were hunted and lost in large strips of mining, farming and bushfires. The main enemy was the red fox, deliberately introduced in the 1930s for hunting. Alas quokka numbers on mainland fell to c2,000, mostly living in small and isolated populations in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany. <br /><br />de Vlamingh had named the island near the Swan River: Rat’s Nest. This is where most quokkas are now, on <b>Rottnest Island west of Perth</b>. Quokkas survived there via a fluke: In the late 1830s, the Australian government designated the island as an Aboriginal penal colony. The prison kept both mainland Europeans AND red foxes isolated for so long that when quokkas did move in, the natural environment was carefully protected. Today Rottnest has c10,000 quokkas. <br /><br />The other quokka home in W.A is <b>Bald Island, near Albany</b>. Success on Bald Island was from quokkas finding plentiful food sources but few predators.<br /> <br /> There are <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/may/marsupials-might-be-the-more-evolved-mammals.html#:~:text=try%20again%20later.-,',via%20Antarctica%20using%20land%20connections">334 surviving marsupial species today, 200+ of them native to Australia</a>. Our quokkas are special; they are covered with short, coarse brown-grey fur over most of the body, have short round furry ears, small black, naked noses and a short, muscular tail. They are the smallest wallaby species, and like kangaroos, they hop, rounded and hunched.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjga_9dr75v5s8ivEMQINxu9ZenPBMUq-3inzUhrPwPfHgX8ld7gNfR5JwzYxbrgJ4EH5GhE3wta2xInYnfddMH8-y2gFCvGRGSje1Ogn1ewflVCOow322LBucm_X_4f6Zd50YKGozppqNYBh8fzUu2yT3Z9OnbmK63uwDGL6rjj6zn4KM89SypzNFElzaCd_z2oE8a/s730/QuokkaBabyPouch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="730" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjga_9dr75v5s8ivEMQINxu9ZenPBMUq-3inzUhrPwPfHgX8ld7gNfR5JwzYxbrgJ4EH5GhE3wta2xInYnfddMH8-y2gFCvGRGSje1Ogn1ewflVCOow322LBucm_X_4f6Zd50YKGozppqNYBh8fzUu2yT3Z9OnbmK63uwDGL6rjj6zn4KM89SypzNFElzaCd_z2oE8a/s320/QuokkaBabyPouch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mother carrying joey in her pouch, San Diego Zoo</span></div><div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div>Unlike the vast majority of the world's placental mammals, marsupial females give birth to tiny embryos that complete development outside their mothers' bodies in a marsupium/pouch. Female quokkas give birth to a single joey a month after mating, the joey remaining in the pouch for c6 months. It continues to feed at its mother's teats for another 2 months but once weaned, the joey ventures off alone.</div><div><br />Quokkas are nocturnal. They fanned out in small family groups across their scrubby habitat searching for food. At midnight, the animals stopped foraging but continue eating, chewing one leaf at a time until sunrise. These creatures love to climb small trees in search of the next meal, browsing herbivores who favoured grasses, leaves, stems and bark. On Rottnest Is, their diet is primarily succulents or wattle leaves. They can go for long periods without food or water, as they store fat in their tails for emergencies. They spend their day sleeping in groups, resting behind the protection of plants’ spikes and escaping predators.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5bFNfuKHPK9ORA_3tAbVvV4btRz5nrfG_UYt9SHOZCgX6AksHmbR9OOkan8xsuKPBEISg7wDcnD0cyigoGgjBmRvvomPW7rFJuSM-Rg08QSyIrQyqX6YHtl9SxfYfpdU_FpXQimBQhIQzh19TlaL30IT19961PutlTsoObV4P5Nmt7y1qJnZ3ykiinnWgst8SbPw/s1480/QuokkaInTree.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1480" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5bFNfuKHPK9ORA_3tAbVvV4btRz5nrfG_UYt9SHOZCgX6AksHmbR9OOkan8xsuKPBEISg7wDcnD0cyigoGgjBmRvvomPW7rFJuSM-Rg08QSyIrQyqX6YHtl9SxfYfpdU_FpXQimBQhIQzh19TlaL30IT19961PutlTsoObV4P5Nmt7y1qJnZ3ykiinnWgst8SbPw/w400-h256/QuokkaInTree.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Quokka climbs a tree to eat leaves. </span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">San Diego Zoo</span></div><div><br />Quokkas were recently added to the International Union for Conservation Threated Species List, given their population decline due to habitat loss. Other serious threats were foxes, dogs and mainland cats, further damaging the creatures vulnerable from Dingos c4,000 years ago and European Red Foxes in 1930s. Today there are recovery signs on the mainland due to Dept of Parks & Wildlife’s feral-proofing tasks. Action was taken to reduce Red Fox numbers, thus contributing to some quokka protection. <br /><br />Human impact also effected quokka numbers. Clearing for agricultural development, spread of housing and logging have contributed to reduced numbers, as well as camping, and controlled burns before the bushfire season. <br /><br />A quokka weighs 2.5-5 ks and is 40-54 cs in length, one of the smallest wallabies. Mainland populations cluster around dense streamside vegetation but also be found in shrubland and heath areas, around swamps. Quokkas prefer a warm climate but are adapted to changes on Rottnest Island. <br /><br />Quokkas, on average, can live for 10-15 years. They are able to breed from c18 months of age. On the mainland, female Quokkas can produce c18 babies in a lifetime, with 2 joeys born each year. But on Rottnest Is, with a shorter breeding season, Quokkas only give birth once a year. <br /><br />Wild Quokkas live in areas defended by dominant males. In other areas, territories were less evident and larger, overlapping groups of 25–150 adults formed around water, sharing a c40-acre territory. The older males fight to dominate both females and younger males; a male's position in the hierarchy determining his access to food, shade and females <br /><br /> Quokkas are not afraid of humans; they have broken into Rottnest homes to steal food. The animals can be approached so closely that they regularly nip children’s fingertips. NB travellers should not actually touch any quokkas, or they could be fined by local authorities. <br /><br />On the other side of the continent, visit <b>Featherdale Wildlife Park in Western Sydney</b>. And thank you to the <b><a href="https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/quokka/">Australian Museum in Sydney</a></b>. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-17553242453833611142024-02-10T06:00:00.061+11:002024-02-11T16:14:03.201+11:00Hilda Rix Nicholas: France, WW1, Aus art<b>Hilda Rix</b> (1884-1961) was born in rural Victoria. Her mother was artistic so Hilda was allowed to study at the National Gallery School Melbourne from 1902-5 under <b>Frederick McCubbin</b>, Australia’s greatest artist then. In 1907 she left Australia for Europe with her mother and sister, studying at the <u>New Art School in London</u>, followed by studies at three of the best known art académies in Paris. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hilda Rix Nicholas</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">La Robe chinoise c1913, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">oil, 141 x 83 cm, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Art Gallery of WA</span><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div>Every summer between 1910-1914 Rix established herself at the artist’s colony in Etaples in northern France, enjoying painting the local people in their traditional dress. The work entitled <strong>Dear Old Fairy Godmother</strong> was drawn there.<br /><br />In 1912 and 1914, Rix visited Spain and Morocco, with long periods in <b>Tangier</b>. There the colour and light, very different from that in Northern France, reminded her of the Australian light. She championed the culture of cosmopolitan Morocco, carefully recording in a discreet way the public life of the market place, especially the role of women in it. Staying at Tangier's famous Hotel Villa de France at the same time as <b>Henri Matisse</b>, she depicted some of his sites and models.<br /><br />Rix's drawings and paintings of both Picardy and Morocco added to her fame. A large painting was shown at the <strong>Salon des Artistes Francais</strong> 1911 and many works were included in exhibitions conducted by <strong>Societe des Peintres Orientalistes</strong>, Paris. In 1912 the French government bought her work <strong>Grand Marche Tangier</strong>, for the Luxembourg Gallery. Serious articles about Rix appeared in <u>The Studio</u> published in London, and <u>Notre Gazette</u> published in Paris.</div><div>
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<strong>La Robe chinoise</strong> c1913 depicted Hilda Rix’s sister, Elsie, in fancy dress. The blue and red costume of oriental design looked very lush, and by placing it in an ornamental frame, Rix was making her sister look exotic. Elsie and Hilda sent heaps of correspondence to friends and family - letters that have recently been published.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6Y8GlRWlWAbcpznHrwf8rFITNL0oLXEfMPCaMfW5IpF4a11lGR0SSw2exL4S0Wn9m_jlX4fvbLDA4d3OlsKwAW6ICQ0wGCc2mgu9QG3TR_V6nTAsGpxbNFfRhkUtGYeaSit3nxtbw2evLXU/s1600/RixCamouflage1914.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6Y8GlRWlWAbcpznHrwf8rFITNL0oLXEfMPCaMfW5IpF4a11lGR0SSw2exL4S0Wn9m_jlX4fvbLDA4d3OlsKwAW6ICQ0wGCc2mgu9QG3TR_V6nTAsGpxbNFfRhkUtGYeaSit3nxtbw2evLXU/s400/RixCamouflage1914.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hilda Rix Nicholas</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Camouflage, 1914</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">crayons and charcoal on paper, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">37 x 27 cm</span><br />
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Rix wrote to her sister talking of women doing brutal physical labour in Public Space i.e in Moroccan streets and markets. She said "I proceeded to work while a merry interested crowd grew behind me, I put into my foreground one of the many women who, like any of the other beasts of burden, had tramped fifteen miles bearing a heavy load on her back. She wore scant attire made of a series of towels, her face bound and veiled. Her legs were encased in primitive leather gaiters".<br />
<br />When WW1 started in 1914, Rix happily lived and worked in Paris. Then Rix, her mother and sister were all forced to evacuate to the safety of London. Several months later her sister died of typhoid. Her mother died in early 1916.<br />
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Later in 1916 in London Hilda Rix met and married an Australian, <b>Major George Nicholas</b>. <strong><a href="http://stratfordhs.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/nicholas-family-at-war.html">Stratford Historical Society and Museum</a></strong> in Gippsland has a fantastic photo of the young couple in their wedding week, leaving Buckingham Palace. After a short honeymoon, Major Nicholas returned to the French Front where he was killed in action at Flers. It was a time of irrepairable tragedy.<br />
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Rix Nicholas maintained her husband's name throughout the remainder of her career, although she later remarried. She was devastated by the death of her sister and husband in 1916; she painted that devastation into the work <strong>Desolation</strong>. Catherine Speck wrote movingly about women artists and their visual responses to terrible wartime events . <br />
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<strong>A mother of France</strong> c1914 was purchased later by the <b>Australian War Memorial Canberra</b>. It was a portrait of her elderly neighbour in Étaples, whose son had been killed in an early WW1 battle. Nicholas painted the poor woman as silenced by her private grief. The Australian War Memorial noted that by identifying the woman only “as a mother of France”, Rix Nicholas presented her as a symbol of the suffering of <i>all </i>grieving mothers. This image countered the nonsense that mothers should take pride in their sons' sacrifice for their country.<br />
<br />At war's end Rix left England for Australia. Going first to Sydney, her art was widely shown there. Young artist <a href="http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/05/grace-cossington-smith-her-early-career.html"><b>Grace Cossington Smith</b></a> told people that Rix’s work was stunning. During the next 6 years Rix Nicholas continued to establish herself as one of Australia's finest painters, but not without raising some strife within the conservative and male dominated art establishment.<br />
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More used to Europe’s liberalism, Rix began to explore Australia's great outback landscapes eg <strong>The Shearers</strong> 1922. This was gutsy since landscape was the domain of male artists in this country. Women artists were expected to specialise in portraiture and still life. But she had fallen in love with her own country again and it was the start of her grand romance with the Australian bush and landscape.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hilda Rix Nicholas</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Shearers 1922, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">oil, 79 x 98 cm</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">sold at auction in 2005</span><br />
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In 1928 she married an Australian soldier, <b>Edgar Wright</b>. But unlike Major Nicholas, Wright had survived the war and offered a peaceful life as a grazier’s wife. Amazingly when she was over 40, they had a beloved son (Rix).<br />
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While artist <b>Margaret Preston</b> was supported by the art establishment; fortunate to have her work reproduced in Art in Australia, Nicholas thought her own work was being undermined. This was because: 1] her best-known work, <strong>A Man</strong> 1921, had been refused by the Australian War Memorial and 2] her entry for a War Memorial Mural in Melbourne's Public Library failed. But knowing how popular she had been, her fear of a gender-based rejection was telling.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tZ-66ypPasmBYHwgUsEqd6e2sSlHMCN6_te1ty8BCWYaN6lfWv-J0TLNKOLyScF7nkEawSRkAV6AQCfT8RpW0Cm6Ft4K-PArtjBWmgE0P5jVOaKfx4E77lGlM0GlFupT8trmwBHzwzO5T0VZz3g1f8pNpJ6QH2EDCf5iatllYnmv9OrdlrJU3v1AtIl_vijAhs6M/s1200/NicholasUneAustralienne1926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="972" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tZ-66ypPasmBYHwgUsEqd6e2sSlHMCN6_te1ty8BCWYaN6lfWv-J0TLNKOLyScF7nkEawSRkAV6AQCfT8RpW0Cm6Ft4K-PArtjBWmgE0P5jVOaKfx4E77lGlM0GlFupT8trmwBHzwzO5T0VZz3g1f8pNpJ6QH2EDCf5iatllYnmv9OrdlrJU3v1AtIl_vijAhs6M/s320/NicholasUneAustralienne1926.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Une Australienne, Portrait of Dorothy Richmond, 1926<br />oil, 103 x 81 cm.<br />National Gallery Australia</span><div><br />
In 1924, Hilda was invited to exhibit her Australian art in both France and England, so she rather happily returned to Paris. The French government purchased one of her most important paintings, <strong>In Australia</strong>, and she exhibited at London's prestigious, Royal Academy. And in 1926, even more recognition arrived - she was elected an associate of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts and died in 1961.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtVUWhAG3GGIMb9q7qfWVpM1UI1A_RE6_VvIMk4lbpyXdc20NB_Rn8RhbvuZGmX3vM22ECKAKgIhuBIhoAnay2dpwrz1D1z7nXXg4v3G_smbNZwqkNEF5KcLueShCO8TKqXb667wjl7bOfC1I/s1600/RixSummerHouse1931.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtVUWhAG3GGIMb9q7qfWVpM1UI1A_RE6_VvIMk4lbpyXdc20NB_Rn8RhbvuZGmX3vM22ECKAKgIhuBIhoAnay2dpwrz1D1z7nXXg4v3G_smbNZwqkNEF5KcLueShCO8TKqXb667wjl7bOfC1I/s400/RixSummerHouse1931.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hilda Rix Nicholas</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Summer house, 1931, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">81 x 100cm, oil, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Newcastle Region Art Gallery</span> <br />
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See John Pigot's book <b>Hilda Rix Nicholas: Her Life and Her Art</b>, (Miegunyah 2000); Jeanette Hoorn's book <b>Moroccan Idyll: Art and Orientalism</b> (Miegunyah 2012) and Catherine Speck's article "Women Artists and the Representation of WW1" in <b>The Journal of Australian Studies,</b> March 1999.<br />
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</div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-7719444350578593882024-02-06T18:00:00.040+11:002024-02-06T19:08:59.509+11:00Melbourne’s literary culture may fade: Hill of Content closing<b>Albert Bert Spencer</b> (1886-) was born in Balmain <b>Sydney</b>, younger son of <b>Henrik Henry Spencer</b>, a Danish labourer and his wife <b>Alice</b>. The father died when Bert was a toddler, meaning the 3 siblings were raised by a struggling mother. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SMiLM7U90EquZvhBiD5t9b4-fmvEzSCJrdMuRaziIEIIgn_lyxbysxiLyjqYjvMjAfQ1vEFYKAs45IngPtBLgxRJSc8t89U1lJPiKMWhQL9Fkx_l20yUylrCoeAKPCTKc6BWuRLTT0aXhXgSHs6J2Yw7NClVXArMtJYobTQoiQ-XjcBe8IcvGyh8req2TVsObDue/s629/HillOfContent.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="558" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SMiLM7U90EquZvhBiD5t9b4-fmvEzSCJrdMuRaziIEIIgn_lyxbysxiLyjqYjvMjAfQ1vEFYKAs45IngPtBLgxRJSc8t89U1lJPiKMWhQL9Fkx_l20yUylrCoeAKPCTKc6BWuRLTT0aXhXgSHs6J2Yw7NClVXArMtJYobTQoiQ-XjcBe8IcvGyh8req2TVsObDue/w355-h400/HillOfContent.jpg" width="355" /></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hill of Content bookshop, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bourke St Melbourne</span></div><div><br />Spencer’s mother was the inspiration for all his endeavours, introducing him to the wonders of reading, and she borrowed books from neighbours since there was no money to buy them. He went to Waverley Public School where he began his life-long love of poetry, with support from a sympathetic teacher. At 14 he was forced to leave school to work in a boot factory, cutting out boot uppers. Luckily he left after 8 months to become a messenger-boy with the book sellers and publishers, <b>Angus & Robertson</b>.</div><div><br />Spencer fell in love with a girl he planned to marry. They courted for several years but she died in her early 20s. In Jan 1909 Spencer married pianist <b>Eileen Rebecca O'Connor</b> at <b>Woollahra Presbyterian Church</b>. <br /><br />For 22 years (1900-22) at Angus and Robertson's, Spencer learned the trade from its Australian masters, <b>George Robertson </b>and his employee Fred Wymark. He regularly delivered books to home of <b>David S Mitchell</b>, whose amazing collection formed the <b>Mitchell Library. </b><br /><br />Spencer became head of Angus and Robertson's Second-Hand Department, and the confidant of Sydney collectors like <b>Sir William Dixson</b> and <b>Sir John Ferguson</b>, Robertson's son-in-law and compiler of the 7-volume <b>Bibliography of Australia. </b><br /><br />Not wanting to open in opposition to his long-time employer, Spencer decided to open instead in Melbourne. <a href="http://www3.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-79/t1-g-t3.html">He borrowed £1000 from collector <b>H.L White</b></a>, uncle of noted author <b>Patrick White</b>. The money was lent without surety, but Spencer was able to pay it back with interest in 3 years. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Melbourne was going through recession then, and gangsters were known to haunt the city’s narrow laneways. Spencer was told it was risky to open a bookshop in seedy areas, so he sought a positive name for his new shop. The name came to him during a walk in the <b>Fitzroy Gardens</b> when he was given a name for the new shop; the elm-trees and plane-trees said call it <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2012/10/24/25329/hill-of-content-a-brief-history/">Hill of Content</a> (1922). </div><div><br />Spencer also had the support of Melbourne collector, <b>F Hobill Cole</b> and of George Robertson himself. Cole found him a shop at the top end of <b>Bourke St</b>, while a Robertson man designed and measured the shelvings. And so in 1922 founder Bert Spencer opened the Hill of Content. The shop was small (33’ x 19’) and the family lived behind the premises. At this time the <b>Australian Parliament</b> sat at the Victorian Parliament Building one block away in Spring St; meanwhile the <b>State Parliament</b> sat in Royal Exhibition Buildings, so prominent politicians frequented the shop as well.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_DxJ2pMl3RNrYsMSZ8Cq0Dw0K6IKLpoc-mHzRNo0Xt5y0V9yevNbRoIlNsYHnQ3MrNiaJX0pe2oYs1I7GyjZe6EKpADrc6RLUAdnv0YJMBKYsqgmN-zsB1jBZ68NlCKcJQt16q7ADgpV-X4mYtw0yk0iZa9T7XPiN6a8Ws_2LJPBoD6738nUzXknUy8xlrM6AZzk/s1360/HillOfContentBooks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1360" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_DxJ2pMl3RNrYsMSZ8Cq0Dw0K6IKLpoc-mHzRNo0Xt5y0V9yevNbRoIlNsYHnQ3MrNiaJX0pe2oYs1I7GyjZe6EKpADrc6RLUAdnv0YJMBKYsqgmN-zsB1jBZ68NlCKcJQt16q7ADgpV-X4mYtw0yk0iZa9T7XPiN6a8Ws_2LJPBoD6738nUzXknUy8xlrM6AZzk/w400-h225/HillOfContentBooks.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Every section of the bookshop is appealing to visitors</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately Spencer handled the dispersal of the private libraries. The spectacular <b>Robert Sticht collection</b> arrived the year Spencer opened in Melbourne and helped ensure the shop’s success. Then two other two libraries, F Hobill Cole and H.L White, were added. Spencer also maintained contact with his old Sydney collector-friend Sir William Dixson, and attracted the custom of Melbourne's notables. <br /><br />In 1927, with the lease expiring, Spencer asked the owners to demolish the old building and erect a new 3-storey one. Very quickly, the new shop emerged as a major outlet for second-hand and fine new books. Its customers included stars eg <a href="http://www3.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-79/t1-g-t3.html "><b>Dame Nellie Melba, Lionel Lindsay, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton</b>, Governors, medicos and lawyers</a>. The shop expanded to cover 2 floors of the building built by Spencer in 1928, with its staff eyeing off the third floor, currently occupied by Collins Booksellers head office! Thus this book shop became its founder's enduring legacy to Melbourne. <br /><br />Spencer hoped his son would join the business but, after surviving 5 years of RAAF service, <b>Greg Spencer</b> was discharged and died in a car crash. This was tragic for Spencer and although he ran the business for c4 more years, he was grieving; in 1951 he sold Hill of Content to Angus & Robertson. <br /><br />After he busied himself for months supervising the transfer of Dixson's collection to the <b>NSW State Library</b>. Spencer later issued catalogues and sold books privately from his Sandringham home and wrote his memoirs. His book was published as <b>Hill of Content: Books, Art, Music, People</b> by Angus and Robertson in 1959. It highlighted the Sydney and Melbourne literary worlds from the turn of the century to WW2’s end. Both chatty and nostalgic, his book revealed the pleasures and prejudices of their generation. Spencer also wrote good portraits of others eg David S Mitchell, George Robertson and especially <b>Henry Lawson</b>. <br /><br />He was supported by help from friends and neighbours, but his last years were saddened by the deaths of his wife 1964 and daughter. He died in 1971. <br /><br />Remember his shop had been purchased by Collins Booksellers and managed the company store from 1952. The owners of the Collins franchises in Sale and Bairnsdale organised franchisees to create a new company to buy the business and franchise rights. The <b>Watts and Johnston families</b> bought the Hill of Content, which now operates as an independent store under the Collins umbrella. Its manager have complete autonomy to buy, market and sell the books that best reflect the tastes of the shops’ dedicated clients. Hill of Content has enjoyed a period of steady growth over the last 20 years, more than doubling the turnover. <br /><br />Readings’ staff encourage book-based conversation, making recommendations based on what a reader was seeking. The staff knew the stock and showed more interest via in-shop author events. Independent booksellers survived because of customer loyalty, but they knew their customer base and ordered strategically. <br /><br />Shoppers loved the bookmark with the AH Spencer quote on one side and the <a href="https://markmyplace.weebly.com/blog/hill-of-content-bookshop">signatures of famous visitors</a> on the other: <b>Sidney Nolan, Louis Armstrong, Fred Williams, Patrick White, Barry Humphries, E Annie Proulx, Robin Boyd</b> etc.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJCj2w34Kt2Cd6IOLIKGM0hqY9O7h8SewQC1u3Pxo_OaqfwSqHixfk6dyTAZ220SH-pPFWSIi8NpC_67GOI9840wGIoQB7pzsXOPJ4fKrrBff4qrS2V7KWjHkDZAZpeaS4sLX2MG_67HF8BTGpwTfOKOwbmBkL9E-ED4GnOeYycKVTVEuDZH0EE62Ko61ExYOxbuq/s2048/HillOfContentAuthorsSpeakSign.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1537" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJCj2w34Kt2Cd6IOLIKGM0hqY9O7h8SewQC1u3Pxo_OaqfwSqHixfk6dyTAZ220SH-pPFWSIi8NpC_67GOI9840wGIoQB7pzsXOPJ4fKrrBff4qrS2V7KWjHkDZAZpeaS4sLX2MG_67HF8BTGpwTfOKOwbmBkL9E-ED4GnOeYycKVTVEuDZH0EE62Ko61ExYOxbuq/w300-h400/HillOfContentAuthorsSpeakSign.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Wendy Harmer spoke to her new memoir</div><div style="text-align: center;">"Lies My Mirror Told Me"</div><div style="text-align: center;">and she autographed her books.</div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>It was held by the same family for 73 years and now is the right time to sell. After over a century, the Hill of Content will likely be used for other retail or hospitality opportunities. It will be auctioned on 7th March, fetching ?$6 million but now Melbourne’s literary culture may fade. Melbourne, an international city of literature, has long been a city with many bookshops. On-line book sales are cheap and convenient, but a reader loses much of what a real bookshop used to offer. On-line depots are NOT cultural centres.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-24189999047203149952024-02-03T06:00:00.068+11:002024-02-04T17:40:57.307+11:00fine Hungarian-Australian goldrush silver artist: Ernest Leviny <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDzS8uEDlBTuuiRFEe7H_VgbyejPo5aTAxOjy_KG8-jCd5vHpKq9_UFFV0QNhrVWlloEDR5twaRC1wrmcT4Al7McX8x0g6-vPs4R1wh5euexwwafNCgrOgFu51UoOB57Uu9Xn3mmVoY-Kf7A/s1600/LevinyGarden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="449" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDzS8uEDlBTuuiRFEe7H_VgbyejPo5aTAxOjy_KG8-jCd5vHpKq9_UFFV0QNhrVWlloEDR5twaRC1wrmcT4Al7McX8x0g6-vPs4R1wh5euexwwafNCgrOgFu51UoOB57Uu9Xn3mmVoY-Kf7A/s400/LevinyGarden.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Leviny house Buda, </span><span style="font-size: small;">in </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Castlemaine</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">bought and renovated in 1863</span><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><b>Ernest Leviny</b> (1818-1905) was a Hungarian and a citizen of the <b>Austro Hungarian Empire</b>. He moved from a small town to Budapest, to train as a <b>silversmith and jeweller</b>. In 1843 he lived in <b>Paris</b> developing his craft before moving to <b>London</b> where he set up a manufacturing jewellers and goldsmiths company with a Russian jeweller. Although he lived in England while the Hungarian war for independence from Austria raged in 1848-49, his heart was with his compatriot revolutionaries. After the collapse of the revolutionary war and capitulation, Hungarian exiles began to arrive in London. Leviny, already an established and well-to-do businessman there, befriended them.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">By 1852 reports of the alluvial gold being located in <b>Victoria </b>and <b>NSW</b> were circulating in London, and though his business in London was successful, Ernest quickly focused on the Australian goldfields. When Leviny sailed to Australia, he brought with him machinery for gold digging, as well as four hired labourers. He arrived in Melbourne and travelled directly to the <b>Castlemaine goldfields</b> to try his luck, but was not a happy miner. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Buda's light filled front gallery </span></div>
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He intended to stay in the Australian colonies only for a short term (3 years). But the original idea of making quick money and returning to London disappeared. And like <a href="http://www.jbhawkinsantiques.com/uploads/articles/AustralianGoldsmithsWork.pdf">other European gold smiths</a> who had originally sailed to dig in the gold fields and to return home, Leviny soon reverted to using his art skills on decorative objects. By 1854 he had established a jewellery and watch making business in Market Square Castlemaine and commenced investing in property and mining. Success followed when Leviny was joined by another Hungarian goldsmith and when he married his first wife <b>Mary Issacs</b> (1830-1860) in 1858. Tragically his wife and first baby were both dead within one year.<br />
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Apparently this very talented goldsmith completed many outstanding pieces of artistic gold and silver work and won many honours in colonial exhibitions, as well as at the <b>London International Exhibition of 1862</b>. But today his reputation rests a few major works e.g <u>Inkwell</u> (c1855) exhibited the 1862 London International Exhibition and <u>Silver Standing Cup Centrepiece</u> (c1859), now in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.<br />
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Leviny showed a piece at <b>The Exhibition of the Victoria Industrial Society</b> which was written up in the Argus Newspaper, 27th Feb1858. The jewellery section, they said, was remarkable for the elegant gold work inkstand contributed by Mr. Ernest Leviny, of Castlemaine, the weight of which is 62 oz., and the value £700.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">standing cup and cover, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">1859</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">silver, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">48cm high</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">National Gallery of Victoria</span><br />
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This standing cup and cover 1859 was one of Leviny's masterpieces. The cup presented an elaborate allegory of the prospering colony of Victoria. The personification of Victoria presided over an Australian landscape with gum-trees, kangaroos, emus, figures representing commerce, agriculture, mining and Victoria's Aboriginal inhabitants.</div><div>
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Have you ever heard of silver mounted emu eggs? It was unclear as to who among early Australian goldsmiths first designed and made them, but clearly the eggs were made from the mid 1850s. In fact they only became unfashionable when the fragile, green colour faded to brown with time.<br />
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When the <b>Catalogue of the Victorian Exhibition 1861 </b>mentioned Leviny’s silver ornaments and mounted emu eggs, they were called <i>novelties</i> in Australian silver. His cups and inkstands were usually supported on small silver tree ferns rising from octofoil bases embossed with emus, kangaroos and rocks or purely with floral decoration. His 1860 emu egg had an aboriginal on the cover, holding a spear.<br />
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In 1863, Ernest Leviny bought the one-acre property <b><a href="http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/castlemaine-1850s-and-1860s-glory.html">Delhi Villa</a></b> in Hunter St Castlemaine – this elegant home was renamed <b>Buda</b> after his second home, Budapest (see photo). Within a year, in 1864, the VERY middle aged Ernest Leviny married the 20 year-old <b>Bertha Hudson</b> (1844-1923), and together they had ten children.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">silver mounted emu egg goblet</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">presented at the Victorian Exhibition, 1861</span> </div>
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Buda historic house and garden has a rich legacy of the creative spirit of the Leviny Family, where several generations lived for over 118 years. It has a wide courtyard reminiscent of old Hungarian country houses and has the typically green Hungarian shutters on its windows. This mansion is now heritage-listed, under the care of the <b><a href="https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/274">National Trust of Australia</a>.</b><br />
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The two sons who survived into adulthood both married and had families of their own. But of the six daughters, only one daughter married and that was Ilma. The other five daughters were encouraged in all the decorative arts, many of which can still be seen at Buda. Once Ernest died in 1905, Bertha and all the girls redecorated the house in the more modern <b>Arts and Crafts style</b>. Dorothy designed and painted friezes in the bedrooms, Federation style doorknobs and fingerplates appeared and embroideries filled the cushion covers and wall hangings. By 1910, the house looked more soft and less Victorian than it had under Ernest’s control.<br />
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Daughters Gertrude & Bertha were graduates of <b>Castlemaine School of Mines</b>. Daughters Dorothy, Kate and Hilda each exhibited a number of items in the <b>First Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work</b> in Melbourne, in 1907. And the poster for this exhibition was designed by Dorothy.<br />
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It was Hilda Leviny who retained Buda as a house and garden museum, until she sold the property to the <b>Castlemaine Art Gallery</b> in 1970. Two of her sisters, Mary and Kate, were also involved in the arts world through their involvement in establishing the Castlemaine Art Gallery in 1913, and assisting with the development of the gallery’s fine collection of prints in the late 1920s.<br />
<br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvvfuCfbsoNe3SVeRi69i3ZoVnrjxRZBt_jnc_zrFicOLdjJNbCf9Ziz3T939C2JB6yGUqO84WgImsQ9HtyDKN3839Rx2VHURLa3vI22Cyuor0_alflDRuOadTr1Y6xtOq1-JbKiBjiNP77i_tUDa8M_FtjdpWtiXPWSgj6vc7SjciJeE02dd4GoJKy9zU4IOL5DK/s241/LevinyNGV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="209" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvvfuCfbsoNe3SVeRi69i3ZoVnrjxRZBt_jnc_zrFicOLdjJNbCf9Ziz3T939C2JB6yGUqO84WgImsQ9HtyDKN3839Rx2VHURLa3vI22Cyuor0_alflDRuOadTr1Y6xtOq1-JbKiBjiNP77i_tUDa8M_FtjdpWtiXPWSgj6vc7SjciJeE02dd4GoJKy9zU4IOL5DK/w347-h400/LevinyNGV.jpg" width="347" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Standing cup and cover, 16 cm high, <br />National Gallery Victoria, 1859</span><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Read <b>Buda and the Leviny Family</b>, by Lauretta Zilles, published 2011.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div>
<br /></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-626110511969808042024-01-30T18:00:00.018+11:002024-01-30T18:08:09.685+11:00Kashmira Bulsara honours bro Freddie Mercury<div><b>Art Deco</b> fans will enjoy <b>Sarah Hue-Williams</b>’ book <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Kind-Magic-Deco-Vanity-Cases/dp/1910787817 ">A Kind of Magic: Art Deco Vanity Cases</a></b> (2017). It was written in collaboration with <b>Peter Edwards</b>, a London dealer in C20th Art Deco jewellery. A Kind of Magic brought together the personalities, designers and workshops who created the art objects. The book included photographs of 48 Jazz Age vanity cases from the 1920s-30s, based on the <b>Kashmira Bulsara Collection</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAW-NcxE6HYHy5w-a0ydsYmKcpXM-IEmvyC7sA8t2H5MQG9f6Tsmp3UK5SjdLkKDWuM3DboBcp603yNz9NbQf_4wqjcEI-SNqJyX8gemB-x8D-9WHCX_rNWlqATnakX7jBNIc27ZO9okc07g/s1280/FreddieMercuryBook.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1066" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAW-NcxE6HYHy5w-a0ydsYmKcpXM-IEmvyC7sA8t2H5MQG9f6Tsmp3UK5SjdLkKDWuM3DboBcp603yNz9NbQf_4wqjcEI-SNqJyX8gemB-x8D-9WHCX_rNWlqATnakX7jBNIc27ZO9okc07g/w334-h400/FreddieMercuryBook.jpg" width="334" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Kind of Magic: Art Deco Vanity Cases</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">written by Sarah Hue-Williams and Peter Edwards</span><div><br /></div><div>After 1918, euphoria spread across Europe and America. Technology was changing life; aeroplanes, speeding cars and luxury ocean liners were making the world a smaller place with improved communications. For those who could afford it, fashion was elegant and avant-garde, based on <b>Paris Expo of 1925</b> and Art Deco, and then on the U.S, inc Hollywood. The emancipated woman of means wanted newly-designed jewellery and accessories, decorated with modern motifs to reflect her new status. Cocktail parties had to be elegant.</div><div> <b><br />Kashmira Bulsara</b> (b1954), sister of Queen’s lead singer <b>Farrokh Bulsara</b>/<b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2018/10/freddie-mercury-and-queen-concerts.html">Freddie Mercury</a></b>, originally bought a frosted rock crystal card case depicting a Japanese weeping willow applied in black enamel and rose-cut diamonds. This launched her love affair with Art Deco vanity cases. Much later Kashmira gave her entire collection to London’s <b><a href="https://www.excessallareas.com.au/travel/the-case-for-vanity-art-deco-jewels-sister-act/">Victoria & Albert Museum</a>,</b> as a tribute to her late brother. Thank you, V & A, for the photos.</div><div><br />Freddie Mercury studied art at <b>Isleworth Polytechnic</b> West London and graphic art & design at <b>Ealing Art College</b>. He certainly designed heraldic arms, and album-cover designs, for Queen. What I did not know that Freddie was fascinated by Japanese beauty. <br /><br />The collection’s 49 Deco vanity cases took inspiration from Persian, Ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese art, featuring richly coloured hard stones, enamel and lacquer. They were made by <b>Cartier, Lacloche, Van Cleef & Arpels</b>, or other French jewellers. <br /><br />Kashmira bought Paris-made Lacloche pieces from London retailer Peter Edwards. For 20 years Edwards helped her shape a fine collection with an Art Deco focus. Art Deco was revolutionary in the 1920s and 30s: the colours, designs, motifs and materials used were very modern. Of course 1920s and 1930s speed excited everyone, but women in particular revelled in new freedom and new fashions. Make up became more essential, applied in public if necessary. So portable vanity cases became necessary.</div><div><br /></div><div>Documenting her collection focused on craftsmanship. These vanity cases were miniature masterpieces; they looked sculptural and had a practical purpose. Many were cylindrical, easy to carry. The significance of card cases came from several elements. Using rock crystal was an art deco speciality. The pieces were simple yet sophisticated and stylish. And the lapidary technique was based on a body made from onyx rather than enamel. Despite being only about 12cm in length, these cases felt heavy. <br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR2Vd5uwU8dTbFhAR4_gF-NSL1mXmi3i_P1c2DVOG0ZMgiqZ3fVqrUZDdizlHZ38kVed3blfG6h3cvHc5kiNkS3WAzIZPYDsSpVYaSHZcB9UmvBy7E9K-jJUESuy0n67S_a-3aSMRVCFVvvM/s1066/FreddieMercury6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="851" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR2Vd5uwU8dTbFhAR4_gF-NSL1mXmi3i_P1c2DVOG0ZMgiqZ3fVqrUZDdizlHZ38kVed3blfG6h3cvHc5kiNkS3WAzIZPYDsSpVYaSHZcB9UmvBy7E9K-jJUESuy0n67S_a-3aSMRVCFVvvM/w319-h400/FreddieMercury6.jpg" width="319" /></a> 1.<div><br />1. <b>Card case</b> with frosted <b>rock crystal body</b>, lapis lazuli panels to top & base, Japanese weeping willow applied in black enamel & rose-cut diamonds. Lacloche Paris, c1920-5</div><div><br /></div>The vanity case, a special jewelled fashion accessory, was designed and mostly made in Paris by craftsmen who had very special talents. These artists understood that the fashionable modern woman did not want to carry around a big bag; she needed a small compact containing her lipstick, powder, cigarettes, lighter, theatre tickets and keys. Made of precious metals like platinum and gold, with inlays of lacquer, mother of pearl, gems, jade or enamel, these items took HOURS of craftsmanship to make. Naturally they were very expensive, to be shown off at wealthy gatherings. <br /><br />2. 18-carat <b>gold vanity case</b>, lid set with a carved fruit shaped turquoise stone in gold setting and applied with black lacquer and Art Deco gold inlay, Cartier Paris, early 1920s. <br /><br />3. Gold <b>vanity case with laque burgaute panels</b>, Cartier, Paris c1925. <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZW6EOVw26uDAPTxYNaIm_mTwpcS8CmPKsLhaIbMkEAEVkhVT5rCI54aDKMtTRurTDFWW-EdvHlJNgKbNC1MtrpMSxsD2tUGtqXtQhlNDtcwdlPI-ZE1iuuOZLTpCBK2iAReL8Fv9xix3sO9M/s551/FreddieMercury3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="532" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZW6EOVw26uDAPTxYNaIm_mTwpcS8CmPKsLhaIbMkEAEVkhVT5rCI54aDKMtTRurTDFWW-EdvHlJNgKbNC1MtrpMSxsD2tUGtqXtQhlNDtcwdlPI-ZE1iuuOZLTpCBK2iAReL8Fv9xix3sO9M/s320/FreddieMercury3.jpg" width="309" /></a>4.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>4. Double-sided <b>case with onyx body</b>, makeup & cigarette sections, ivory panel and pencil. Marzo Paris, c1920-3</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtM6IgLSlUDgN1RnJEGPRFe6lkH3x0S5fNFyqznRuzekim6khTuke26KMiZ4ElQhHeRRekmo5id_VEAjBcElei-yQH_xMwsc-97O4XlQHmvmhB5-7Gl-O4VgLGt_O0iZzxI7-tTG5ckzQrmEM/s1641/FreddieMercury4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1641" data-original-width="1160" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtM6IgLSlUDgN1RnJEGPRFe6lkH3x0S5fNFyqznRuzekim6khTuke26KMiZ4ElQhHeRRekmo5id_VEAjBcElei-yQH_xMwsc-97O4XlQHmvmhB5-7Gl-O4VgLGt_O0iZzxI7-tTG5ckzQrmEM/w283-h400/FreddieMercury4.jpg" width="283" /></a>5.</div><div><br /><div>5. Miniature <b>vanity case with black and cream decoration</b>, and spaces for rouge and lipstick, and a hidden gold key in a recessed catch. Cartier NY, 1930.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIOegnqRUt94Mhp5Hnb0YgAta9RZMDTwK2Bq_ZpJgoe5KfsHpYeftsLSTl8oRsI3LL9eSCWzVluqtmkePiMOfL_R-t1wMWVV52FyoJMaASKvnNfIKoPU0WugubofXZZlxAJipnHOBoqdOIH_w/s325/FreddieMercury5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="325" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIOegnqRUt94Mhp5Hnb0YgAta9RZMDTwK2Bq_ZpJgoe5KfsHpYeftsLSTl8oRsI3LL9eSCWzVluqtmkePiMOfL_R-t1wMWVV52FyoJMaASKvnNfIKoPU0WugubofXZZlxAJipnHOBoqdOIH_w/s320/FreddieMercury5.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;">6. </span></div></div><div><br /><div>6. Vanity <b>case with pale blue enamel decoration</b> on the centre panel, fluted lapis lazuli and jade to the sides with baguette-cut diamond highlights. Van Cleef & Arpels, c1925. </div><div><br /></div>7. One vanity case was made by Cartier of New York and belonged to <b>Consuelo Vanderbilt</b>. She had been born into a life of wealth and comfort, including regular European travel. The black, cream and gold decoration was chic, and note the diamond-edged central floral motif for a feminine element. Sometimes Art Deco combined blues and greens, used exotic, non-European materials and cut diamonds in the baguette shape. What is today’s value of the vanity cases? </div><div><br /></div><div>A rectangular 18-carat <b>gold case, set with a pyramid shaped jade</b>, rows of diamonds and emeralds set in platinum, the box is applied with black lacquer (1920-5). $18,600</div><div> <br /> A French Cartier 18-karat gold <b>vanity case, the rectangular lid set with a carved fruit shaped turquoise stone</b> in gold setting, the box is applied with black lacquer and Deco gold inlay. It appeared at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs (Paris 1925). $24,200<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1128" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkT7x42MtvCTRq4q8foJ72JX_w7m1CyWN283bfEBIgnd2Vd2q_ksjIBlJ5r6O0AkpidJF1yK4bWEC0-4Xmt2uvtAoDobtMixRT0f3eCs8KSzEIzivVdT4e33QnvbYky8Hg-LVCS9xqN2IFUk/w225-h400/FreddieMercury2.jpg" width="225" /> 8.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">8. A 14 carat gold rectangular <b>compact, hinged clasp set with baguette diamonds</b>, the box is partially decorated with black enamel, 1923. Hallmarked for Tiffany then retailed by Cartier, it appeared in the Paris Exposition, 1925. $19,200</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-9698523840596690832024-01-27T06:00:00.023+11:002024-01-27T18:02:10.293+11:00#30plus: great MIRC channel 1993-2023<a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2008/11/early-days-israel-was-very-first-irc.html ">#Israel</a> was the very first IRC channel that both <b>Daniel ben Sefer</b>-<b>Dabas</b> Sydney and <b>Helen Webberley-Heloise</b> Melbourne had been involved in. We met many fine people who remained close friends, especially Muet, Mer, Academy, Winky, Andygee and Peteyc. The experience in early 1993 was novel, challenging and fun. But eventually the fun palled. The problems were twofold:<br /> <br /><b> RACISM</b> was by far the nastiest problem Dabas and Heloise had ever dealt with. The channel became open slather for every lunatic fringe element who had a gripe against Jews:<br /> 1. Nazis planning to rebuild Hitler's gas chambers.<br /> 2. Christian fundamentalists raided the channel less often, concerned with allocating blame for the death of Christ.<br /> 3. Islamic militants intent on destroying the Jewish state.<br /> <br /><b> JUVENILITY</b> Given that the average age of #Israel was 19.2 years, and that 80% was male, their favourite topics were army life, university subjects and finding a weekend date. <br /><br /> As with any testosterone-charged channel, kicking, banning and op wars were common. Part of this frenetic activity was a survival strategy to do with the constant invasion of Neo Nazis and militant Islamists. But part of it was just machismo. Suggestions were made about opening up the discussion topics to things ADULTS were interested in eg literature or music. But this ended in uproar every time.<div> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGA9NwOHfRbZWnJjCaZEyR1HI4gk4WPFeg1U0F61_93GW49Dwq1kA35k12jL6jirv5Dk1bTQS2SLbJZr0jnSiCEIt6Afwf8THXL2bDyvpOdwkvs14zOIVOszXCHKTOP1hXnCJVpP1JpAT0AO8D1InFk6j1OL24_Rw12pYKHYQVncCPIZB452OZT9qjP-uP-FxA5yg/s400/30plusSydney'93.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="400" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGA9NwOHfRbZWnJjCaZEyR1HI4gk4WPFeg1U0F61_93GW49Dwq1kA35k12jL6jirv5Dk1bTQS2SLbJZr0jnSiCEIt6Afwf8THXL2bDyvpOdwkvs14zOIVOszXCHKTOP1hXnCJVpP1JpAT0AO8D1InFk6j1OL24_Rw12pYKHYQVncCPIZB452OZT9qjP-uP-FxA5yg/w400-h234/30plusSydney'93.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dabas, Heloise and Skeve met to start the channel<br /> Sydney Harbour Bridge<br /> 22nd Oct 1993. <br /></span><br /> Helen was going to <b>Sydney one weekend in Oct 1993</b>, and so Dabas (beard) and his friend Skeve (cap) arranged to meet up for lunch along the Sydney Harbour foreshore. It was a hot day, and by the end of the second icy beer, Heloise was telling them about irc problems. Dabas asked why we did not start our own channel, and patiently explained that he could do the technical stuff if I could establish the ground rules for new members, no racism, anti Semitism, sexism or adolescents; a channel that would maintain the beloved Israeli connections and Australian values.<br /> <br /> As we had hoped in #Israel, the discussions would be expanded to topics mature adults were interested in eg travel, music, literature, philosophy, world politics, careers, family relationships and sport. Op wars and kick bans would become a bad memory from the past.<br /> <br /> Both we believed that all the Anglo Saxon, academic, middle aged friends from #Israel would want to join us. Dabas, Winky, Academy, Muet and Heloise were all: over 40, Jewish and academics, so the channel could be #40academic or #40married or #40Jewish.<br /> <br /> When I logged on the first night in the Sydney hotel room, Dabas quickly messaged: "Come into <b>#30plus</b>: I HAVE CAPTURED A REAL LIVE CHANNEL MEMBER". This was poor man called Runaway whose wife had left home and had taken their children with her. He just wanted supportive adult company during the crisis. And so <b>#</b>30plus was born, the name being suggested by Skeve as more inclusive and less exclusive than #40academic. But neither of us knew what we were doing. We did not even know how to keep the channel open 24 hours a day, so took it in 8 hour shifts to be there, around the clock!<br /> <br /> During those first days, me3, pdq, joshtree, bigjoe, toots, gazza, sirlunar, dugip, zurbaran, amarin, sna, tinytim, ruach, edu, drKB, kimba, shor, beamer, fluffy, fuzed, friskykid, capt-peril, oldbear, panache, nurse, redgum, sulu, kate, lone, bish, hotsailor, flaccus, thalia, mfp, melsy, cty, fauna, wabbit and peppr came into the channel, and stayed. Joshtree in Finland set up the twin bots, Castor and Pollux, so the founders could finally get some sleep.</div><div><br /> The channel name started to appear in computer magazines and on radio as an interesting and non violent place to be. We were both interviewed by journalists in Australia and elsewhere, and people popped in saying "I saw you in Article X in New Zealand (or wherever)". Lisabee, nutnhoney, daisee, rossma, birdbrain, prism, belladona, annette and others joined by late 1993.<br /> <br /> Where did the first organised meetings of #30plus members take place? The channel was Australian based, but as can be discovered from the early photos, the first reunion was in Boston (Jan 1994) and the next was in Canberra (Apr 1994).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsuZvXmDEUKGzg-ajp78kbGTnsbFkibleEkR0Wc5_0qZnIyZpSq__S7ZwN_tVu9KUiGyj1kDfl1uXSEvxixdXExTRh2bj7HC7iLFfTx0-x6ri_ApsqTDVP3RAbGs8qn1HQab43OoRaBTs23FH0X9IQ0zukRgFU9EzPB92EXx0mGMkanBpvQeKG4aP8sUsyTJNhTgK/s1375/30plusBoston1993.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1375" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsuZvXmDEUKGzg-ajp78kbGTnsbFkibleEkR0Wc5_0qZnIyZpSq__S7ZwN_tVu9KUiGyj1kDfl1uXSEvxixdXExTRh2bj7HC7iLFfTx0-x6ri_ApsqTDVP3RAbGs8qn1HQab43OoRaBTs23FH0X9IQ0zukRgFU9EzPB92EXx0mGMkanBpvQeKG4aP8sUsyTJNhTgK/w400-h174/30plusBoston1993.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Boston reunion, Jan 1994</span></div><div><br /></div><div>It was thought from the beginning that the channel was really easiest for Anglophones or people who could type and read English in a very busy channel. In fact two thirds of the channel regulars lived in the <b>USA</b>, while the others were mainly<b> Australasian, British, South African and Canadian</b>. Channel members were full of admiration for the Israelis and Europeans who added a breadth to the channel, using English as their second language.<br /> <br /> An early collective tasks of this new, adult-friendly channel was to collect <a href="http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-early-channel-literary-event-1995.html">lists of peoples' favourite books</a>. People took hours, going along their library shelves, reminding themselves of books they had not read since the 1960s. The lists were diverse, but always fascinating. The level of conversation and of email letters was very high.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEsQLYnHyFeSxmgZ1s4SFaxMjc-piLF3xJ9OTI21jPf4kJyOpQ_Gqkx_c2XLHUB4vxzrCUThzhEE02gGu8Tx4iMAxqXPct8cD4WZwnxTjmOEvx2n-ijmYS8-97h9VT3Rkcp988rtGhyphenhyphenfbleK1qJz3aIzgTsbKTjShsWpcpikbNkeZxVdRULQsRFsSMoA5Ca9pYQRY/s450/%2330plusSanFrancisco1994.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="450" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEsQLYnHyFeSxmgZ1s4SFaxMjc-piLF3xJ9OTI21jPf4kJyOpQ_Gqkx_c2XLHUB4vxzrCUThzhEE02gGu8Tx4iMAxqXPct8cD4WZwnxTjmOEvx2n-ijmYS8-97h9VT3Rkcp988rtGhyphenhyphenfbleK1qJz3aIzgTsbKTjShsWpcpikbNkeZxVdRULQsRFsSMoA5Ca9pYQRY/w400-h304/%2330plusSanFrancisco1994.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>A San Francisco reunion weekend,</span><span> July 1994</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div> Life was never going to be quite the same again. Pdq suggested nominating Dabas and myself for the <b>Nobel Peace Prize</b>, given that they had revolutionised IRC and made it a pleasant place for adults to be. Australia had produced yet another really worthwhile contribution.</div><div><br />**<br />Three significant events in late 2018 changed #30plus. Firstly the Australian Trade Mark Registration ended in Aug 2018 and was not extended so #30plus had no more <b>intellectual property protection</b>. Then #30plus started in Oct 1993 and was thus celebrating its 25th birthday. While this was a huge achievement in the MIRC world, a new generation of channel members was moving in; the older members spent their spare time looking for retirement villages. Thirdly I retired from lecturing when Covid started and no longer benefited from tax deductibility and printing costs. <br /><br />The channel of course continued strongly. But I have repeated this post because in late 2023 a long-time U.S channel member called on-line for all Jews to be exterminated. The Australian police couldn’t help us and my most beloved US friends, Fluffy and Oldbear, died some time ago.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-25200832153291272132024-01-23T18:00:00.143+11:002024-01-23T18:00:00.179+11:00Why was the Mona Lisa stolen in 1911?<div class="separator">Many years ago I examined the theft of the <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2012/04/mona-lisa-stolen-in-1911-and-retrieved.html">Mona Lisa</a></b> in this blog. So now let us re-examine the most famous painting in the universe, by <b>Leonardo da Vinci in 1503-16</b>, to reveal a different motive from the one provided back in 2012.<br /></div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6ge_OChUalo7fdoqfhQZqshKk24q1Hm0bQD603EPLQLSo2LawD8rzlbpi7L5h6BFTLuG7NTYQWGJ_hEODd-DN1Um6vQX7DWxXUrDezLmxEgHjxFhmQZNu33ttTcga36lXiwBp5MgleutWc4swV1nXW9yQdoVs7o7uSPvdmZszP7AiOLB-z29hScfNnl1qJ69i7mK/s245/Peruggia.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="199" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6ge_OChUalo7fdoqfhQZqshKk24q1Hm0bQD603EPLQLSo2LawD8rzlbpi7L5h6BFTLuG7NTYQWGJ_hEODd-DN1Um6vQX7DWxXUrDezLmxEgHjxFhmQZNu33ttTcga36lXiwBp5MgleutWc4swV1nXW9yQdoVs7o7uSPvdmZszP7AiOLB-z29hScfNnl1qJ69i7mK/w325-h400/Peruggia.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Vincenzo Peruggia (above) stole his beloved Mona Lisa (below)<br />from the <a href="https://philphilips.com/vincenzo-peruggia-the-man-who-stole-the-mona-lisa-that-created-a-legend/">Louvre in 1911</a>.</span></div><div><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTePx6f-O4J2zwpGR2YXq6EoRLvUra1JgWIJTWrRAlIHLA-GJj6QrPCXTKtUdxAujDAHLfln1M_wYvnFBGfp2jKfIUu7M_62LCDvCOuKaGs7Kt3MD0NO_0dozZ6W4s7PurMq8Y0GqiRy2-aU2FPQJfrKzVz5QBElDXQ3x_fg9Pof8WE-G_tPPYG-0cWxTBNLe9ldyE/s245/PeruggiaMonaLisa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="209" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTePx6f-O4J2zwpGR2YXq6EoRLvUra1JgWIJTWrRAlIHLA-GJj6QrPCXTKtUdxAujDAHLfln1M_wYvnFBGfp2jKfIUu7M_62LCDvCOuKaGs7Kt3MD0NO_0dozZ6W4s7PurMq8Y0GqiRy2-aU2FPQJfrKzVz5QBElDXQ3x_fg9Pof8WE-G_tPPYG-0cWxTBNLe9ldyE/w341-h400/PeruggiaMonaLisa.jpg" width="341" /></a></div><div><br /></div><b>King Francois I</b> placed his Mona Lisa treasure in the <b>Louvre</b> where it safely rested and enthralled crowds for centuries. <b>Leonardo da Vinci</b> would have been delighted. But it changed in Aug <b>1911</b>. It was a quiet Sunday in Paris’ most famous museum when a short man with a moustache entered the Louvre and tiptoed to the salon where the Mona Lisa was housed. Then he hid in a broom cupboard.<br /><br />In the morning, before the museum opened to the public, the man crept out, clad in the white apron uniform of Louvre employees. He grabbed the C16th oil painting from its location on the wall, carried it to a service stairs, removed the painting from its glass frame and wrapped it in a white sheet. Before he was able to remove the locked stair-door and escape, he was met by a plumber also using the stairs. With uncanny luck, the workman assumed the brazen burglar was a fellow employee who needed help. The imposter thanked the employee and exited, with the hidden painting.<br /><br />Guards noticed that the painting was missing but assumed it was moved by staff. But the day after, when French artist Louis Béroud visited the museum to sketch his Mona Lisa au Louvre, he found only 4 iron pegs where the painting had hung. The Louvre was securely shut down!! To investigate the loss, detectives dusted for prints and rigorously questioned museum staff (all cleared). The only clue was the painting’s glass frame, discarded in the stairwell!<br /><br />Checkpoints were set up to search pedestrians and cars, the French border was sealed and departing ships and trains searched. By the time the museum re-opened 9 days later, the theft was front-page news internationally. When the museum eventually reopened, thousands poured in the doors to gaze on the empty wall space. The investigation found 2 high-profile suspects. They arrested <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3067098918914268503/5606272521815629597">Guillaume Apollinaire</a> in Sept, after linking the French poet to the earlier theft of two statuettes which his secretary stole from the Louvre. During the interrogation, Apollinaire linked another high-profile suspect to the case: Pablo Picasso, who had purchased the stolen statues in order to use them as models for his work. Police questioned both about the Mona Lisa theft, but they were cleared.<br /><br />2 years later, Florentine art dealer <b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3067098918914268503/5606272521815629597">Alfredo Geri</a> </b>received a letter in the mail. Postmarked from Paris, the sender was someone who signed the letter as Leonard. The writer claimed he was responsible for the theft of the Mona Lisa, and that he wished to see the masterpiece back on Italian soil. Geri contacted <b>Giovanni Poggi, Director of Uffizi Gallery</b>. The pair doubted the letter’s reliability, but thought they should proceed with the offer presented in the letter. Geri invited the man to Florence, and the three soon met in the writer’s hotel room. An object wrapped in red silk was produced, and respectfully placed upon the bed. The Florentines starred in disbelief: it was the Mona Lisa!<br /><br />The painting was taken to Uffizi, and the man’s asking price of 500,000 lire was agreed to. But Geri & Poggi never meant to pay the ransom for da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Instead the painting was authenticated and the police called.<br /><br />11th Dec 1913, the Italian immigrant Leonard was arrested at his Florentine hotel room. <b>Vincenzo Peruggia</b> was a former Louvre employee who had actually built Mona Lisa’s glass case. Peruggia knew the museum practices, making him the perfect candidate for his art heist. [But how did no record at the Louvre include his name?]<br /><br />Now here is the surprising bit. Peruggia was hailed as a national hero by the Italian people. In my first post I had said that Peruggia believed that the Mona Lisa had been stolen from Florence by <b>Napoleon</b>. Thus the thief was only doing his patriotic duty, by returning the painting to its true home in Italy. But we need to remember that Mona Lisa had never been part of Napoleon’s art collection.<br /><br />Rather <b><a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Article/Great-Art-Heists-of-History--The-Man-Who/1CA4DB33B27C698A">Benjamin Evemy</a></b> showed that Peruggia had kept the Mona Lisa in his flat in outer Paris, hidden in the false bottom of a wooden steamer trunk. As Mona Lisa’s keeper, Peruggia said he fell in love with her smile and feasted his eyes on his treasure every night. It was a sexual and nationalist love, with nothing at all to do with Napoleon.<br /><br />Many Italians really did joyously welcome Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece back home to the Uffizi and the <b>Borghese Galleries, Villa Medici, Farnese Palace </b>and the<b> Brera Museum</b>. It was a triumphal tour of Italy, so clearly many Italians agreed with Peruggia.<br /><br />Peruggia received to 13 months in prison, but ended up serving only 7 months. Due to the excellent relations between Italy and France, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3067098918914268503/5606272521815629597">Poggi was allowed to exhibit the painting in the Uffizi until Jan 1914</a>, along with two other masterpieces of the artist from da Vinci: <b>The Annunciation</b> and <b>Adoration of the Magi</b>. Then the Mona Lisa returned to the Louvre, and in the first days following its re-installation, c120,000 thankful Frenchmen visited the museum. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LbeaWhUIKuBrkmsN6pUocHOwoZZ1AeT09uK4xkJCHvLVoAs_yl2pgfHwr8mt_EJF0tfNviYZTGrfwq-zh1aWoAUZfgiOeFRYsMOI2maKcck8tvWtm8Jg2Mgmy2lzAIqo9DeurF-vrEITcVQ/s640/PeruggiaFoundMonaLisa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="640" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LbeaWhUIKuBrkmsN6pUocHOwoZZ1AeT09uK4xkJCHvLVoAs_yl2pgfHwr8mt_EJF0tfNviYZTGrfwq-zh1aWoAUZfgiOeFRYsMOI2maKcck8tvWtm8Jg2Mgmy2lzAIqo9DeurF-vrEITcVQ/w400-h284/PeruggiaFoundMonaLisa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Louvre welcomed the star painting home, Paris 1914 </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">New York Times</span></div><div><div><br />The sensation caused by the theft greatly helped to boost this painting’s public reputation and to cement its place in the collective consciousness of Italian and French art lovers and others.<br /><br />Read <b>The Art Inquirer</b>, August 2011 and Great Art Heists of History, in <b>Mutual Art</b>, June 2021.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-38564911581003100482024-01-20T06:00:00.102+11:002024-01-20T15:39:57.020+11:00Australia WW2 rationing was hard; UK's was tougher and longerPetrol in the <b>UK</b> was the first commodity to be rationed, although it was supplied for essential services eg doctors and farmers. When<b> a North Atlantic </b><b>blockade</b><b> by German U-Boats </b>stopped imported food, huge shortages were caused and by <b>Jan 1940, the British government had to introduce food rationing</b>. The scheme was designed to ensure fair shares for all at a time of national crisis. The <b>Ministry of Food</b> was responsible for overseeing rationing, issuing a ration book with coupons for every citizen. <i>Before</i> rationed goods could be purchased! <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHcnEWy4YFG1JyHAURiZIXrA1aOZIgGECZyV33EsBWKb3mocgYNEQctp6BqoZgc5SKdbKH_t8FT-ZdAGdU7gpGR6ANztGz5poL04YRCwSdcSD8X2Uku12jft4el7i8m5sHB1zkjtgIR0evcUqMZudRy-mpvVDtDMTjzKH9uB8NrmE14RfooYDx-io2Bb_z6myi6uH/s864/RationFishQueueLondon1945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="864" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHcnEWy4YFG1JyHAURiZIXrA1aOZIgGECZyV33EsBWKb3mocgYNEQctp6BqoZgc5SKdbKH_t8FT-ZdAGdU7gpGR6ANztGz5poL04YRCwSdcSD8X2Uku12jft4el7i8m5sHB1zkjtgIR0evcUqMZudRy-mpvVDtDMTjzKH9uB8NrmE14RfooYDx-io2Bb_z6myi6uH/w400-h284/RationFishQueueLondon1945.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: left;">Women and children queue to buy vegetables, London, 1945.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Museum Crush</div></span><div><div><br /></div><div>By mid-1942 most foodstuffs in Britain were rationed, except for some vegetables, fruit, fish and bread. A typical weekly ration allowed a person 1 egg, 2 ounces each of tea and butter, an ounce of cheese, eight ounces of sugar, four ounces of bacon and four ounces of margarine. Other scarce commodities were rationed too eg clothing, shoes, fuel, and soap. As the war progressed, the rationing system had to be refined to accommodate different needs. </div><div><br /></div><div>Britain’s truly drastic rationing regulations were not needed in Australia because we had bigger farm areas, a smaller population and our own large and well developed rural industries. Nonetheless Australia's use of food ration coupons was applied to <u>tea, sugar, butter, meat and clothes. Eggs and milk</u> were also rationed, as needed. Rationing regulations in Australia were introduced in <b>mid-1942</b> to manage shortages, control civilian consumption and curb inflation by reducing consumer spending. Hopefully this would lead to 1] a higher level of savings by the population, 2] a greater investment in government war loans and 3] a fairer distribution of food and clothing. Many thanks to the <b><a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/homefront/rationing">War Memorial in Canberra</a></b>.<br /><div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih2vA_R9GseOgFdAn1oYIHXn2KwavnwVZBpo429KXbFwvOcR4MNOL5gG-imyrA26rJyBZurAME6uHfgThUnRqe58px0EffhucVmZdyZZ3rEWLZJhPQlPuhHkcCMhi45hutiqO1OL44EFn15Hc/s300/RationingMeatSydney1944.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih2vA_R9GseOgFdAn1oYIHXn2KwavnwVZBpo429KXbFwvOcR4MNOL5gG-imyrA26rJyBZurAME6uHfgThUnRqe58px0EffhucVmZdyZZ3rEWLZJhPQlPuhHkcCMhi45hutiqO1OL44EFn15Hc/w400-h224/RationingMeatSydney1944.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Waiting patiently for meat rations,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sydney Morning Herald, 1944<br /></span><br /><a href="http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/australia-wwii/home-wii/food-shortages-rationing ">Australian troops abroad</a> had to be supplied with food produced in Australia, and when thousands of American troops arrived in Australia to fight the war in the Pacific, they too had to be fed. <br /><br />Rationing was planned by the nation's<b> Rationing Commission </b>in the<b> Minister for War Organisation of Industry</b>. From 1942, as the range of rationed commodities grew, not every Australian citizen supported rationing legislation; some citizens were prepared to exploit and profit by selling scarce commodities at inflated prices. This created a <u>Black Market</u> where commodities could be acquired without coupons, but at high prices. So rationing was closely policed and breaches were punished under the <b>National Security Regulations</b> - £100 fines or up to 6 months gaol were imposed. When these penalties were inadequate, the government passed the <b>Black Marketing Act</b> in late 1942, for more serious cases. <br /><br />Australia shops changed from a cash-economy to a <b>coupon-economy</b>. Each adult citizen received a ration book with 112 coupons. All purchasable items had a coupon value eg a man’s suit cost 38 coupons, socks 4. Used coupon books were exchanged for new ones only annually, so people had to plan their expenses to avoid using all their coupons too quickly. Civilian clothing was running out, so cheap austerity garments replaced the old stocks, made from materials not vital to the war effort.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNUg4Lf1xQam4mkF6j6itrpeFkrPMrwgkJCs_A7t_zAx4k5wrn3aoCead7iOnHrnbC19qIu9tD2Hh_thK4cXp66t25oRfp6DDr0pxjqjvFPMt6OLlppuXmCXUsJBpdW1sXVA_WWvNWa8yrAQ/s450/RationCouponsAus1944.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="450" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNUg4Lf1xQam4mkF6j6itrpeFkrPMrwgkJCs_A7t_zAx4k5wrn3aoCead7iOnHrnbC19qIu9tD2Hh_thK4cXp66t25oRfp6DDr0pxjqjvFPMt6OLlppuXmCXUsJBpdW1sXVA_WWvNWa8yrAQ/w400-h295/RationCouponsAus1944.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Australian rationing coupons and cards </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gizmodo</span></div><div><br />Rationing was based on supply. In some towns the impact was less when suburban blocks were big enough for families to grow their own vegetables/fruit. And some could support chickens or cows, supplying themselves with eggs and dairy products. Some <a href="http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/australia-wwii/home-wii/food-shortages-rationing">public parks were dug up for vegetable gardens</a>! The government feared that rationing would result in poorer health on the home front, but rationing actually reduced food-related problems eg obesity, diabetes. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-food/rationing.htm">Fish, sausages, chicken, ham and rabbits were hardly rationed</a>. Recipes designed to cater for the lack of eggs, butter and meat regularly appeared in newspapers and magazines. Animal organs were more readily available than better cuts of meat in WW2 and formed a significant part of people's diets. Even so, people had to stand in long queues<br /><br />The <b>Austerity Campaign</b> wanted simple living; citizens were told to smoke less; drink less; plan meals for food value and give up cosmetics. Children’s toys had to be hand-made. <br /><br />When WW2 began, Australia had been totally unready for a long conflict; there were enough petrol reserves for only 3 months, and limited storage capacity. The Commonwealth asked the Dept of Supply to prepare <b>plans to ration petrol</b> but it was not imposed immediately; instead they only recommended frugality. As an alternative, the government encouraged motorists to use charcoal gas producers, fitted to the back of cars. However, gas producers were in short supply, cumbersome, messy and inefficient. <br /><br />The motor industry lobbied against petrol rationing, claiming it would lead to unemployment and economic instability. But as a last resort, Director of Economic Planning had to introduce a scheme to conserve petrol. Divided into classes, eg delivery vans, buses, taxis, trucks, industrial transport, farm machinery and private cars, priorities were determined for each class and allowances were allocated.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_49pZK_j5ISK690iFHfGlyJgY-RrbgxdH_FbkmFEGipB5un6bnaWuJGamlioxt3SUne7FNHihUpwbeK5jvAvqJEzcoj1I6kg07W4a3I_kSqEJmeqGs0opcUJhAD6Dv2UdDXC908PjcuGtx4QKtchsFq7LMheTRPS1Dv_Nx78M5MdV6b4Tg-S1a9JknxCr8D7qGQKu/s280/RationingGrowYourOwn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="180" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_49pZK_j5ISK690iFHfGlyJgY-RrbgxdH_FbkmFEGipB5un6bnaWuJGamlioxt3SUne7FNHihUpwbeK5jvAvqJEzcoj1I6kg07W4a3I_kSqEJmeqGs0opcUJhAD6Dv2UdDXC908PjcuGtx4QKtchsFq7LMheTRPS1Dv_Nx78M5MdV6b4Tg-S1a9JknxCr8D7qGQKu/s1600/RationingGrowYourOwn.jpg" width="180" /></a> </div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Australians were encouraged to grow their own fruit, vegetables and eggs</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Australian War Memorial<br /></span> <br />To obtain ration tickets from late 1940, the million+ civilians applying for petrol licences had to complete an application each time which lasted 6 months. After that, issues were made every 2 months, to avoid forgeries and black market hoarding. Petrol companies pooled their supplies, and storage facilities grew up everywhere, for all vehicles.<br /><br /><b>Victory over Japan in 1945</b> raised expectations that rationing would be abolished. But rationing was only gradually phased out, given that <b>Australia continued to send food etc to Britain for years</b>. The meat ration had been further reduced in the motherland, and in an effort to support the British public, the Australian Government maintained meat rationing and price controls until 1948.</div><div><br /></div><div>Five years after the war ended, Australian food rationing finally ended. While sugar and meat had already become freely available, butter and tea were STILL rationed until June 1950. NB in Britain rationing didn’t end until July 1954!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghuiB28QGnMalM20cCCxmgVxx1OvmlD2QxT_Sv51oFtRRTF2En4aLUgqciNSRkoDfP6ygyJ0OI1jRqUZCba3OUHEP20zHmwyXtqizIlnhI21jMOo_49w1LxpQHD5VImz1c5QDVlJGAAqF5-Y/s489/RationSupportBritainMeat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghuiB28QGnMalM20cCCxmgVxx1OvmlD2QxT_Sv51oFtRRTF2En4aLUgqciNSRkoDfP6ygyJ0OI1jRqUZCba3OUHEP20zHmwyXtqizIlnhI21jMOo_49w1LxpQHD5VImz1c5QDVlJGAAqF5-Y/w245-h400/RationSupportBritainMeat.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Even after WW2 ended, Australia still needed to send meat supplies to Britain</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Digger History<br /></span><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-34713471218168827382024-01-16T18:00:00.071+11:002024-01-16T18:03:20.449+11:002024 - great year for Tamara de Lempicka!<div class="separator"><div class="separator"><b>Madonna</b> will showcase <b>Lempicka</b>’s art on her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tamaradelempickadoc/p/C1hthNNRMuQ/?img_index=1">Celebration Concert Tour, Lempicka The Musical</a> on Broadway in Mar 2024. An exhibition at <b>San Francisco’s Legion of Honour Museum</b> will reevaluate her style in art history by introducing 1920-30s <b>Paris culture</b>. And a documentary <b>The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & the Art of Survival </b>will appear in 2024! What a year!! </div><div class="separator"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXhGFRLOL9nOxjT8_4vBfM3u3W_GFst00IZdgTMqINTcbX4Xyg8sgXnvOnwPjbPViBu9CGT15je1oENywp_RPPgyLMTHcTSCXjxa3Hhl1X7VB9YwiieDue2s01hs6Tqx3pwq5gEougygbh5QNU7bro39FVJGtQ-citijRlauilWRJ92j_syC4dMcOz0Q0fy3Jfn3J/s1021/LempickaDrBoucard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1021" data-original-width="589" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXhGFRLOL9nOxjT8_4vBfM3u3W_GFst00IZdgTMqINTcbX4Xyg8sgXnvOnwPjbPViBu9CGT15je1oENywp_RPPgyLMTHcTSCXjxa3Hhl1X7VB9YwiieDue2s01hs6Tqx3pwq5gEougygbh5QNU7bro39FVJGtQ-citijRlauilWRJ92j_syC4dMcOz0Q0fy3Jfn3J/w231-h400/LempickaDrBoucard.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div>Portrait Of Dr Boucard 1929</div><div>with test tube and microscope.</div><div><br /></div></span></div></div></div><div><b>Maria Gorzka</b> (1898-1980) was born in ?Moscow, daughter of a Russian Jewish solicitor for a French trading company, Boris Górski. After her parents divorced, Maria lived with grandma on the French Riviera. In a <b>St Petersburg opera</b> in 1914, Maria met <b>Tadeusz Lempicki</b> (1888–1951), a handsome lawyer of noble family. 2 years later they married in St Petersburg with her banker-uncle giving the dowry. A year later Taduesz was arrested by the <b>Bolsheviks</b>; Tamara got him freed and the couple and baby fled to Paris, with other wealthy White Russians. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOImEcrCCaz02XNd-p7A9MzUbaNNpNyn7dbFOiz3iSwm-bL2OE014IDeoP2cRLuPIu49PXZVSLm1exz88DFT7Yt7ROPInBUuwS_DpQ1sRIR-8UI-7z8S4JdZDsA_4F_RthA6AKxWaTxtC3KI-kjZUww0_8Gk55a2na2tkUAj0ICKoFEBnPHo9dRp1kol6Ztd-gI7D/s1818/LempickaMmeBoucard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1818" data-original-width="1310" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOImEcrCCaz02XNd-p7A9MzUbaNNpNyn7dbFOiz3iSwm-bL2OE014IDeoP2cRLuPIu49PXZVSLm1exz88DFT7Yt7ROPInBUuwS_DpQ1sRIR-8UI-7z8S4JdZDsA_4F_RthA6AKxWaTxtC3KI-kjZUww0_8Gk55a2na2tkUAj0ICKoFEBnPHo9dRp1kol6Ztd-gI7D/s320/LempickaMmeBoucard.jpg" width="231" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Madame Boucard in lavish silk, jewels and mink</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1931</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>In her early Paris life, she enrolled at <b>Académie de la Grande Chaumière</b> and absorbed the Old Masters, especially <b>Bronzino</b>. She drew on the <b>Cubism</b> of her Paris contemporaries and French Deco created a glamorous Paris epitomising Tamara's life and art. Her mentor was artist-critic <b>André Lhote</b>, creator of a gently coloured Cubism. <br /><br />Deco made great progress in fine arts and industrial designs, based on simple format, clean lines and vivid colours. The improvement of technology, in industries like cars, ships and trains, emphasised stylised angular forms. Lempicka found soul mates in fashion illustrator <b>Erte</b>, glass artist <b>Rene Lalique</b> and designer <b>Cassandre</b>. Lempicka found her place as a portraitist of the era's <a href=" https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cocteau-jean/.">beautiful people</a>, mixing with <b>André Gide</b>, <b>Colette</b> and Jean Cocteau. Although married with a daughter, Tamara was busy having romantic involvements with both genders, patrons and models. And because tourism was making <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2017/04/my-favourite-art-deco-portraitist.html">Montmartre</a></b> too crowded and expensive, most artists gradually moved to Montparnasse with its wide boulevards and small courtyards. <b>Pablo</b> <b>Picasso, Constantin Brancusi, Jacques Lipchitz, Tristan Tzara</b> &<b> Piet Mondrian</b> were Tamara's neighbours in this centre of art studios.</div><div><br />By 1923 she exhibited in small galleries. Her work was shown at the <b>1924 Paris Salon des Femmes Artistes Modernes</b>, and in 1925 she had her first <b>Milan</b> solo. Her social life also blossomed, displaying Tamara’s skill in winning many men and women lovers, her models and patrons. See the women reclining, bathing, hugging or stroking. <br /><br />Encouraged by <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2017/04/my-favourite-art-deco-portraitist.html">Coco Chanel </a> and the Flappers</b>, Tamara went to chaperone-free parties, smoked and drove cars. The 1920s flat dresses provided an ideal canvas to display Deco taste. In 1927 Lempicka received 1st prize at the <b>Exposition Internationale des Beaux-Arts</b> for the portrait of her daughter <b>Kizette on the Balcony</b>, and divorced. <br /><br />The <b>Girl In Green With Gloves</b> (1929 Musée National d'Art Moderne Paris) was a famous work that clearly epitomised Deco and flowing curves. See the self-portrait <b>Tamara in the Green Bugatti </b>(1929), in leather helmet and gloves. It was the cover of a German Women's Liberation magazine <b>Die Dame</b>: tight, post-cubist design; muted colour; speed; glamour; Hermès helmet; leather driving gloves! <b>F Scott Fitzgerald</b> popularised sporty outfits; and clothes and hats were designed for ships, trains or cars. Jean Patou, Madeleine Vionnet and Elsa Schiaparelli created excellent moving styles.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Examine Lempicka's males. The huge portrait of <b>Duke Gabriel Constantinovich</b> (1926) wore a gold-braided uniform and empty face. <b>Count Fürstenberg Herdringen</b> 1928 was a glass-eyed monster in a French navy beret. In the late 1920s her most important patron was flashy medico <b>Dr Pierre Boucard</b> (1929) who already owned some Lempicka nudes. Boucard gave her a 2-year contract to paint family portraits.</div><div><br />This new income bought a Left Bank 3-sorey <b>studio house in Rue Mechain</b>; grey interior, chrome fittings & American cocktail bar gave Lempicka her setting. On the easel was the portrait of <b>Madame Boucard </b>(1931), a complex work done by this connoisseur of textiles, jewels, hairstyles and mink boa. In <a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2017/04/my-favourite-art-deco-portraitist.html">Portrait of Madame M</a> 1931, Tamara showed sleekness . </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigIyjZEiaFKY2GtLthY00ufcAms_93Bq_zMZH01FG8mtbjeMxhe5bwqkyZleSo51omIUN7GhV_dtaAp1POKQqKzH29UvY2zLS5q_pkePRhEfIc3QcGURgGH0bIt6EA89bL0J811iKFgoRU9bnU6MxvudFh8526-u6AJpzfOvFI080k0X6CzxRIWvacNPSWqC8f1svn/s800/LempickaMmeBoucard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><br />Tamara sold her expensive portraits to Paris’ rich aristocracy. She painted writers, entertainers, artists and Eastern Europe's exiled nobility. One of her wealthiest patrons <b>Baron Raoul Kuffner</b> (1886–1961) owned vast estates donated to his brewer family by <b>Emperor Franz-Josef for supplying the Hapsburg court</b>. Kuffner asked Tamara to paint a portrait of his mistress Andalusian dancer <b>Nana de Herrera</b> but while painting the Baron’s portrait, Lempicka got involved with him, replaced his mistress and married him in 1934<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtZrhaussalxNaj2JTaoLbgsMddzbNjrsDHZ11aBP7oyowchxISKp0chY8Nomua6t4cm5AyasPM-pU3tCpThlRtDcHpRTdlTWXbStDYsPJSuuPsrqO2CQ7EjiokawBIwktmc85pV4RswUjDFF9jz-NigaZJi0S-5pLAj5KX5ctjA68C84pxgDt0l0JhWirw01-FNJ/s1269/LempickaTheMusician1929.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtZrhaussalxNaj2JTaoLbgsMddzbNjrsDHZ11aBP7oyowchxISKp0chY8Nomua6t4cm5AyasPM-pU3tCpThlRtDcHpRTdlTWXbStDYsPJSuuPsrqO2CQ7EjiokawBIwktmc85pV4RswUjDFF9jz-NigaZJi0S-5pLAj5KX5ctjA68C84pxgDt0l0JhWirw01-FNJ/w253-h400/LempickaTheMusician1929.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">La Musicienne 1929</div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Lempicka understood political chaos, and encouraged her husband to secure his assets. So Kuffner sold his Hungarian estates. When WW2 started in 1939, the couple left Paris and moved to <b>Hollywood</b>. They lived in <b>film director King Vidor</b>’s old home, and Tamara soon became an artist of Hollywood's screen stars. Lempicka also busied herself with war relief work and after an extended struggle, rescued her daughter Kizette from Nazi-occupied Paris in 1941. In 1943 they continued to socialise in N.Y, although her art output reduced; conservatism started to challenge the feminist advances she’d championed. Nonetheless when WW2 ended, she reopened her famous Paris studio.</div><div><br /></div><div>When the Baron died in 1961, Tamara sold up and sailed away. Then she moved to <b>Houston Tx</b> to be closer to her daughter and produced abstract paintings to remain in-step with current art. Only in 1966 did <b>Musee des Arts Decoratifs</b> open her memorial exhibition, then <b>Alain Blondel opened Galerie du Luxembourg</b> with a major Lempicka retrospective in 1972. But in 1978 she moved to <b>Mexico</b>, bought a special house and died in 1980.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Madame M</b> sold for $6.13 million at Christie's NY in 2009. Lempicka's auction record, $9.1m, was set by Christie’s in 2018 for <b>La Musicienne</b> (1929) showing a mandolin player in vivid blue. A new record was set when <b>La Tunique Rose</b> (1927) earned $13.3m at Sotheby’s N.Y in 2019. Now <b>Portrait de Marjorie Ferry</b> (Paris, 1932) earned £16.4 in Christie’s London in 2020!! Many thanks to <b><a href="https://www.theartstory.org/artist/de-lempicka-tamara/">theartstory</a></b>. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHi1oq4ad_hEZmMsT9jjcZm1VjVTX8_QHazrAYiv082Yp2MoHLuF6x0fdosK7tDLK8DWEZxj2f8Pv2n-cZWoM1yWtKWK3qW6qBgiNo1PJDDr8n4HtmbyfdS3KwgRPc-q9H4K_GK9Iz_geHDwlcFUdpsGZ4OBP91VHbZHtHenBzJX-_CIpddT6JI5btdQ4dxum8Ie_V/s1543/LempickaBarAmsterdam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1543" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHi1oq4ad_hEZmMsT9jjcZm1VjVTX8_QHazrAYiv082Yp2MoHLuF6x0fdosK7tDLK8DWEZxj2f8Pv2n-cZWoM1yWtKWK3qW6qBgiNo1PJDDr8n4HtmbyfdS3KwgRPc-q9H4K_GK9Iz_geHDwlcFUdpsGZ4OBP91VHbZHtHenBzJX-_CIpddT6JI5btdQ4dxum8Ie_V/s320/LempickaBarAmsterdam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> stylish</span><span style="text-align: center;"> Bar Lempicka in Amsterdam</span></div></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">See the Art Deco glass mosaic on the ceiling</div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">and the Lempicka name on the facade</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-42700589626775581232024-01-13T06:00:00.280+11:002024-01-13T06:00:00.121+11:00Honouring WW1 men in Ballarat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUwjln78LoSdSQ8xcckkxmVTXmR47guQsOm5PNVCipo846eF84R-XNtZoAvSIKed30lgv_LPskMPuRIx_c0YrEEI4Arb2bDGGtm6NO6w2kPNmaaEbv3hN-HdZv9yG-NcN1Di4lzeBF4ezdOAWSsWLTc2QqLiKe9lcTIIX34ZOJiU-IyLWO2uI7fzhAdXRuNYhP637/s601/BallaratWW1Soldiersreturn1919.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="601" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUwjln78LoSdSQ8xcckkxmVTXmR47guQsOm5PNVCipo846eF84R-XNtZoAvSIKed30lgv_LPskMPuRIx_c0YrEEI4Arb2bDGGtm6NO6w2kPNmaaEbv3hN-HdZv9yG-NcN1Di4lzeBF4ezdOAWSsWLTc2QqLiKe9lcTIIX34ZOJiU-IyLWO2uI7fzhAdXRuNYhP637/w400-h233/BallaratWW1Soldiersreturn1919.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Welcoming back their surviving sons and brothers to Ballarat</span></span></div><div class="separator"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1919, Victorian Collections.</span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><span><span>Because dead soldiers </span></span>were not repatriated to <b>Australia</b> from Europe during or after the <b>Great War</b>, the dead were had to be buried thousands of ks from their homes. The planting of a tree was a replacement funeral for families who could not provide a funeral for their own dead soldier-sons.</div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>Most of the cost for the plantings was met by the Lucas Girls, raised through the sale of dolls made from scraps salvaged at the <b>Lucas Clothing Factory</b>. The first planting of 1000 trees occurred in June 1917. Although winter may have been more conducive to an air of suffering rather than celebration, the Lucas Girls bravely planted the trees firmly in the ground. And for <b>Christmas 1917</b>, laurel wreaths were place by the Lucas Girls on every tree guard in the Avenue.<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhJWuZPyYuz2cOt6GP8HOQM5f1tp5llnqw7hYm04Obh-Fu-IwVSDiYA31924xy3tXixtjhMCgbEVq51n6cSKT6t61zquamHWPi76WG1ziVyfcEZx_khDjNOsv3PWX-KI6Re1PdBns0dF6kHw/s1600/BallaratRotundaWall1938.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="325" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhJWuZPyYuz2cOt6GP8HOQM5f1tp5llnqw7hYm04Obh-Fu-IwVSDiYA31924xy3tXixtjhMCgbEVq51n6cSKT6t61zquamHWPi76WG1ziVyfcEZx_khDjNOsv3PWX-KI6Re1PdBns0dF6kHw/s400/BallaratRotundaWall1938.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Memorial Rotunda, Ballarat</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1938</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2012/11/remembrance-day-in-ballarat-1914-1918.html">Ballarat Avenue of Honour </a> </b>became famous for being the first organised avenue of trees in Australia. This Avenue of Honour was a symbol that would last forever, so descendants would know how the war-generation made history for Australia and the British Empire. The creation of the movement to build the avenue was attributed to <b>Tilly Thompson</b>, director of the <b>Lucas Clothing Factory</b>. The tree planting was undertaken by 500 employees of that company, with the support of local farmers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Each tree represented a Ballarat servicemen who enlisted in WW1, and included a bronze plate with the name, battalion and tree number. The names of those brave men and women who served were derived from enlistment records and called for by the Avenue's committee through a series of newspaper articles. This included the updating of the individual plaques to reflect if a service man or woman had been killed.<div>
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<b>Victorian Premier Sir Alexander Peacock</b> wanted more trees to be planted in the near future, and said he would be pleased to attend and deliver a speech. This line of trees was then extended by a planting in Aug 1917 - with another 801 trees representing soldiers and 47 for nurses. The Avenue of Honour movement was supported by a huge crowd turned out by rail, motor-car, horse buggy and on foot. The Avenue was again extended in Sept 1917; 73 trees were planted commemorating the service of young district men in all branches of the land forces and 31 recognising the service of young locals in the Navy. Each tree was surrounded by a protective timber barrier - to which the plates bearing the soldiers name, rank and unit was affixed. <br />
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Locally, the efforts of the Lucas Clothing Co. became an example for sporting bodies etc. The <b>Ballarat Orphanage</b> held an Arbour Day in Aug 1917 to plant their own avenue marking the contributions of past inmates to WW1. And the Orphanage planted an avenue of 1200+ pine trees dedicated to the organisation's past officials and subscribers. On the main Ballarat-Beaufort Road, the <b>Ripon Shire Soldiers' Avenue of Honour</b> was opened in an Aug 1918 ceremony. In <b>Sebastopol</b> the Birdwood Ave was created and dedicated to the local young servicemen who served in WW1.</div><div>
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In June 1918 another planting saw 500 more trees planted. The sixth planting occurred in Aug 1918 - with another 530 trees added, bringing the total to 3300 trees. A special train ran from Ballarat, carrying a thousand people to the event and a carnivalesque atmosphere was created by the <b>Red Cross ladies</b>.</div>
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As a fundraising project for the maintenance of the Ballarat Avenue of Honour the Lucas Clothing Factory commissioned special edition <b>booklets marking Lucas' Appreciation of Brave Men</b>. The booklets contained lists denoting: tree number; name of the soldier associated with the tree; their date of enlistment; and name of the tree-planter. <br />
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With the cessation of hostilities in Nov 1918, the <b>Khaki Girls</b> (workers from the Commonwealth Clothing Factory) and the Lucas Girls raised £2600 for the building of the 18 metres-tall and 20 metres-wide <b>Victory Arch</b> at the Avenue’s Entrance. By Aug 1919, 3771 trees extended 22km along both sides of the Western Highway from Ballarat to Burrumbeet. <br />
<b><br />General Sir William Birdwood</b> laid the stone for the Victory Arch in Feb 1920 and presented decorations to returned service men. That June, a dense crowd watched as the Arch was officially opened by the visiting <b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2014/09/australian-ww1-widows-vs-prince-of-wales.html">Prince of Wales </a></b>- the 600 Lucas Girls in pride of place on special tiers beside the Arch. The <b>Governor-General Sir Henry Forster</b> travelled around Australia dedicating war memorials, including Ballarat in Nov 1921.<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">opening onto the Avenue of Honour</span></div>
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<div>But the <a href="https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Ballarat_Avenue_of_Honour">memorial effort went on for far longer than I had known</a>. Lucas and Co. and their employees continued to maintain the avenue with community support until 1931, when a committee was formed to take care of future maintenance. In 1934 the original Ballarat Avenue of Honour name plates fixed to the tree guards were replaced with permanent bronze name plaques. Manufactured by Mann Bros Ballarat, the plaques were hand cast in gun-metal and bolted in concrete footings at the base of each tree. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 1936 a <b>Memorial</b> <strong>Cairn </strong>and a<strong> Cross of Remembrance</strong> were erected. In 1938 a <b>Memorial Rotunda</b> was built alongside the Arch of Victory, originally containing a Book of Remembrance with the name of every person with a tree. The Ballarat Cenotaph was erected in memory of those who died in both world wars, unveiled by <b>Governor Sir Dallas Brooks</b> in Nov 1949 in front of a crowd of c3500 people.<br />
<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJDtf2eeRQlFDiF4ROFvSuo5OixJlWHMiH56Fq0xa7qrdmhyphenhyphenmc_T39CaexoDVjNeE_WK14dEIELPmM9n1Td4Dn0HrkOjGIXMzwn1d_F7KpXnUqNZN0kgSPsYLpHCf6Vz8uWVPTvmt0LuRQm4/s1600/BallaratWW1Cenotaph.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="692" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJDtf2eeRQlFDiF4ROFvSuo5OixJlWHMiH56Fq0xa7qrdmhyphenhyphenmc_T39CaexoDVjNeE_WK14dEIELPmM9n1Td4Dn0HrkOjGIXMzwn1d_F7KpXnUqNZN0kgSPsYLpHCf6Vz8uWVPTvmt0LuRQm4/s400/BallaratWW1Cenotaph.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Ballarat Cenotaph, 1949</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">built to commemorate the dead from both world wars</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Much later they included a memorial wall, with names and tree numbers inscribed, that was opened by WW2 hero <b>Sir Edward Weary Dunlop</b> in 1993. In 2011, the <b>Governor-General Quentin Bryce</b> attended the Ballarat Arch’s re-opening after restoration works.</div></div></div><div> <br />
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</div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-29049629588567810982024-01-09T18:00:00.153+11:002024-01-09T18:00:00.142+11:00Clarice Cliff: star pottery in mid C20th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdd3OVON4jrFEBjp5RPnFQDh5YQXH88Jj3XL4prCqwQzgs2mcXhpA7UZ_bLxsCwM8yyeUH7RW73BvpAWnrs8ovFhsi82jcKbGIH2BFZUfRCzEQ_Ajamem1WgEeMhV9xxbIgQDWTEmPwCkBAOLU_ydcuw1w31rsyXxMzPA4jo231RUgSRlch9mxEEQqygY2mMC2g6G/s803/Clarice1929FruitFantastique.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="797" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdd3OVON4jrFEBjp5RPnFQDh5YQXH88Jj3XL4prCqwQzgs2mcXhpA7UZ_bLxsCwM8yyeUH7RW73BvpAWnrs8ovFhsi82jcKbGIH2BFZUfRCzEQ_Ajamem1WgEeMhV9xxbIgQDWTEmPwCkBAOLU_ydcuw1w31rsyXxMzPA4jo231RUgSRlch9mxEEQqygY2mMC2g6G/s320/Clarice1929FruitFantastique.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fruit fanastique, 1929</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Clarice Cliff </b>(1899–1972) was born to Harry and Ann Cliff in Stoke-on-Trent, one of 7 children. From 13 she worked in <b>The Potteries</b>, her talent first noted in 1916 when she joined <b>Arthur Wilkinson</b>, a maker of transfer-printed earthenwares. She made her name with the brightly coloured range of <b>Art Deco</b> pottery she designed in the 1920s. Her Deco era objects, with bold floral, abstract patterns and angular shapes, included conical sugar sifters, Stamford-shaped teapots and YoYo vases.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbKyI4c_hAjwHVNRJoa86GRT82s_h8hVbDJlawrONA_MXoru4AK5PkJZ7uyALaEKch5G7zHGbvJdQ22xcJuq99yEO5uDgU8gs-xMy3_S25rUX31LINs73qSVFrLh0aYjgNOrYd_yDMH6Z5esjqUp-E4Rzv8BecwycN_IRgadcY-AvpWiKs1vA66ZKIY1hEM4U_9oI/s640/ClariceRedTreesHouses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbKyI4c_hAjwHVNRJoa86GRT82s_h8hVbDJlawrONA_MXoru4AK5PkJZ7uyALaEKch5G7zHGbvJdQ22xcJuq99yEO5uDgU8gs-xMy3_S25rUX31LINs73qSVFrLh0aYjgNOrYd_yDMH6Z5esjqUp-E4Rzv8BecwycN_IRgadcY-AvpWiKs1vA66ZKIY1hEM4U_9oI/s320/ClariceRedTreesHouses.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Red trees and houses, 1931</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div>She trained at art school and was eventually given her own studio and a team of 25+ paintresses, the <b>Bizarre Girls</b>, to work on her on more experimental wares. After the hand-painted Bizarre mark, the first stamped mark (1927) was the classic Hand Painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff <b>Newport Pottery</b>. Clarice’s 1930s abstract designs like <b>Football</b> and <b>Tennis</b> were inspired by then avant-garde <b>Cubism</b> or <b>De Stijl</b> movements she saw at the <b>Royal College of Art</b> and on trips to Paris. A Tennis pattern Meiping vase fetched £8000 at Dreweatts recently. <br /><br />In 1928 Clarice created <b>Crocus</b> flowers made from individual brushstrokes, totally hand-painted in bright colours. Orders came in quickly and in 1930 a separate décorating section was set up to meet demand. The Crocus designs were produced in large volumes, often for regular domestic use, and popular with collectors. <br /><br />Between 1932-4 Cliff was the art director for a major project involving c30 artists to promote good tableware design. The <b>Artists in Industry</b> earthen wares were produced under her direction; the famous artists included <b>Duncan Grant, Paul Nash, Barbara Hepworth and Vanessa Bell</b>. The project <b>Modern Art for the Table</b> was launched at Harrods in Oct 1934 to a mixed response. The most successful was the Circus tableware range designed by <b>Dame Laura Knight</b> in a clear linear style. <br /><br />Buyers were predominantly from British countries where Cliff was exported in the inter-War years. Bizarre and Fantasque-ware was sold in North America, Australia, N.Z, South Africa, but not in Europe. <br /><br />Clarice married her boss <b>Colley Shorter</b> in 1940 and moved to <b>Chetwynd House</b> and gardens. After Shorter died in 1963, Clarice sold the factory to <b>Midwinter</b>'s and retired to Chetwynd. Midwinter was by then the fashionable producer of modern tableware. <br /><br /><b>Brighton Museum</b> held the first Clarice Cliff Retrospective Exhibition in 1972, where she wrote catalogue notes and donated her own objects. Alas she died at Chetwynd House in Oct 1972. Brighton Museum signalled a major revival of interest in Clarice Cliff pottery. <div><br /></div><div>Four years later there was another key exhibition held at London’s <b>L'Odeon Gallery</b> where the book <b>Clarice Cliff</b> was published by Wentworth-Sheilds and Johnson. In 1977 collector <b>Leonard Griffin</b> first saw her pottery at a local Notts Antiques Fair, prompting his research in Staffordshire’s Potteries. The Potteries’ records about the shapes and designs Clarice produced prompting him to found the <b><a href="https://claricecliff.com/home">Clarice Cliff Collectors Club</a>/CCCC</b> in 1982 with just 34 members, publishing regular reviews and discovering a wide range of abstract, geometric, landscape and floral designs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZDOeb4syqHz4M698GFZK3aLD8p3I_U9Ay1-V63qhxzeoZxc06V4r-O3I_IC4Dp4pSSiT84E5B-DB5RvU2zQUbOHmYDNsI3s-_aWK5YrtvqkVn2L7mtxFZd6Gv8GEDWCJUNSfdqbnxBsdueWuWL2RVQK6d3v6_Clk0HlkaCUD8NeLRkC8BPUhRK234ZLRC0HMA-vE/s527/ClariceBizarrePicassoFlower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZDOeb4syqHz4M698GFZK3aLD8p3I_U9Ay1-V63qhxzeoZxc06V4r-O3I_IC4Dp4pSSiT84E5B-DB5RvU2zQUbOHmYDNsI3s-_aWK5YrtvqkVn2L7mtxFZd6Gv8GEDWCJUNSfdqbnxBsdueWuWL2RVQK6d3v6_Clk0HlkaCUD8NeLRkC8BPUhRK234ZLRC0HMA-vE/s320/ClariceBizarrePicassoFlower.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Odilon jug, Bizarre ware Picasso Flower pattern </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">BanfordsAuctions</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>In Jun 1983 <b>Christie’s London</b> held their first Bizarre Pottery by Clarice Cliff. In the 1980s more collectors joined the CCCC which served both keen collectors and academics. By 1988 Griffin had amassed so much information that with American collectors <b>Louis & Susan Meisel</b>, he produced a large and well illustrated book, called <b>Clarice Cliff: The Bizarre Affair</b>. This had a profound effect on Clarice Cliff collecting, CCCC conventions and exhibitions. <br /><br />In 1995 Leonard Griffin wrote <b>The Rich Designs of Clarice Cliff </b>and then a book on teapots called <b>Taking Tea with Clarice Cliff</b> (1996). This attracted many new fans to Clarice’s Bizarre pottery, selling two hardback editions. The demand for yet another Cliff book was so great he wrote <b>The Fantastic Flowers of Clarice Cliff</b> in 1998. <br /><br />By this time <b>Wedgwood </b>owned the Cliff name, and for her 1999 centenary year, they planned an exhibition. Griffin was the official consultant, and it was through the CCCC members’ generosity that 600+ pieces were assembled at <b>Barlaston Wedgwood Museum</b> Stoke-on-Trent. His centenary yearbook <b>Clarice Cliff: The Art of Bizarre</b> was published. <br /><br />In 2012 leading Clarice Cliff dealer <b>Andrew Muir</b> in Birmingham, along with <b>Fieldings Auctioneers consultant Will Farmer</b> became the new owners of the CCCClub. They planned a new internet site <u>ClariceCliff.com</u>, producing the world’s largest on-line museum of Cliff’s ceramics art. <br /><br />A table centrepiece modelled as two pairs of dancers, one of Clarice Cliff’s <b>Age of Jazz</b> figures, sold for £15,000 at <b>Woolley & Wallis</b> in March 2018. There are five figures from this 1930 series that evoked the French ceramicist <b>Robert Lallement</b> and a series of jazz musician figures. <br /><br />In the 1930s <b>Appliqué</b> range, there were patterns eg <b>Sunspots</b> from which few examples have been located. And shapes were as important as patterns eg see the distinctive conical form of sugar sifters. Rare and in superb condition, it recently sold for £8000 at Fieldings. A c1931 Appliqué plaque was painted with a stylised bird of paradise. Very rare and in superb condition, an Appliqué plaque c1931 sold for £8000 at Fieldings in Oct 2017. And a wall plaque from the Fantasque range, with Trees and House, sold for £2400 at Fieldings. <br /><br />Clarice prices peaked at 1995 and then fell. Some of the more pedestrian relief-moulded wares such as Celtic Harvest can be bought cheaply. But rarer combinations of shape and pattern fetch high prices at auction. Condition always had a bearing on value, since Cliff's overglaze hand-painted décoration tended to flaest peaked in 1980s-90s, there were regular specialist auctions at Christie’s South Kensington and some specialist antiques fair dealers. In 2003 South Kensington sold a rare charger with the loved <b>May Avenue</b> pattern for £34,000, Cliff’s auction record still. The May Avenue pattern had many of the features that Cliff collectors seek, bold designs and semi abstraction.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcEfpdEoEqBzjJtY-oQjQIFxLW9yE525fqMGy_2jvyu5xKFktVI3emb5jcTzDt_UZyRxNdo_pSIggqgTdoc6ochQXnyiER5AY_-biWoNVtI_IrqSj3PgzzJ1AFunWdZlBXmQLEqAKjE7f-MHPrWp6s4POmETwgSwu8AkKfdXL-spq6rVfavoFRgft43TXzk89CANo/s2794/ClariceMayAveTeaSet1933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="2794" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcEfpdEoEqBzjJtY-oQjQIFxLW9yE525fqMGy_2jvyu5xKFktVI3emb5jcTzDt_UZyRxNdo_pSIggqgTdoc6ochQXnyiER5AY_-biWoNVtI_IrqSj3PgzzJ1AFunWdZlBXmQLEqAKjE7f-MHPrWp6s4POmETwgSwu8AkKfdXL-spq6rVfavoFRgft43TXzk89CANo/s320/ClariceMayAveTeaSet1933.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">May Avenue patterned tea set, 1933</span></div><div><br /></div><div>The 2007 sales at Christie's was the last specialist Cliff auction and London now sells Clarice Cliff in mixed decorative pottery. However specialist sales were revived by Stourbridge firm Fieldings, with the CCCClub. A Fantasque wall plaque in the <b>Trees and House</b> pattern sold for £2400 at Fieldings in Oct 2017. Rare objects like the Age of Jazz flat-back figurines or a vase shaped as the prow of a liner (1931) fetched heaps. Lotus jugs had a great shape and the 1930 <b>Lucerne</b> pattern was a popular design in this colourful Appliqué range, making £7200 at <b>Martel Maides</b> in Sept 2011. A different lotus vase decorated in the Blue Lucerne pattern sold for £3400 at <b>Maxwells of Wilmslow</b> in Jan 2016. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv9jUNawqiOQojOMH2oo63USfF3AVBnQ2Gd_DXS_w6hI6vEWtjM_IoFqmp-Lw1nJryIizP7QCy73oCAkM-y4VnQ9PW34xS11_gOT6qH36VclSoo8BnhQpsPf9vkg53ruhSPxujtzn8lc_NhGkvFMhGLq2VHCKdCocmZhqDoiO3Z1t13t73dwvMzcDT9UJ3Z3vF2ET/s1963/ClariceLinerProw1931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1963" data-original-width="1457" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv9jUNawqiOQojOMH2oo63USfF3AVBnQ2Gd_DXS_w6hI6vEWtjM_IoFqmp-Lw1nJryIizP7QCy73oCAkM-y4VnQ9PW34xS11_gOT6qH36VclSoo8BnhQpsPf9vkg53ruhSPxujtzn8lc_NhGkvFMhGLq2VHCKdCocmZhqDoiO3Z1t13t73dwvMzcDT9UJ3Z3vF2ET/s320/ClariceLinerProw1931.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">vase shaped as prow of a liner, 1931</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>You’ll enjoy <b><a href="https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/collecting-guides/clarice-cliff/#:~:text=In%202003%20Christie's%20sold%20a,auction%20record%20for%20Clarice%20Cliff">Antiques Gazette</a></b></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-71269801728762880762024-01-06T06:00:00.006+11:002024-01-07T16:11:34.223+11:00Re-analysing old history is valuable: Bayeux Tapestry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TyqWaKIWbzyNN0L8cR_BO-o_RB-hsXUl43AAd0dMKmB2wTWZHaTlyX3JeTLjzriV1YHXyj5cDoniwXgH4ID0VcOfSDHN_2w2dsA4DauSuOhq9SUbiHcziYrtAGpRv2LliuMzeEoL1icoWRI/s300/BayeuxMap.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TyqWaKIWbzyNN0L8cR_BO-o_RB-hsXUl43AAd0dMKmB2wTWZHaTlyX3JeTLjzriV1YHXyj5cDoniwXgH4ID0VcOfSDHN_2w2dsA4DauSuOhq9SUbiHcziYrtAGpRv2LliuMzeEoL1icoWRI/w303-h320/BayeuxMap.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Map of Normandy in France and Hastings in England</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Khan Academy</span></div><div><br /></div>Consider the issue of re-writing history over time, even when the original sources was well accepted. When reading <b>Marco Polo</b>’s writing for example, despite it being of endless historical and literary value, historians have recognised mistakes, exaggerations and omissions. <br /><br />Now <b><a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/norman/edgar-aetheling-who-why-missing-bayeux-tapestry/">David Musgrove and Michael Lewis</a></b> suggest we re-analyse the magnificent <b>Bayeux Tapestry</b> regarding the 1066 Norman Conquest. As its key narrative, the Tapestry recorded the clash between <b>England’s King Harold II Godwinson</b> and <b>Duke William of Normandy</b>. But it omitted key elements: a] other battles in northern England and b] <b>Edgar Ætheling</b>. Those bits have been largely lost to history. <br /><br />The Tapestry started with <b>King Edward The Confessor</b> with his leading <b>Earl Harold</b> in Westminster. Harold left for the coast, crossed the Channel and entered Duke William’s court in Normandy. The pair then conducted a successful military campaign against rebels in Brittany. <u>Harold made an oath to William, in support of William’s claim to England’s throne</u>. <br /><br />The Earl returned to King Edward’s court, where that monarch died and was buried in Westminster. Harold immediately took the throne, in breach of the sacred oath he made in Normandy. William heard of the betrayal, built a fleet, assembled an army, crossed the Channel and waited for Harold. Harold brought his own force to <b>Hastings</b>, where he was killed and his army defeated; <b>William was crowned in Westminster, Christmas Day 1066</b>. <br /><br />But the images were open to interpretation; even in 1066 there were different views about what led to the Norman conquest. <b><u>Ambiguity</u></b> in the Bayeux Tapestry was everywhere<br /><br />Worse still were the <b><u>omissions</u></b>. When Duke William landed at Pevensey, King Harold was already engaged in the north. He’d recently fought another contender for his throne, <b>Norwegian King Harald Hardrada</b>, who in alliance with Harold’s own brother <b>Earl Tostig</b>, had defeated an English army. Harold then crushed Hardrada-Tostig at the battle of Stamford Bridge, a victory later undone in the <b>Battle of Hastings</b> defeat. <br /><br />Earl Tostig was installed as Earl of Northumbria by Edward the Confessor in 1055. But the inhabitants of Northumbria rebelled against him in 1065, ?because he was trying to introduce new taxes in the semi-autonomous north. Remember this had been the <b>Danelaw</b>, under the jurisdiction of the <b>Vikings</b>. Tostig grumbled, first setting out for his wife’s lands in Flanders, and then to the Scottish king, before ending u with Harald Hardrada. <br /><br />NB Harold’s long march south to Hastings wasn’t in the Bayeux Tapestry ?because the Normans were not interested in these conflicts. Duke William didn't want the inclusion of these battles to cloud the viewer’s understanding. <br /><br />And what happened to Edgar Ætheling? England had been ruled by the Danish King from 1016-35, then by his sons!! So as Edward’s reign progressed from 1042, having no obvious heir to Edward caused panic. Indeed efforts were being made to find the kin of Edward’s half-brother <b>King Edmund Ironside</b>, who’d reigned briefly before losing in a battle. In any case, a Norman king would have been unacceptable to the English elite.<br /><br />In 1057 Prince Edward Ætheling came back to England from exile just as Uncle King Edward died. Happily Edward brought his toddler son, <b>Edgar Ætheling</b>. Did King Edward raise him as his natural successor? <br /><br />Edward and Edgar’s histories were not in the Tapestry at all, except for the deathbed scene of the ailing king, showing Edward touching hands with Earl Harold, alongside the Queen. Did this show King Edward contented that Edgar would succeed him as king? <br /><br />The Bayeux Tapestry showed Harold being offered the crown by two members of the Council of Ministers. He was then anointed king. But Edgar had been stitched out of the Tapestry altogether. Was he seen as too young? <br /><br />In Jan 1066, after the old king died, England was facing a crisis. Whatever the nature of any promise to Duke William by King Edward in 1051, affirmed by Harold himself en route to Normandy in 1064, they knew William would claim the crown by force. And it was known that King Harald Hardrada might try, via his Scandinavian roots, to take lands claimed in northern England. <br /><br />But historians know that after King Harold’s death at Hastings, and the advance of the Norman army north, London’s citizens chose Edgar as king. So Edgar was excluded from the Bayeux Tapestry for another reason: it was <b><u>politically expedient to remove him</u></b>. <br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit62N-0FWb6ThBPKHccu2ILXyL_NCruM2EflGYpZ_41uxrmFiZ8fBRAlCK-0Y6fWjXGycVymrkQHIKR_Ts98FbOQXny0TCwm2kgy7LX0P19qxlfVOxIm1hW2nZGH3ImVQkEgCMKyvTTEIfKIY/s976/BayeuxWilliamCrowned.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="976" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit62N-0FWb6ThBPKHccu2ILXyL_NCruM2EflGYpZ_41uxrmFiZ8fBRAlCK-0Y6fWjXGycVymrkQHIKR_Ts98FbOQXny0TCwm2kgy7LX0P19qxlfVOxIm1hW2nZGH3ImVQkEgCMKyvTTEIfKIY/w400-h189/BayeuxWilliamCrowned.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">William was crowned</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxOMxG7jnA66sQul8-TFwfcUyBEZvOe3Nt2CyoK0SROIhjJwD74SlOZlJOGq53Elepd3xPokZFybk6rZ22MTth0rIQK-ejY-88lzM1JBNSvY6LhdMzpyI5sRvfeWFBezjot7mErq5wAMahbk/s880/BayeuxTapestry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxOMxG7jnA66sQul8-TFwfcUyBEZvOe3Nt2CyoK0SROIhjJwD74SlOZlJOGq53Elepd3xPokZFybk6rZ22MTth0rIQK-ejY-88lzM1JBNSvY6LhdMzpyI5sRvfeWFBezjot7mErq5wAMahbk/w400-h225/BayeuxTapestry.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">King Edward with Earl Harold</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOvJeRHtvygzKT3OUAgDzagtFooSxSZfCHSFrD4oBTTtfXtB7YV57epbwxRhJkvdjAVnrztiQ4rMS8KlgyOSfSIDrmAnhiGP3iXMZOpLnRBjH06EvzRF7o_caXxojLXN2BsCn7SIciju4Lhg/s934/BayeuxNormanShipsHorses.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="934" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOvJeRHtvygzKT3OUAgDzagtFooSxSZfCHSFrD4oBTTtfXtB7YV57epbwxRhJkvdjAVnrztiQ4rMS8KlgyOSfSIDrmAnhiGP3iXMZOpLnRBjH06EvzRF7o_caXxojLXN2BsCn7SIciju4Lhg/w400-h214/BayeuxNormanShipsHorses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Norman ships</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikH16fPU7XGvjuNwa1fsOZgIUF5QsYNaWGICHoebdKVTLMEjm2fdBldYQmw65wJXym95NKAHGUESbQQXSLVbfnyq8ooniq4O3tOa-ExVP6qQPZWYtA8vdhdNdc8dh2iHFMk9Q9YAtoYwKqXZs/s574/BayeuxDeathKingHarold.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="574" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikH16fPU7XGvjuNwa1fsOZgIUF5QsYNaWGICHoebdKVTLMEjm2fdBldYQmw65wJXym95NKAHGUESbQQXSLVbfnyq8ooniq4O3tOa-ExVP6qQPZWYtA8vdhdNdc8dh2iHFMk9Q9YAtoYwKqXZs/w400-h349/BayeuxDeathKingHarold.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Death of King Harold</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSW5MWLTeYsICczjB_ADIPqktV69820oanj5NlS3x4GqA3qcr0A7Q27MXwRurEQeWEaoRZ9eZB4clmbwC2m8IiTGbYxAhEhOSc2t63yElaLMZr9LduKBLlIH2hM8aySTcEtJvQ6p7rHlHQfIo/s1600/BayeuxBattleHastings.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSW5MWLTeYsICczjB_ADIPqktV69820oanj5NlS3x4GqA3qcr0A7Q27MXwRurEQeWEaoRZ9eZB4clmbwC2m8IiTGbYxAhEhOSc2t63yElaLMZr9LduKBLlIH2hM8aySTcEtJvQ6p7rHlHQfIo/w400-h225/BayeuxBattleHastings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Battle of Hastings</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2012/12/bayeux-tapestry-pornography.html">Bishop Odo of Bayeux</a></b>, William’s half-brother, played an important role in making the Bayeux Tapestry, as an advisor at Hastings. In written records, Odo was less prominent than he appeared in the Tapestry, so the actual needlework was probably carried out under Odo’s patronage for <u><b>self glorification</b></u>. If the Bayeux Tapestry was to glorify Odo’s role in the Norman Conquest, then it was politically wise not to show Prince Edgar's legitimate future in his account.</div><div><br />Historians believed the Tapestry accurately showed a version of the Norman conquest that suited a situation soon after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when the Normans were trying to appease the English, not dominate them. The Tapestry had been rooted in the politics, until <b><u>the politics changed</u></b>! By 1069–70 with the Harrying of the North, William’s patience with the English ended. The embroidery’s version of the Conquest was by then unfashionable!<br /><br />After William the Conqueror’s death in 1087, Edgar got further into Anglo-Scottish politics, leading an English army north with King William II’s backing, and having his own nephew enthroned. After that he became a crusader in the Holy Land, returning via the Byzantine and German empires. Yet Edgar remained an undocumented figure, because the Tapestry <b><u>omitted his story</u></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Was history written by the victor, not just on the field, but also for posterity? Read <b><a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/medieval-europe-islamic-world/a/bayeux-tapestry">The Bayeux Tapestry</a></b> by Dr K Tanton. Photo credits: <a href="https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/">Bayeux Museum</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-32957050974468217172024-01-02T18:00:00.015+11:002024-01-02T18:00:00.158+11:00Designing quality working class housing: Prince Albert!<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvI0KlFIeyZw5GPD-I-qFLa81bhEcas1ogFMb_EYMiM32Xnmgv5PeB2u-6wiXmUaES7LmIDvnWqNcdXJD8GNy2LE1m07h8hoodXNnYDtnB50yWbuKi3Jp4h2V4g46PlLSintxuRg3pvok_LSI/s1118/PrinceAlbertQueenVictoria1854.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="894" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvI0KlFIeyZw5GPD-I-qFLa81bhEcas1ogFMb_EYMiM32Xnmgv5PeB2u-6wiXmUaES7LmIDvnWqNcdXJD8GNy2LE1m07h8hoodXNnYDtnB50yWbuKi3Jp4h2V4g46PlLSintxuRg3pvok_LSI/w320-h400/PrinceAlbertQueenVictoria1854.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Prince Albert studying, Queen Victoria looking on</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1859</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The early <b>C19th saw rapid industrialisation & urbanisation in the UK</b>. With it came a heap of related problems such as deficiencies in <b>housing, sanitation, public health and education</b>. The dominant laissez-faire ideology suggested that unregulated market activity would ensure the welfare of all by providing the conditions for each individual to maximise their own individual success. So the deterioration of the living conditions of the urban working classes at a time of rising wealth was perplexing. Was there something seriously inept about the working classes which prevented them seizing the opportunities presented to them, or was there was something wrong with the ruling analysis and understanding of a market economy?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Victoria and Albert married in 1840</b> when the nation already needed some sort of collective response. Many voluntary and charitable organisations sprung up to address the issues eg <b>Ragged Schools</b> (starting 1844) which tackled education and SICLC which addressed housing.<br /><br /><b><a href="Prince Albert's Secret Papers - | SBS On Demand">HRH Prince Albert’s Secret Papers</a></b> discussed how turmoil spread across Europe in <b>1848</b>, and thousands of workers gathered in London demanding the right to vote. Albert understood that the world was changing and felt deeply about the plight of labourers and the poor. But the Prince was ahead of many landowners who approved of child labour and opposed Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws.<br /><br />And another passion. The <b><a href="Great Exhibition of 1851 ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly: The Great Exhibition of London and Augustus Pugin (melbourneblogger.blogspot.com">Great Exhibition of 1851</a></b> was a direct result the annual exhibitions of the <b>Society of Arts</b>, of which Albert was President from 1843. It is not overstating history to say that the brilliant <b>Crystal Palace</b> event owed much of its success to the Prince.<br /><br />That the Prince was committed to the design and construction of social housing should not have surprised the upper classes. He believed that building working class homes constituted the first step towards improving the life of the working class. Providing them with cheery, comfortable homes would result in improved health, sobriety and domestic peace, especially in conjunction with education and employment opportunities.<br /><br />Because of the Prince’s keen interest in working class conditions, he became the <b>Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes</b>SICLC's first president in 1844. At exactly the same time, the <b>SICLC’s honorary architect Henry Roberts</b> was becoming very involved in the design of model housing for the poor. The Prince commissioned Henry Roberts to design and build a 2-storey model working class house to display at the 1851 Great Exhibition Hyde Park. Paid for by Prince Albert, it became world-famous and Robert’s designs were exemplars for decades to come eg in Stepney and Kensington in London.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpO8ZDON6aRtjVKAjO_61wvPPGLOnlZlk28g6vwKxyrHjdBvpIuInhv1lspNhwy4BrPUZ0e-FCEFb71FhRCKLlHDx1TDlxm9VKGDDrWtrTOj2iPOYLYONv5NecsOsHMnNpBdzGTEn1pz_xk0/s406/PrinceAlbertPlans.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="406" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpO8ZDON6aRtjVKAjO_61wvPPGLOnlZlk28g6vwKxyrHjdBvpIuInhv1lspNhwy4BrPUZ0e-FCEFb71FhRCKLlHDx1TDlxm9VKGDDrWtrTOj2iPOYLYONv5NecsOsHMnNpBdzGTEn1pz_xk0/w400-h289/PrinceAlbertPlans.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Model housing design for two families</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">by SICLC’s architect Henry Roberts</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">click to expand</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU0fwRgZktuyw1oz2YTqlq70STCFPIVoxkKAdcdG7VoL8t3VO9bO6bqCPiDLXjxVFoKgduHDZIpbms8tn891STI6M1TR5VHogLQ9UQ8jRmz0W5IewKxBzCEKBXJWsgQdxQs5S32EKQp-Vpjo/s550/PrinceAlbertModelHouse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="545" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU0fwRgZktuyw1oz2YTqlq70STCFPIVoxkKAdcdG7VoL8t3VO9bO6bqCPiDLXjxVFoKgduHDZIpbms8tn891STI6M1TR5VHogLQ9UQ8jRmz0W5IewKxBzCEKBXJWsgQdxQs5S32EKQp-Vpjo/w396-h400/PrinceAlbertModelHouse.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">Painting of model house for 4 families</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">based on SICLC’s architect Henry Roberts</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>The model working-class house was placed outside Crystal Palace at the Knightsbridge cavalry barracks; all visitors could enter for free, and 250,000+ people did! Each visitor received a floor plan of the model house to take away.<br /><br />Henry Roberts’ <b>model cottage housed 4 families,</b> with two flats on each level. To improve conditions for the workers, Robert’s cottages had to provide decent accommodation for the hardworking, labouring types: simple, robust and economical. As the plan shows, each family was given a living room, kitchen-scullery, 3 bedrooms, running water and an internal toilet but no bathroom. It provided that separation which is so essential to family morality and decency.<br /><br />The open staircase gave access to the flats on the upper level which has since been enclosed, and the doors on the left-hand side were later bricked in. And a porch was later added to the back of the cottage when it was moved. Along the front of the house, mosaic tiles on the cornices spelled out Victoria and Albert’s initials intertwined.<br /><br />Just as important as the social value of these prototypes was their ability to make a profit. A SICLC brochure calculated the house would offer investors a 7% return. The house personified the spirit of the Victorian era, combining philanthropy with efficiency and order.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZeahXi8GShQhaqM0GkLwyF3gUQ-SmNMOwqFMYV9LhjbemroO80baeHj7FgiA1_qhU5_Imx-KP-wiagR2FfXwUf42OIpXMv0jQdZWlAGZlc-xpK-cvVh5GxC_Sw9Y9E4IQNa8cdaqHCfUDW8/s444/PrinceAlbertModelHouse1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="444" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZeahXi8GShQhaqM0GkLwyF3gUQ-SmNMOwqFMYV9LhjbemroO80baeHj7FgiA1_qhU5_Imx-KP-wiagR2FfXwUf42OIpXMv0jQdZWlAGZlc-xpK-cvVh5GxC_Sw9Y9E4IQNa8cdaqHCfUDW8/w400-h321/PrinceAlbertModelHouse1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">The original model house for 4 working families</div><div style="text-align: center;">designed for HRH Prince Albert</div><div style="text-align: center;">and built at the Great Exhibition, 1851</div></span></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcuNH7HKOO_MgUrQsHffm3xezpAXG7qeCOhI6CzAaBoETfORP8Bl6sHsvUf8I_Y6do2tMILHf0xd1ywoFOE1w6DhOy9E64cSxpbSwTppSu7zbZbZpnKC9dMMa7e-Ald30BzsbNtKc-WhZCTo/s575/PrinceAlbertHouseHerts.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="575" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcuNH7HKOO_MgUrQsHffm3xezpAXG7qeCOhI6CzAaBoETfORP8Bl6sHsvUf8I_Y6do2tMILHf0xd1ywoFOE1w6DhOy9E64cSxpbSwTppSu7zbZbZpnKC9dMMa7e-Ald30BzsbNtKc-WhZCTo/w400-h284/PrinceAlbertHouseHerts.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A replica was built in other places, including Cowbridge, Hertford.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Built by The Hertford Building Co, on land given by Baron Dimsdale.</div></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Not surprisingly the houses proved <a href="Barbara Leckie, “Prince Albert’s Exhibition Model Dwellings” | BRANCH (branchcollective.org">very popular</a> with the visitors, but not allThe Illustrated London News called the model houses "a contribution not less important, and in many respects far more interesting than most of the works of art and utility within...His Royal Highness ... could have devised no more appropriate contribution to the extraneous utility of the Exhibition than this unpretending block of buildings". After the closure of the Exhibition, construction of 2 groups of houses based on Prince Albert and Henry Robert's model began.<br /><br />After the massive<b> </b><a href="https://www.kenningtonpark.org/copy-of-history"><b>Chartist</b> gathering seeking electoral reforms back in 1848</a>, Kennington Common had been fenced off. This all changed when Kennington Park beame South London’s first public park. The original Model Cottage was dismantled in 1852 and re-assembled on the edge of Kennington Park, in working class South London. Today it remains between Oval and Kennington tube stations. The gardens around the house were laid out in 1861, the very year Prince Albert died.<br /><br />Photo credits: <b><a href="https://thelondonphile.com/2012/05/02/prince-alberts-model-cottages/">thelondonfile</a></b><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com24