Sorry Mom, sorry Dad!

I told myself I'd never get too personal on my blog, but I can't help it...I'm so in love with my new magic haircut. I don't really "get out" all that much though, so I don't get to show it off! Sorry guys! And sorry parents, don't disown me!
It's magic! It's short on this side...
and long on this side!
These things make me happy

And now for the thinking part...
When I first started drawing girls and using magazines for reference, I would say "screw actually looking at the magazine! I'll just get inspiration from it, and change the parts that are too hard to draw" and I made lots of wonky pictures. Then a couple years later I got all serious and crap and started studying the magazines more, trying to get all the anatomy better and ignoring all the cute details that had distracted me before. Now I'm bored of being studious and I'm back to using magazines mostly for inspiration.
I like how this girl turned out. I'm curious about other artists that use photos for reference...what features on this girl would you have pushed further? I ignored her face and drew a somewhat generic one, and took more interest in her funny standing pose and hair shape. I added the lip sticking out because I thought the girl's pulled up turtleneck was so cute. I should have made it stick out more!

Wrestling in 1500

"In Saint George’s name commence, and show to the first, over the
opponent.High or low movements, this is how the wrestling begins."

"When he holds himself completely erect and braces from behind, thus you have
him in the Hacken (Leg Hook). So use this technique, that is called the Sthragft."

"When he will pull your Hacken from his leg. Thus use this
technique. It is called the Rigel (bar or barrier). "

"Then he has lifted you completely and has made you come against your will. So use the technique that you see here.Thus he must let go of you or you break his arm."

"The opponent grabs you first.Thus use this
technique, it is called the Abstok (pinning down)."

This treatise from ~1505 by Hans Wurm is another in the large body of illustrated German combat manuals, the Fechtbücher. It continues a tradition of describing the kampfringen - a system of combat grappling or wrestling originating with the teachings of Ott Judd from ~the early 15th century.

• 23 woodcuts are included in the manual and they serve as a reminder of how bad block colouring can be. It is certainly a very early example of a wrestling manual but it is unlikely to have been the first. All the plates from Das Ringersbuch by Hans Wurm are displayed at the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts website. They have also included a translation and commentary.
• It's arguably easier to view the images at this photo-server because they have posted 3 different sizes. The large images at the ARMA site take a long time to load.
• Timeline of the Fechtbücher.
• Interestingly enough, there is a Catholic Academy of Sacramental Combat Arts website which attempts to project a religious dimension onto Wurm's book. (I mostly posted this link because of the website title. Easily amused? Sometimes.)

Ballet Sketch

Spanish Dance

Afro-Congo Ballet

Bacchanale

Fire study 3. Theatre des Champs Elysees, July 4, 1927.

Congo Dancer Rowan Maiden

Joseph Paget-Fredericks (1905-1963) inherited his parents love for collecting theatre memorabilia and studied art at the University of California and in Europe. His family had close ties to the elite ballet companies and he was appointed Artistic Director for Anna Pavlova's world tours in the early 1930s.

He went on to become the first lecturer in dance in the United States, taught colour and design and released several childrens books; and also a book about Pavlova from a planned series of ballet recollection pieces.

The online version of the Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Dance Collection, ca. 1913-1945 consists of 8 thumbnail pages (3 of photographs) of 368 images at UC Berkley's Bancroft Library. The material is either original drawings by Paget-Fredericks or material he collected. It would be fair to say that Anna Pavlova dominates the web collection, one way or another. Summary and biography.

"The categories by subject include: Isadora Duncan; Loie Fuller; Vaslav Nijinsky; Anna Pavlova; Ruth St. Denis; other dancers; decor and costume designs for ballets; other figure and costume studies; illustrations and graphic design; miscellaneous drawings and paintings; juvenilia; historic dance costumes; printed pictures and clippings; photographic prints; portraits; and works by other artists in various media."

Coins and Conscience

La Poire Tapée
Lithograph by unknown artist ~1848
"A pear-headed [King] Louis-Philippe runs from an angry crowd while money falls out of abag he carries. The title is a play on words—it can mean a pear that has been dried in the oven, or it can refer to the slang meaning of "taper," to borrow money from someone."

Marriage for Wealth Officiated by the Devil
Engraving by Jan Saenredam ~1600
"The second of three numbered engravings after Goltzius called the Marriage Trilogy. A devil joins the hands of a couple as she blows a stream of coins and smoke, symbolizing the transience of honor and material possessions."

The Two Deaths
Late 16th century engraving by Hieronymus Wierx after Marten de Vos
"A narrative in two parts. At left, a pious man receives riches from heaven; at right, Death prepares to strike a miser amidst his wealth."

[detail from above]

The Unhappy Lot of the Rich
Engraving by Phillip Galle 1563
"Plate one of his series of six engravings after Heemskerck with this title, published in 1563. A later state, shown here, called Divitum Misera Sors, was issued by Joannes Galle. Illustration of Matthew 19:23-24. A rich man tries to enter the gate to Heaven, but his money bags hold him back. Behind him, three men try to lead a camel through the eye of a needle."

De Beurs Stock Exchange
Early 17th century engraving by unknown artist
"The Amsterdam exchange, situated on the Amstel River, was designed by Hendrick de Keijser and opened in 1611. Trading was carried on in the open inner court."
(still going)

Der Bruder Esel mit dem Gelt [detail]
"An ass is pictured defecating coins while peasants, merchants, and noblemen run to catch them."

Midas, Transmuting all into Gold Paper
Engraving by James Gillray 1797
"[S]atire on the creation of legal tender bank notes by the Bank of England. William Pitt is pictured spewing paper money out of his mouth, while gold coins are locked up in his stomach."

Le Cornard Contant
Early 17th century engraving by CLD Ciatres
"Possibly a plate from his Oiseaux et Grotesques. The "happy cuckold" does not mind his lost honor, because his "horns of plenty" bring him immeasurable happiness. (French caption)."

Coins and Conscience - Popular Views of Money, Credit and Speculation is a presentation of 70 satirical, allegorical, religious, parodic and caricaturic prints (among some other faithfully rendered works) from the Bleichroeder Collection at Harvard Business School's Baker Library.

I think this is a brand new exhibition, which I found completely by accident, searching for a map of all things. There are high resolution images available and I know I've posted a couple of these prints before, including yesterday, but these Harvard files are of a very high quality. The exhibition includes an introductory essay.

Monster Devilry

(after) Liber Floridus by Lambert de Saint-Omer : 'Le diable Beenoth'
15th century parchment miniature from Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Le grand diable d'argent : patron de la finance (the great money devil)
undated but the printer was active 19th century.
from: Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires

Le Loup Garou : The text beneath reads something like:
'The ferocious beast named hyena eats humans, particularly women and children, tearing out their hearts and ripping off their heads. It reeked carnage in the Auvergne region of France'.
This copper plate engraving bears the date 1767.
from: Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires

Approximately says: The state of a sinner in denial who thinks of other things
that he sees around him and in his soul (at least, that's what I think it says)
17th/18th century
from: Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires

Frontpiece by Phillip Galle for a late 16th century edition of the
Hunting series of illustrations by Johannes Stradanus.
from: Musée National de la Renaissance, Ecouen.

Harpie Male ~1840
either a newspaper broadsheet or a print (text down either side of the illustration) from: Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires

All these images were found wandering around L’agence Photographique section of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux. I actually went looking for a few of these images at their original repositories but I couldn't find them so I think the RMN has the only copies of example images for some of the institutions it represents. There are paintings and sculptures and pottery etc.
Love the monsters. [1st & 3rd images are slightly retouched]
Addit: english search page

Pan Pipes

(retouched)

The son of a lithographer, Englishman Walter Crane (1845-1915) was a leading children's book illustrator during the latter stages of the 19th century. He also enjoyed modest success with his oil paintings.

His lavish illustrations accompany 40 traditional songs in Pan-Pipes, first released in 1883. [Thanks to Meggiecat - this is a wonderful site!]

Erbario di Firenze

This (anonymous I assume) Florentine manuscript from the latter part of the 15th century is online at the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence via F. Datini. So it predates Aldrovandus (Ulisse Aldrovandi).

Persian Splendour

1308

1595

1624

1620

1624

1444

1444

1392

1388

Splendeurs Persan at the BNF.