A fine art, film, history and literature site oriented to, but not exclusively for, the gay community. Please be aware that there is mature content on this blog. Information on images and links to sources will be provided if known. Enjoy your visit and please subscribe.
Gustav Doré, Lithograph for “Puss in Boots”, 1864
This lillustrative work “Puss in Boots” is from Gustave Doré’s 1864 edition of “Histoires ou contes du Temps Passe”,or “Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times with Morals”. It was a collection of literary fairy tales written by Charles Perrault, originally published in 1697.
Photographer Unknown, (The Trinity)
Piotr Bemben, The Raven Tattoo
Year: Day to Day Men: March 6
Embossed in Every Song
The sixth of March in 1665 marks the publishing of the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science. Published under the name “Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society”, this journal of natural philosophy, the equivalent of what is today science, is also the world’s longest published scientific journal.
The first issue of “Transactions”, printed in London, was edited and published by the Royal Society’s first secretary Henry Oldenberg. The Society had resolved that the council’s minutes be composed by the secretary and printed on the first Monday of every month; any tracts published were to be revised before publication and became the property of the Royal Society. Oldenberg printed the journal at his own personal expense and was allowed by the society to retain any resulting profits. He published one hundred-thirty six issues of the “Transactions” with no financial gain except the cost of rent on his house.
The “Transactions” was a well-regulated scientific journal. At its inception, regulation in the form of registering the author and date, peer review, dissemination and archiving published articles were all implemented. Oldenberg envisioned the published journal as a collective notebook between scientists to examine new ideas and discoveries. Issue number one contained articles on the improvement of optic glasses, the first report on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, new whale fishing in the Bermudas, and chemist Robert Boyle’s article “Experimental History of Cold”.
Although many readers saw the journal as the official periodical of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenberg always claimed that “Transactions” was entirely his sole enterprise. From this understanding, Oldenberg retained the prospect of financial gain and credibility by association, and the Royal Society enjoyed communicating advances in science without being directly responsible for its content. It should be understood that at this time in England, publications were heavily regulated and the idea of a free press did not exist. The first English newspaper, The London Gazette, at its appearance in November of 1665 was still an official organ of the government.
In 1752, the Royal Society took control of the “Philosophical Transactions” and, as such, published it for the sole use and benefit of the society. The journal was financed through membership’s subscriptions and was edited by the society’s Committee of Papers. Although the society’s secretaries were responsible for management decisions such as printing and distribution, editorial control was done through the Committee of Papers’s weekly meetings. Records were kept regarding the authors, the source of the work, and the date the scientific paper was presented to the committee.
Over the years, controls on membership to the Royal Society as well as the articles published in its journal became stricter. Both a more limited membership to protect the society’s reputation and a stricter peer review of articles were established. In 1887, the “Transactions” journal was separated into two categories, physical science and biological science. Sectional committees were established to cover mathematics, botany, zoology, physiology, geology as well as chemistry and physics. From 1896, authors were expected to present manuscripts in a standardized format and style; typed papers were later required to reduce errors in and speed up the process of printing.
Today “Transactions” is an established, world-wide scientific journal with about eighty-per cent of its peer-reviewed articles coming from non-United Kingdom authors. The editing is accomplished through a large professional in-house staff with a group of research Fellows assigned for each category of science. The role of the Committee of Papers was abolished and two Fellows now act as journal editors assisted by associate editors from each category. In 1997, the “Transactions” began to be published online. Articles throughout its history have included Isaac Newton’s “New Theory about Light and Colors”, Michael Faraday’s “Experimental Relations of Gold and Other Metals to Light” and Alan Turing’s 1952 “On the Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis”, among others.
Sven Fennema, Photo from the “Into the Light” Series, Crossed Light
Wouter Ransijn
Top Two Photos by: Ben Szabo
Bottom Photo : Unknown Photographer
Pelle Swedlund, “Gripsholm”, 1913, Oil on Canvas, 96 x 83,5 cm, Private Collection
Pelle Swedlund was a Swedish painter and curator at Thiel Gallery in Stockholm. He was a pupil at the Swedish Academy (1889-92) and completed his education in Paris and Brittany, where he met Paul Gauguin and together they experimented in making woodcuts. His contact with the Nabis circle of painters lead him in 1898 to visit Bruges, a place which was to fascinate and inspire him throughout his career.
At the turn of the century, Bruges, which was known as Bruges-La-Morte following Georges Rodenbach’s novel of that title, was a cult gathering place for Symbolist and mystical painters and writers and was particularly significant for Pelle Swedlund.
Reblogged with thanks to http://ufansius.tumblr.com
The Mower of the Future
This awesome mower certainly claimed to do it all! It will tend to the lawn, do your chores and even run your errands, all the while allowing you to ride inside an air cooled bubble!
Aaron Coleman, “The Flight Of A Torn Kite”, 2014, Five-Color Lithograph, 30.5 x 40.6 cm, Private Collection
Aaron S. Coleman is an artist and educator living in Dekalb, Illinois. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Northern Illinois University in the spring of 2013. Aaron is a mixed media printmaker utilizing mezzotint, lithography, intaglio, relief and serigraphy to create works focused on political and social commentary. He combines imagery from comic books and stained glass windows to raise questions concerning misconstrued belief systems and twisted moral values in our society.
Aaron is an adjunct instructor at Northern Illinois University where he teaches various printmaking courses. He also teaches traditional stone lithography at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative and drawing at Elgin community College. Aaron stays in tune with the printmaking community, organizing portfolio exchanges and exhibiting both nationally and internationally. In 2012 he organized an international mezzotint exchange titled “Both Sides Of The Brain” which hosted 17 artists from 6 different countries. The portfolio was exhibited across the U.S. at several universities and galleries.
Caitlin Burns, (The Storm Clouds), Computer Graphics, Animation Gif
Reblogged with many thanks to the artist’s site: caitlinburns
Fernando O’Connor, “Amarillo”, 2011, Oil and Charcoal on Canvas
Argentinean artist Fernando O’Connor started his career as a hyperrealist painter in the early 90’s as a result of his interest in the human figure. In time, that interest spread to other shapes and forms. Today, O’Connor’s work reflects the marriage of these two interests as it remains consistently evident in the unique composition of each paintings.
O’Connor continues to live and work in Buenos Aires.
Reblogged with thanks to https://k250966.tumblr.com
Robert Glen, “Mustangs”, Williams Square, Las Colinas, Irving, Texas
The sculpture commemorates the wild mustangs that were historically important inhabitants of much of Texas. It portrays a group at 1.5 times life size, running through a watercourse, with fountains giving the effect of water splashed by the animals’ hooves. The horses are intended to represent the drive, initiative and unfettered lifestyle that were fundamental to the state in its pioneer days.
The work was commissioned in 1976 and installed in 1984. SWA Group’s design created a shallow watercourse extending 400 feet (130 m) from northeast to southwest across Williams Square, a gently sloping granite-paved open space about 300 feet (110 m) square. The plaza setting for the sculpture won a National Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Photographer Unknown, (The Nature Photographer)
A Year: Day to Day Men: 5th of March
The White Stetson
On March 5, 1616, Nicolaus Copernicus’s book “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” is added to the index of Forbidden Books by the Roman Catholic Church.
“On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” is the seminal work on the heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system by the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The book, first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, offered an alternative model of the universe to Ptolemy’s geocentric system (earth-centered), which had been popular since ancient times.
Copernicus argued that the universe comprised eight spheres. The outermost consisted of motionless, fixed stars, with the Sun motionless at the center. The known planets revolved about the Sun, each in its own sphere, in the order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. The Moon, however, revolved in its sphere around the Earth. What appeared to be the daily revolution of the Sun and fixed stars around the Earth was actually the Earth’s daily rotation on its own axis.
Very soon, Copernicus’ theory was attacked with Scripture and with the common Aristotelian proofs. In 1549 Melanchthon, Martin Luther’s principal lieutenant, wrote against Copernicus, pointing to the theory’s apparent conflict with Scripture and advocating that “severe measures” be taken to restrain the impiety of Copernicans. The works of Copernicus and Zúñiga—the latter for asserting that Copernicus’ book was compatible with Catholic faith—were placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of March 5, 1616 (more than 70 years after its publication).
Copernicus’ book was not formally banned but merely withdrawn from circulation, pending “corrections” that would clarify the theory’s status as hypothesis. Nine sentences that represented the heliocentric system as certain were to be omitted or changed. After these corrections were prepared and formally approved in 1620 the reading of the book was permitted. But the book was never reprinted with the changes and was available in Catholic jurisdictions only to suitably qualified scholars, by special request. It remained on the Index until 1758, whenPope Benedict XIV (1740–58) removed the uncorrected book from his revised Index.
