Month: October 2018

Calendar: October 15

 

A Year: Day to Day Men: 15th of October

Four Small Portraits

October 15, 1674 was the opening day of the witch trials held in Torsåker, a parish in Sweden.

The great wave of witch hysteria reached the parish of Torsåker, after the sensational trial of the alleged witch Märet Jonsdotter in central Sweden in 1668. Sweden’s Lutheran priests, at this time, were state-employed, causing them to follow the government’s instructions. These priests were ordered to use their sermons to inform their congregations of alleged crimes committed; rumors of witchcraft spread over the country. The priest of Torsåker parish, Laurnetius Christophori Hornæus, who was a man with a terrifying reputation, was ordered by a special commission of the government to perform an investigation.

The witnesses at the trial were mostly children, as the main accusations against the alleged witches was that they had abducted children on the sabbath of Satan. Hornæus had several methods to get the right testimonies from the children. He whipped them, bathed them in the ice cold water of hole in the lake’s winter ice, and put them in an oven, threatening to light the fire below and burn them. These acts were confirmed later in 1735 by Hornæus’ own wife, whose grandson added that these children, sixty years later, were still fearful of the priest, his grandfather.

On October 15, 1674, the witch trial of Torsåker began. About one hundred people of both sexes were accused by the children, making it the biggest witch trial in the country. The prisoners were kept in several different locations in the village, were given almost no food, but were allowed to receive food from their relatives. There is little existing records of the actual trial itself; however, it is known that seventy-one people were found guilty of witchcraft, sixty-five women and six men.

After the last sermon in the church of Torsåker, those found guilty were led to the place of execution, crying and protesting their innocence. Many fainted out of weakness and had to be carried to the middle of the parish, about half a mile from the parish churches, to a mountain area. There the prisoners were decapitated, shed of their clothes, and their bodies lifted on stakes. The stakes and additional wood were set on fire and the bodies burned.

Neither the commission or any local courts had the rights to conduct any execution. They were expected to report their sentences in any case to a higher court for confirmation before sentences could be carried out; the high court normally would confirm only a minority of the death sentences. In this case at Torsåker, no reporting was done and the prisoners were executed without any confirmation. No actions were taken against the commission which was defended by the town’s authorities.  In 1677, all the priests were ordered to tell their congregations that all witches had been expelled from the country forever in order to avoid further witch trials.

Matthew Stover: “The Brightest Light Cast the Darkest Shadow”

Photographers Unknown, The Brightest Light Cast the Darkest Shadow

“The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins. 

It always wins because it is everywhere. 

It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed. Walk in the midday sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet. 

The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.” 

–Matthew Stover

Volodymyr Tsisaryk

Volodymyr Tsisaryk, “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, 2016, Bronze, 58 x 24 x 16 centimeters, Boccara Art Gallery, New York

Volodymyr Tsisaryk is a sculptor from Lviv, Ukraine,  who received his Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts at the Lviv State College of Decorative Art in 1999 and his Masters in Fine Art from the Lviv Academy of Arts in 2001.

Franz von Stillfried-Ratenicz

Franz von Stillfried-Ratenicz, “Japanese Samurai Warrior”, 1881, Hand-Colored

Baron Raimund Anton Alois Maria von Stillfried-Ratenicz was born in Austria in 1839 and spent his childhood in military outposts on the fringes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1864, aged 24, he chose life as a cabin boy in a ship headed for Peru instead of an aristocratic military career.

By 1868, after a couple of years adventuring in Mexico, fighting a doomed campaign for the Habsburg Emperor, Stillfried-Ratenicz had set up a photography studio in Yokohama, Japan. A 19th-century pioneer of photography in Yokohama, he was the first in Japan to recognize the new medium’s potential as a global marketing tool. Adept at producing theatrical souvenir photos, Stillfried also took the first ever photograph of Emperor Meiji.

Francois Xavier Fabre

Francois Xavier Fabre, “Academic Studies of the Male Torso”, 1787, Oil on Canvas

Born in Montpellier, French Neo-Classical painter Francois Xavier Fabre was a pupil of Jacques Louis David, and made his fame by winning in 1787 the Prix de Rome, a scholarship initially estabished by Louis XIV in 1663. Fabre left France during the Revolution and lived in Florence, Italy, becoming a member of the Florentine Academy where he taught. He gained popularity in Florence; the city’s artistocrats and tourists were drawn to his elegance, realism, and percisision of his paintings.

During his stay in Florence, Fabre met dramatist, Vittorio Alfieri, whose widow, Princess Loouise of Stolberg-Gerdern, he married. After Louise’s death in 1824, Fabre used the inherited fortune to found an art school in Montpellier. During his time in Italy, he built up a collection of 16th and 17th century Italian paintings and drawings, and paintings by his French contemporaries. On his own death, he bequeathed this extensive art collection to the town of Montpellier, forming the basis of the Musee Fabre.

Reblogged with thanks to http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

Calendar: October 14

A Year: Day to Day Men: 14th of October

The Maroon Leather Armchair

October 14, 1893 was the birthdate of silent film and stage actress Lillian Gish.

After appearing for thirteen years with her sister Dorothy on the vaudeville stage, Lillian Gish eventually found her way onto the big screen. In 1912, she met famed director D. W. Griffith, who immediately cast her in what was to be her first film, the 1912 “An Unseen Enemy”. This was followed the same year by two more films: “The One She Loved”,  and “My Baby”. Gish would make a total of twelve films for Griffith in 1912.

After performing in twenty five films in the next two years, Lillian Gish’s exposure to the public was so great that she fast became one of the top stars in the industry, alongside “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford.. In 1915, Lillian Gish starred as Elsie Stoneman in Griffith’s most ambitious project to date, the 1915 “The Birth of a Nation”. Although the number of films that she now appeared in were not as frequent as her first years, she was popular and successful enough to be able to pick and choose the right films. In 1916, Gish appeared in another Griffith classic, “Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages”.

By the early 1920s, Gish’s career was slowing down; new actors and actresses appeared on the scene, replacing former stars. Lillian Gish did not appear at all on the screen again until the year of 1926. She appeared in “La Boheme” as Mimi and “The Scarlet Letter” in the lead role as Hester Prynne. As the 1920s ended, silent films were being replaced with the new sound films. At this time, Lillian Gish returned to stage productions which were acclaimed by the public and critics alike.

In 1933, Gish filmed “His Double Life” with Roland Young, and then didn’t make another film for ten years. When Gish did return in 1943, she played in two big-budget pictures, the 1942 “Commandos Strike at Dawn” and “Top Man” released in 1943. Although these roles did not bring her the attention she had in her early career, Gish still proved she could hold her own with the best of them. She later earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role of Laura Belle McCanles in the 1946 “Duel in the Sun”, but lost to Anne Baxter for her performance in “The Razor’s Edge”.

One of the most critically acclaimed roles of Lillian Gish’s career came in the 1955 thriller “The Night of the Hunter”, also notable as the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton. Lillian Gish made in 1987 what was to be her last motion picture, “The Whales of August”, a box-office success that exposed her to a new generation of fans. After a seventy-five year career in film, on February 27, 1993, Lillian Gish died at age 99 peacefully in her sleep in New York City.

Japanese Tsuba

Japanese Tsuba, Edo Period

The Tsuba is usually a round, or occasionally squarei, guard at the end of the grip of bladed Japanese weapons, like the katana and its various variations, the tachi, wakizachi, tanto, and others. They contribute to the balance of the weapon and to the protection of the hand. The tsuba was mostly meant to be used to prevent the hand from sliding onto the blade during thrusts as opposed to protecting from an opponent’s blade.

During the Muromachi period, 1333-1573, and the Momoyama period, 1573-1603, the tsuba were more for functionality than for decoration, being made of stronger metals and designs. With the peace in Japan during the Edo period, 1603- 1868, the tsuba became more ornamental and made of less practical metals.

Tsuba are usually finely decorated. Whole dynasties of craftsmen arose whose only craft was making the tsuba. These decorated fittings were often used as heirlooms, passed from one generation to another. Many Japanese families with samurai roots would have their family crests crafted onto a tsuba.

Calendar: October 13

A Year: Day to Day Men: 13th of October

Jeans and Treble Cleft

October 13, 1950 was the release date of the American drama film “All About Eve”.

“All About Eve’ was written and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Based on the 1946 short story “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr, the film starred Bette Davis and Anne Baxter. In the film, Davis’ character Margo Channing, a well regarded but aging Broadway star, has her career and personal relationships threatened by a ambitious fan, ;played by Baxter, who maneuvers herself into Margo Channing’s life.

In 1949, Joseph Mankiewicz was considering a story about an aging actress and, after reading Orr’s book, felt that the added element of a conniving girl would be a good addition to his story. He presented a film treatment of the combined stories, changing some characters’ names, removing the husband of the actress in the book story, and replacing him with a love-interest character for the actress to add tension when the ambitious fan arrived. Producer Zanuck reduced the screenplay by about fifty pages and chose the title “All About Eve” from the opening scenes when the theater critic says he will tell us “more about Eve…All about Eve, in fact.”

There was much discussion about who would play the lead character Margo Channing. Barbara Stanwyck, Tallulah Bankhead, and Joan Crawford were all considered. After discussion it was decided to give the role to Claudette Colbert, who withdrew after an injury just before filming. The role eventually went to Bette Davis, who thought the role was very good for her career. The character of Margo Channing was changed with the casting of Davis, from a genteel, humorous actress to a more abrasive one.

Anne Baxter had spent ten years in supporting roles, winning the 1946 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Razor’s Edge”. She was cast in the role of Eve Harrington, the ambitious fan, after the first choice, Jeanne Crain, became pregnant. The remaining supporting actors were all well known in film: George Sanders, Hugh Marlowe, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, and Thelma Ritter; however, there was one young and as yet unknown actress in this film, but about to become a star: Marilyn Monroe.

“All About Eve” received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics upon it release on October 13, 1950 at a New York City premiere. The film received fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning six, including Best Picture. “All About Eve” is the only film in Oscar history to receive four female acting nominations: Davis and Baxter for Best Actress, and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter for Best Supporting Actress. When the American Film Institute named Bette Davis as number two on its list of Greatest Female American Screen Legends, it cited “All About Eve” to highlight Davis’ legendary career.