Tag: selfie

Curled Tongue

Photographer Unknown, (Curled Tongue), Selfie

“I resisted the temptation to turn around and stick out my tongue in derision at Beliquose. After all, there was no telling when or if we should meet again, and I certainly did not need him saying, ‘Ah yes, Poe, the fellow whose trespasses i could have forgiven in their entirety… except for the tongue thing. Yes, for that, you must surely die.”

― Peter David, The Woad to Wuin

 

Man Himself is Music

Photograper Unknown, (Man Himself is Music)

“Is the beauty of the Whole really enhanced by our agony? And is the Whole really beautiful? And what is beauty? Throughout all his existence man has been striving to hear the music of the spheres, and has seemed to himself once and again to catch some phrase of it, or even a hint of the whole form of it. Yet he can never be sure that he has truly heard it, nor even that there is any such perfect music at all to be heard. Inevitably so, for if it exists, it is not for him in his littleness. But one thing is certain. Man himself, at the very least, is music, a brave theme that makes music also of its vast accompaniment, its matrix of storms and stars. Man himself in his degree is eternally a beauty in the eternal form of things. It is very good to have been man. And so we may go forward together with laughter in our hearts, and peace, thankful for the past, and for our own courage. For we shall make after all a fair conclusion to this brief music that is man.”
― Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men

 

Julien Gracq: “Blood Had Long Since Ceased to Beat”

Photographer Unknown, (A Simple Stretch of Macadam), Selfie

“Blood had long since ceased to beat from one end to the other, but one could sense, from passages marked with fresher traces of wheels and hooves, that once the meaning and even the very idea of a long journey was lost, sleep had not descended over it in one fell swoop: it had continued to steal a march here and there, in a discontinuous way, and over short distances, like a laborer who feels his cart jolt on a section of Roman road that crosses his field…”

― Julien Gracq

 

Damask Wallpaper and Man

Photographer Unknown, (Damask Wallpaper and Man)

Damask is a figured fabric with a pattern visible on both sides, typically used for table linen and upholstery. The name comes from the Middle English word ‘Damaske, an early form of the name of Damascus where the fabric was first produced.

The earliest paper wall-hangings imitated the tapestries that came before them and therefore the textile designs.  The earliest known wallpaper is thought to be a damask. It was found in Master’s Lodge in Christ’s College, Cambridge. It is traditionally dated to around 1509 but is more probably late 16th century. It has a pomegranate design derived from a fabric.

Hand-painting, woodblock painting and stencilling were the main techniques for creating patterns on wallpapers. This was up until 1700 when new methods were introduced. In 1840 roller-printing wallpaper replaced hand-printing techniques. This meant that production became cheaper and much quicker.

This new affordability trickled down to the consumer and the Victorian period saw a boom in damask wallpaper. Now, the aspirational classes could introduce damask into their homes. The early Victorian era was about strong colours and larger designs. In contrast, the following Edwardian period saw less colour and more subtlety.