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Top Posts & Pages
- Women Laughing Alone With Salad
- Hidden mothers in Victorian portraits
- The Disciples: James Mollison's portraits of music fans
- A lot of pictures of Pablo Picasso without his shirt on
- Birds in little sweaters: Annette Messager's "Le Repos des Pensionnaires"
- Browse the collection
- GUEST POST: Mrs Marvel on 'Things I'm Glad Are Out of Style'
- Leeches! Leeches!! Leeches!!! A small collection of vintage advertisements for medical leeches
- EJ Bellocq and the Storyville prostitutes
- Prisoners' Inventions Project by Temporary Services
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archaeology art bird clock criminal curiosities dust face figurine food grotesque guest post History humor illustration images imagination installation institution jewels love medicine mug shot museum music nostalgia outsider art pearl photography Picasso porcelain rant sandwich science sculpture space stereotypes surgeon tattoos taxidermy textile toast trees unsettling victorian era
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Jane Howarth’s beautiful bird guts and a rant about lousy artist statements
I recently came across this arresting image of a taxidermied seagull with luxurious pearl entrails spilling out of its split carcass. It was repinned on a certain nameless photo sharing site with no credit or links to the artist (a … Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Art, Curiosities
Tagged art, bird, grotesque, imagination, jewels, pearl, rant, sculpture, taxidermy
1 Comment
The bejeweled bugs of Hubert Duprat
The common caddisfly is a moth-like insect, found near lakes, streams, ponds and rivers, and often used as a bait for trout fishermen. Caddisfly larvae are aquatic, and spin protective silk cases which incorporate bits of material from their surroundings, … Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Art, Curiosities, Ideas
Tagged art, curiosities, gold, imagination, insect, jewels, pearl, science
4 Comments
Fascinating faces: Ulric Collette’s ‘Portraits génétiques’
Portraits génétiques is a series by French photographer Ulric Collette in which he assembles the half faces of two relatives together to explore genetic likenesses. (Visit his website to see the entire series). The concept is exceedingly simple, but the … Continue reading
GUEST POST: Jessica Draper on Die Antwoord
Today’s post comes from ridiculously interesting young artist and scholar, Jessica Draper. Jessica is a South African printmaker from Pietermaritzburg, who is currently doing a practice-based doctorate at the University of Oxford. Both her artistic practice and her written research … Continue reading
19th Century Mug Shots from New Zealand
This slideshow displays a sample of the amazing 19th century mug shots that formed part of a show I curated at the New Zealand Police Museum last year, Suspicious Looking (available here as an online exhibition). Until then, these incredible … Continue reading
Posted in History, Museums
Tagged criminal, History, mug shot, museum, new zealand, photography, police, victorian era
1 Comment
Corrupting the porcelain figurine tradition: Shary Boyle
When I was a little kid, one of my great aunts had a collection of frilly, delicate porcelain figurines of girls in baroque dresses. I remember looking at them, knowing that I was supposed to think they were pretty, but … Continue reading
Museum accession numbers are like gang tattoos
I think one of the most bizarre museum practices is the act of marking museum artefacts with an accession number. Like the tattoos of gang members, it is a permanent symbol which marks their lifelong membership in a collective from … Continue reading
Agnes Richter’s embroidered straightjacket
Agnes Richter was a German seamstress held as a patient in an insane asylum during the 1890s. During her time there, she densely embroidered her straightjacket with words, undecipherable phrases and drawings which documented her thoughts and feelings throughout her … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, History
Tagged curiosities, History, institution, outsider art, textile, victorian era
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