Elizabeth Taylor ~ Love is Better Than Ever, 1952
Tutu and Orchids
Category: Flowers
Robert Duncan
Robert Duncan is a generous-flowering Rose, the blossoms of which are large, perfectly formed and graceful in their proportions. The petals are large, shell-shaped and curly. The plant attains moderate size, but is of sturdy formation. The color — light scarlet or rosy lake — is delicate from the first faint streaks observable, as the buds begin to open, until the petals fall. When planted in masses the effect is decidedly pleasing. [Samuel Todd Walker, 1913 Biltmore Roses]
Mr. Rose
J. Horace McFarland ~ Rose-Climbing American Beauty, 1911 [Pennsylvania State Archives]
➔ ExplorePAHistory.com
➔ ExplorePAHistory.com
‘I should like no better epitaph than that it might be said, after I have passed along to other labors, that here dwelt a man who loved a garden, who lived in and grew with it, and who yet looks upon it, even from afar, as a garden growing for all who love the beauties of God’s green earth.’ — J. Horace McFarland ~ My Growing Garden, 1915
Vanitas
Herman Henstenburgh, ca. 1700
Herman Henstenburgh [1667 – 1726], together with his teacher Johannes Bronckhorst and son, Anton Henstenburgh, was one of a trio of notable natural history artists from the Dutch town of Hoorn, who also worked, perhaps primarily, as pastrybakers. These three artists define Dutch natural history drawing of the period around 1700, standing as a crucial stylistic link between the generally more scientifically motivated drawings of the 17th century, and the greater emphasis on decoration often seen in the works of subsequent generations.
From the time of the Tulip Mania, if not before, Dutch natural history draughtsmen had, perhaps in contrast to their painter colleagues, sought above all else to record and document faithfully the rich variety of species of the natural world, and even though their drawings were often very beautiful, they served primarily as catalogues of the contents of various collections of naturalia. Yet unlike their predecessors, Bronckhorst and Henstenburgh rapidly moved on from making drawings that simply recorded the appearance of a particular plant or animal, to making complete compositions which, while generally very accurate in terms of natural history, were clearly conceived first and foremost as decorative independent works of art.
Henstenburgh soon achieved a technique of astonishing virtuosity, in which immense refinement of touch and mastery of color combine to produce some of the most beautiful natural history watercolors of the period. His work was much sought
after at the time by Dutch and foreign collectors. For example, by 1700 Cosimo III de’ Medici already owned three of his drawings.
after at the time by Dutch and foreign collectors. For example, by 1700 Cosimo III de’ Medici already owned three of his drawings.
Momento mori
Kennedy + Warhol
Erwin Olaf
 |
| Fall, Still-life 1, 2008 |
 |
| Fall, Still-life 5, 2008 |
 |
| Fall, Still-life 2, 2008 |
 |
| Fall, Still-life 6, 2008 |
Vase aux Iris
Maude Fealy
William Burr McIntosh
In the first decade of the 20th century, Memphis-born Maude Fealy became the favorite actress of the post-card and cabinet card collectors. Blessed with a gorgeous face and a tumult of dark hair, she generated a photographic legacy disproportionate to her modest skills as an actress. Debuting on Broadway as Eunice in ‘Quo Vadis‘ in 1900, much of her stage career took place in London as a protégé of William Gillete, and later as Sir Henry Irving’s leading lady during his successful comeback in 1906 just before he died. She was perpetually on tour in the United States in vehicles such as ‘Hearts Courageous‘ and ‘The Truth Tellers.‘ She performed in historical dramas and spectacles, but her forte proved to be comedy. When John Cort became her manager in 1906 he increased her popularity by putting her in a series of humorous plays, ‘The Illusion of Beatrice,’ ‘The Stronger Sex,’ and with an occasional sentimental slice-of-life drama such as ‘Louise.’ In 1907 she married a Denver drama critic Hugo L. Sherwin, but refused to live with him, even when threatened with court orders. In 1909 they divorced which she starred in a play titled ‘Divorce.’ She quit the play and secretly married James Durkin, an actor. They performed together in a number of plays, including ‘The Right Princess‘ (1913), an amusing look at ‘mental healing’ i.e. psychiatry. Her career began slipping in the mid-1910s and she began touring vaudeville performin playlets such as ‘The Turn of the Tide.’ Fealy tired of Durkin, divorced him, and in 1920 married John Cort the son of her manager. They lived together for a year before she took to the roads. Cort divorced Fealy for abandonment in 1923. The life of a stock company diva tired on her in 1931 and she headed for Hollywood where she played minor roles in numerous movies. Cecil B. DeMille, who knew her from his acting days, put her in every sound film he made. During the First World War she had made a number of silent films, but her theatrical gesturing then seemed too extravagant. – Dr. David S. Shields
[1886–1971]
Roses
Robert Mapplethorpe ~ Rose, 1988
You love the roses – so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!
George Eliot [Mary Anne Evans]
tout ceci est magnifique 