This Is Love

Definitely, click images for larger view.



WHEN HE DIED, his wife commissioned this sculpture for his grave.

Via here.

Hannah Höch and The Hall Fight

(Above) Hannah Höch: “Heads of State,” 1918–1920


(Above) Hannah Höch: “Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany,” 1919, 90 x 144 cm, Berlin


(Above) Hannah Höch: Dada Rundschau (Dada Review, 1919)


(Above) Hannah Höch: Das schöne Mädchen (The Beautiful Girl, 1919-1920)

(Above) Hannah Höch: Grotesque (1963)

(Above) Hannah Höch: Aus der Sammlung: Aus einem ethnographischen Museum (1929)

(Above) Hannah Höch: Half Caste (1919)


I CAN RECALL TWO THINGS ABOUT THE 8TH GRADE. THE FIRST THING WAS MAKING COLLAGES from magazines in the first art class I ever took and the second, was the fight between Ray Sloan and Jeff Lewter in the hall right after 1st period. Ray was feared by all. He was about 17 or 18 years old (in a class with 13 and 14 year old’s) because he had been held back so many times. Tall and mean, I am quite sure he is in prison today or was shot dead in a cheap motel standoff with police.

Jeff, on the other hand, was short, stocky and tough as nails (he went on to become a decorated Green Beret in Viet Nam). But on that day, which I bore witness to, Ray Sloan knocked out the future Green Beret with one punch. It was a swift and massive blow, and Jeff fell straight backwards like a felled oak. Sloan was suspended for like a month. Jeff was OK. But I digress. Where was I?

Magazine collages can be a great way to mix up photographic realities. As a kid, I was sticking big lips on photos of men with new eyes, bodies and backgrounds. And while I did not know it at the time, I was fooling around with an exercise in surrealism. I never forgot it.

Though I was an adult before I discovered the collages of Hannah Höch, I remember being impressed that they were not only amazing but created so long ago. And still today, Höch remains enigmatic to me and one of my favorite artists.

Portrait Calligraphy: Don’t Stop! Don’t Stop!

(Above) Bust portrait of William III and Mary in State robes. Click any image for a larger view.

(Above) Bust portrait of William III in State robes.

(Above) Bust portrait of Charles II in State robes. Click any image for a larger view.

(Above) Bust portrait of Charles II in State robes.

(Above) Portrait of Charles II in penmanship (Sneddon).

(Above) Bust portrait of Queen Anne in State robes. Click any image for a larger view.

(Above) Bust portrait of Queen Anne in State robes.

(Above) Bust portrait of Charles I in State robes. Click any image for a larger view.

(Above) Bust portrait of William III in State robes.

I FOUND THESE AMAZING CALLIGRAPHIC PORTRAITS on Peacay’s photostream on Flickr. What I like about these is that when it came to Royalty, the engraver never knew when to stop. When engraving for the Royals, the more ornate the better. The practice not only guaranteed the engraver favor with the King, but kept him busy with more work.

Via Bibliodyessy.

Vintage Gloves of Summer

YEARS AGO, I WAS ABLE TO ACTUALLY HOLD IN MY BARE HANDS an actual baseball glove from the immortal Babe Ruth. I know it was his glove because it was in the archive of one of the most prestigious collections of Babe Ruth and other baseball memorabilia in the world. Exactly where, I should not say. All I can say is that the moment was one that I will remember the rest of my life.

As I ever so carefully slid my hand into the same finger slots as The Babe had done some 75 years earlier, the first thing I did was bring the leather mitt to my nose. I wanted to smell the leather. It was aged—but still slightly sweet, and I could sense the smell of infield dust, sweat and authenticity.

I do not think you need to love baseball to love the beauty of these authentic, game-used baseball gloves. They are so human-like, like hands painted by Fernando Botero.

These gloves, some of them quite expensive, were found in one shop on eBay. There, they sell bats, gloves and other rare examples of the baseball world. These gloves are real extensions of someone’s hand, used to dig burning grounders out of the grass or poised to “pop” at an outfield fly. Sweet.

Check out the shop here.

A Great Direction for Elisabeth Lecourt

Click on any image for larger view.

Click on any image for larger view.


Click on any image for larger view.

ELISABETH LECOURT IS HEADING IN A VERY COOL DIRECTION with her line of couture dresses made of actual maps. Elisabeth was born in France in 1972 and lives and works in London. She exhibits her work all over the world. Her new designs point a nice, fresh way for a line of clothing.

Learn more about this new designer here.

Camera Comics

(Above) Volume 1, Issue 1 of Camera Comics, October 1944.
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(Above) Volume 1, No. 3 of Camera Comics, October 1944.
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(Above) Volume 1, No. 4 of Camera Comics, December 1944, with a story about Eadweard Muybridge.
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(Above) Volume 1, No. 5 of Camera Comics, Summer 1945.
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(Above) Volume 1, No. 6 of Camera Comics, Fall 1945.Click image for larger view.

(Above) From Volume 1, No. 1 - Opening spread of the story of Matthew B. Brady.Click image for larger view.
(Above) Volume 2, No. 7 of Camera Comics, Winter 1946.Click image for larger view.

(Above) Volume 2, No. 8 of Camera Comics, Spring 1946.Click image for larger view.

(Above) Volume 2, No. 9 of Camera Comics, Summer 1946.Click image for larger view.

(Above) Story series about Jim Lane, Insurance Investigator.
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(Above) Story series about Kid Click, boy photographer.
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(Above) Story series about Linda Lens, pro photographer.
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(Above) “Make a Pistol Grip for Your Camera,” a “how-to” article that is very strange.
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HERE’S A STRANGE COMIC BOOK FOR YOU. Thanks to my friend and snapshot collector Robert Jackson, who sent me these comics from his collection, I can now share them with reader’s of Accidental Mysteries.

These comic books were published between July 1944 and 1946 by the U.S. Camera Publishing Company, apparently as a way to build interest in the growing hobby of photography. With on-going cornball series like Jim Lane, Insurance Investigator and Kid Click, the publishers were making sure that they were strategically hitting all areas for the growth of photography. Yep! I want to be an insurance investigator and follow people with my camera! Also, Linda Lens was a female professional photographer—very progressive for the day.

While these comic books were obviously targeted to kids, there was always some more adult articles, like how to build a pin hole camera, or how to make wooden “pistol grip” for your camera—a way to make rapid fire pics. This pistol grip device is especially odd— a low-tech approach to a high tech (for the time) device.