Thursday, November 30, 2006

Music #8, Foreign Lands #10, Architecture #3



"La Plaque Tournante" book and record store, 69 Avenue Kleber, Paris, Pierre Barbe, architect (1929)

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Scenes from a Life #2


Le Corbusier, at the Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette Monastery of his own design, Eveux, France (c. 1957)

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Catalogue of the Vanished #1





Jayne Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (1849-51) William L. Johnston and Thomas U. Walter, architects. Tower burned (1872). Demolished (1957-58).

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Manhattan #7, Opening Lines #3, Foreign Lands #9, America #8

At one time or another I have approached some splendid places, most of them instinct with mystery or age: Venice on a misty post-war morning, silent and shrouded, like a surrendered knight-at-arms; Everest, the watchtower, on the theatrical frontiers of Nepal and Tibet; or Krak of the Crusaders, high and solitary in the mountains of Moab. All are celebrated in history or romance; but none lingers so tenaciously in my memory as the approach to the City of New York, the noblest of American symbols.

Jan Morris, Coast to Coast: A Journey Across 1950s America (1956)

White Man's Burden #2


Taddy's "Myrtle Grove" Cigarette Cards

Saturday, November 25, 2006

King James Version #3

I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.

Romans 10:20

Friday, November 24, 2006

Archaeology of the Poster #1

Cinema #4, Godard #4


Trailer, Le Mépris

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

America #7, Anniverseries #1, Dead Presidents #4


View from presidential motorcade, Main Street at Griffin Street, Dallas, Texas (November 22, 1963)

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Love #9

Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, in order that they may have existence.

Léon Bloy

Gardens #5, The Outer Boroughs #1, Triumph of the Machine #2


Tree Moving Machine, Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Monday, November 20, 2006

Aphorisms #2

Ni le soleil ni la mort se peuvent regarder fixement.

François de la Rochefoucauld

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Archaeology of the Political Advertisement #2, Antecedants of Pop Art #1, Dead Presidents #3


William Henry Harrison presidential campaign banner, Whig ticket (1840)

Cinema #3, Music #7

There is no doubt in my mind that the prettiest music is sad, and the most beautiful photography is in a low key, with rich blacks.

John Alton, Painting with Light

Saturday, November 18, 2006

America #6, Archaeology of the Political Advertisement #1, Dead Presidents #2


"Confessions of a Republican," Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Campaign (1964)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Triumph of the Machine #1


IBM showroom, 590 Madison Ave (1955)

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Manhattan #6



Encroachment of Nuisances Upon Populous Uptown Districts

Report of the Council of Hygiene and Public Health of the Citizens’ Association of New York Upon the Sanitary Condition of the City (1866)

Friday, November 10, 2006

Art #7

If I could have my way, I should go out to dinner every night, and then to a party or an opera, and then I should have a champagne supper, and then I should go to bed in some wonderful person's arms. Wouldn't you? When one reflects on one's pallid and actual existence one shudders. But I suppose there are always the triumphs of Art.

Lytton Strachey to Virginia Stephen (later Woolf)

Monday, November 06, 2006

White Man's Burden #1



"Builders of the British Empire" cigarette cards, J.A. Pattreiouex, Manchester (ca. 1924-35)

Sunday, November 05, 2006

King James Version #2

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Food #7, The Animal Kingdom #4, Foreign Lands #8, The Age of Print #2


Illustration accompanying Rudyard Kipling's essay on Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Februry 8, 1891

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Aphorisms #1

Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner.