Tea Time
Claude Matlack shot the people and places of Miami Beach, Miami, and South Florida during the 1920s boom and the 1930s bust. His photographs provide a glimpse into these formative periods, so much like our own time and yet so different.
History Miami
Lifeguard and comfort stations being installed on Coney Island
Despite the high winds yesterday, progress continues on the installation of comfort and lifeguard stations on Coney Island. Still on track for Memorial Day beach opening. Check out the old lifeguard station - definitely needed replacement.
(via nycgov)
Photos from the time of designation of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District in 1965. This was the first historic district in New York City.
To learn more, see our designation report: http://bit.ly/Z8GPXV
(via nycgov)
Going to the Tribeca Film Festival? Check out the trailer for Out of Print, a documentary about the transition from print to the digital age directed by Vivienne Roumani (a former librarian) and narrated by Meryl Streep.
“Jeff Bezos, Ray Bradbury, Scott Turow, Jeffrey Toobin, parents, students, educators, scientists – all highlight how this revolution is changing everything about the printed word – and changing us.”
cc @larrysa #Skies
Steve Fitch
photographs from the series Llano Estacado, 2004-2009
Near Trujillo, New Mexico, September 9, 2006
Tulia, Texas, March 15, 2009
Between Lovington and Maljimar, New Mexico, June 29, 2005
Near Field, New Mexico, October 21, 2004
Near Umbarger, Texas, March 11, 2005
Near Canadien, Texas, September 4, 2005
Muleshoe, Texas, March 14, 2009
West of Dickens, Texas, March 12, 2005
West of Levelland, Texas, June 6, 2004
Tulia, Texas, September 6, 2005
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Grasse, 1732 - Paris, 1806)
The Bolt (Le Verrou)
C. 1777
Oil on canvas
Fragonard painted a picture “free and full of passion” (Lenoir, 1816), showing profane as opposed to sacred love. Its porcelain-like light effects illustrate the evolution of his work after he returned from his second trip to Italy in 1774.
A hidden meaning?
At first sight, The Bolt is just another of the many amorous scenes Fragonard painted. A woman is half-heartedly fending off her lover’s advances. But looking closer, one notices intriguing details. Why is the man bolting the door if the room is already in a disarray indicating what is to come? In this light, certain objects unveil their erotic symbolism: the knocked-over chair (legs in the air), the vase and roses (allusions to the female genitals), the bolt (male genitals), and especially the bed, taking up most of the left of the composition. Its anthropomorphic forms make it the scene’s principal actor, and its manifest disorder embodies the protagonists’ sexual urges.
Beyond this, The Bolt is considered to be the illustration of the power of love and desire in their human, and physical dimensions, symbolizing profane love, sin and redemption, it also symbolizes Eve’s temptation (in which case the apple on the table is charged with meaning) .
A sign of an artistic evolution
A simple genre scene in the saucy spirit of the Louis XVI period, or a moralist history painting? The Bolt deliberately upsets the hierarchy of genres. Whatever meaning we ascribe it, the picture breaks with Fragonard’s previous work. He painted it after 1774 and the second stay in Italy which revitalized his inspiration. Having been refused a prestigious commission by Countess du Barry, Fragonard wanted to show his ability to adapt to evolution in taste and the emergence of the Neoclassical style of Vien and Pierre. In this purified composition, he reinterprets Dutch art, particularly that of Rembrandt. His smoother, more faience-like treatment, reduced palette and forms softened by the use of sfumato yet powerfully modeled in chiaroscuro, imbue his late works with a new poetry and gravity.
via Louvre Museum, Paris
Charte des polices de caractères pour les cartes du National Geographic. Impecc.
(via fuckyeahcartography)
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