It’s a Book, No it’s a Card

‘The Lady of the Hundred Dresses’, by S.R. Crockett, 1911. Published by The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

How perfect for me is this birthday card from my sister? She told me she found it many months ago and has been eagerly waiting to give it to me. (I must be conscientious and mention that my niece also assisted in its choice.) I particularly love that the dress the languid-eyed Lady is wearing is striped. I imagine that those long gloves she is wearing are black kid.

I love this series of notecards, having come across them years ago myself, in a quaint Bondi bookshop. The Bodleian Library online shop has many more to choose from, all charming. For the designers of these delightful cards it is most imperative to for once entirely judge a book by its cover! (Scroll down below for more lovelies.)

Krafty birthday wrappingsMy clever sister also wrapped the present in red and cream striped wrapping paper. Printed on plain Kraft paper, it matched the brown self-striped Kraft paper envelope.

What is so enticing about Kraft paper? Somehow it is promising, smacking of all sorts of untold excitement. Perhaps it makes me
think of ‘brown paper packages,
all tied up with string’, and a few more favourite things, such as art materials – paints and pastels and other goodies. And that does make an enchanting birthday present.

More cards from the Bodleian Library Online Shop

Starry Nights and Valentine’s Days

To fuel four starry nights
on a love affair
the glamour of a spy of the world
inspired inventive and exotic games
in a garden setting the best-dressed beauty
with a refreshing charm
of a myth
awaits the fruits of a desire.

…Some random poetry and happy Valentine’s Day wishes.

The Gentleman of Fawkner Park

Melodie // Ina's 1969

Oh, this drawing I walked past yesterday brought back so many childhood memories! Who else recalls scribbling on the sidewalk in coloured chalks, or better yet, some random rock that yielded a lovely colour?

I do like this gentleman’s block feet, hands and face. I wonder if a Leggo man was the inspiration, or perhaps it was an old tin robot? 

Luminous Cities

Edward Steichen, The Flatiron Building, New York City, 1905

I have always loved the city: give me concrete; give me smog; give me the wail of sirens in the distance! A big city never fails to make me feel alive; I love the hum of the streets, the endless headlights and tail-lights, and the lonely sound of car horns in the darkness.

So I was not sorry last Friday, unable to see two fashion exhibitions that had closed, when I found myself viewing this photography exhibition Luminous Cities at the National Gallery of Victoria instead.

I was most drawn to this 1905 image of New York’s Flatiron Building by Edward Steichen (above). It’s a wet winter evening, dusk is falling and the atmospheric effect creates a beautiful mood. It immediately made me think of a Georges Seurat charcoal drawing. 

Eugène Atget: Coin de la rue Valette et Pantheon, 5e arrondissement, matinee de mars, 1925

I have long been an admirer of Eugène Atget’s photography, and this image of an empty Parisian street (above) that looks to be shrouded in fog is full of quiet mystery.

Another favourite was Paul Strand’s image of Fifth Avenue (below). I love the considered composition: the people so insignificant under that great, empty sky; the flagpole and the church spires meeting in a point. Of course I also like the fashionable note of the three young women’s plumed hats in the foreground. The fact that they are peeking back at the photographer makes the image so much more fascinating. Without that touch, the image would have been far more impersonal; they are warm and alive even uder that enormous, impassive sky.

These views of streets, both crowded and empty beckon me within, into a world long-gone; into a culture and society made foreign, exotic, by time. We’re lucky to have such little windows into these old worlds. 

The exhibition continues until 13 March. 

Paul Strand, Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1915

Happy February!

Well, well, one month of 2011 gone already! I’d like to welcome you to February with this picture from my calendar. It is the cover of the ‘Late January’ 1918 issue of British Vogue, the ‘Lingerie Number’. The illustration is by Alice de Warenne Little.

I love the qualifier, ‘late’ – as opposed to the extremely early publishing we are more accustomed to today: our January magazines are more likely to be on the newsstands in mid December of the previous year. In fact, just yesterday I passed a convenience store that had tossed a huge pile of ‘old’ magazines in a box outside its front door. In an unaccustomed exhibition of scumbaggery I nipped the top one off the stack to take home: the Jan/Feb issue of Australian Harper’s Bazaar. Still current but yet considered old news – how bizarre!

But February is a delightful month: not only is there Valentine’s Day to celebrate (if you’re so inclined to submit to gross commercialisation); Groundhog Day (tomorrow); Chinese New Year (the day after, on the New Moon); and Waitangi Day in New Zealand on Sunday, but it is also my birthday this month. Happy birthday to meeee! Enjoy your month.