Category Archives: fantastique

Kierkegaardian and arcimboldesque

André Martins de Barros more here, Barros is also the artist who did the flyer I first encountered on Ian McCormick’s grotesque page.

Found when Googling for Arcimboldesque, this anomymous etching c.1700, mid-Italian map, sourced here

The Moviegoer is a 1961 Kierkegaardian philosophical novel by Walker Percy. The writer of this page holds that High Fidelity, Garden State, The Graduate, The Truman Show, American Beauty, Harold and Maude, Adaptation and Sideways are similarly themed.

I quote from The Moviegoer:

“Today is my thirtieth birthday and I sit on the ocean wave in the schoolyard and wait for Kate and think of nothing. Now in the thirty-first year of my dark pilgrimage on this earth and knowing less than I ever knew before, having learned only to recognize merde when I see it, having inherited no more from my father than a good nose for merde, for every species of shit that flies – my only talent – smelling merde from every quarter, living in fact in the very century of merde, the great shithouse of scientific humanism where needs are satisfied, everyone becomes an anyone, a warm and creative person, and prospers like a dung beetle, and one hundred percent of people are humanists and ninety-eight percent believe in God, and men are dead, dead, dead; and the malaise has settled like a fall-out and what people really fear is not that the bomb will fall but that the bomb will not fall – on this my thirtieth birthday, I know nothing and there is nothing to do but fall prey to desire.”

More info over at Kierkegaard and Arcimboldo.

François Houtin’s imaginary gardens

Imaginary gardens with real toads in them

The French printmaker François Houtin (1950- ) is an artist whose work has been devoted almost exclusively to the depiction of imaginary gardens.

See www.spamula.net/blog/2007/02/houtin.html

Also an interesting blog: bibliodyssey.blogspot.com, introduced by Mr Aitch of Il Giornale as:

I’m grateful to Peacay, of Bibliodyssey renown, for introducing me to the work of this artist, nicely described by his friend and collaborator Gilbert Lascault as ‘the printmaker-gardener, the draughtsman-nurseryman, the demanding dreamer, the landscape artist, and the arboriculturalist-etcher.’

Here is another superb post from Bibliodyssey:

German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739-1810) trained as a physician and went and studied botany in Sweden under the great Carolus Linneaus. He would eventually edit one of Linneaus’s publications and he also included the Linnean binomial species naming system for the first time for some of the animals depicted above.

And this one on cabinets of curiosities is a must.

Awe of nature, taste for the bizarre, thirst for knowledge

I found some excellent plates of the Monstrorum historia cum Paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605) at the Universidade de Coimbra. You can view full sized versions by clicking the thumbnails. In the same collection are also plates by Ambroise Paré, Conrad Gessner, Bartolomeo Ambrosinus, Olaus Magnus, Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo.

Here are the Wikipedia links: Ambroise Paré, Ulisse Aldrovandi, Conrad Gessner, Bartolomeo Ambrosinus, Olaus Magnus, Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo.

Il Giornale Nuovo has two posts on Aldrovandi: Aldrovandi’s Watercolours and Aldrovandi’s Herbal. Mr. Aitch adds:

Plants, sea-creatures, serpents, birds, domestic beasts, exotic creatures, ‘monsters’ (deformed animals, freaks of nature, conjoined twins, etc.) are all depicted in these watercolours, as are fantastic fauna, such as dragons, whose existence one supposes had not yet been altogether disproved. Many of the paintings are very beautifully and vividly executed. I’m particularly impressed by the pair of entwined snakes which, whilst I can hardly vouch for their zoological verisimilitude, appear very much alive.

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia3

 

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia8

 

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia9

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia6

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia7

 

Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia4

 

Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums (2001) Stephen T. Asma [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

The natural history museum was a place where the line between “high and low” culture effectively vanished–where our awe of nature, our taste for the bizarre, and our thirst for knowledge all blended happily together. The first natural history museums were little more than high-toned side shows, with such garish exhibits as the pickled head of Catherine the Great’s lover.

Eye candy

Various visuals, discovering the pleasures of Flickr

Work by Tivadar-Kosztka-Csontvary, sourced here, it reminds me of this painting.

Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (1853-1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well-known in Europe.

Work by Ulisse Aldrovandi, sourced here.

Work by Ulisse Aldrovandi, sourced here.

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605)

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna’s botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carolus Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history studies. He is usually referred to, especially in older literature, as Aldrovandus.

Work by Jean-Louis Alibert. Ilness illustrated is Haematoncie framboisée, painted by Valville and engraved by Tresca.

Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert (1768 – 1837) was a French dermatologist.

Before (1736) – William Hogarth

After (1736) – William Hogarth

Inspired by Gershon Legman’s book Rationale of the Dirty Joke, in which Legman tells of a joke where a woman and a man are window shopping and the man promises the woman everything she likes. After having made love, the man refuses everything he’d promised saying: “When I am hard I am soft, when I am soft I am hard”. Like John Currin today, Hogarth was an excellent portraitist of the condition humaine.

Still-Life with Partridge and Iron Gloves (1504) – Jacopo de’ Barbari

Jacopo de’ Barbari, sometimes known or referred to as: de’Barbari, de Barberi, de Barbari, Barbaro, Barberino, Barbarigo or Barberigo etc., (c. 1440 – before 1516) was an Italian painter and printmaker with a highly individual style. He moved from Venice to Germany in 1500, making him the first Italian Renaissance artist of stature to work in Northern Europe. His few surviving paintings (about twelve) include the first known example of trompe l’oeil since antiquity. His twenty-nine engravings and three very large woodcuts had a considerable influence. —Wikipedia

Anna P., who lived for many years as a man in Germany, was photographed for Magnus Hirschfeld’s book Sexual Intermediates in 1922. Today, Anna would probably be considered to be transgender.

Surrealism avant la lettre

Bizzarie di varie figure

Bizzarie di varie figure (1624) – Giovanni Battista Bracelli

Bizzarie di varie figure (1624) – Giovanni Battista Bracelli

Bizzarie di varie figure (1624) – Giovanni Battista Bracelli

Bizzarie di varie figure (1624) – Giovanni Battista Bracelli

 

Bizzarie di varie figure (1624) – Giovanni Battista Bracelli

I quote the Giornale Nuovo:

I’ve mentioned Giovanni Battista Bracelli’s book Bizzarie di Varie Figure before. It was originally published in Livorno, in 1624. One would assume the book was not a success, as it exerted no influence, and attracted very little notice until its rediscovery in Paris ca. 1950. Its rediscoverer, Alain Brieux, published a limited facsimile edition of the book in 1963, with a preface by Tristan Tzara. –source

More on bizar here.

 

Monsters are not signs of God’s punishment

In search of Custos and Liceti and the representation of monstrosities in general.

A “colonel of the Tartars (des Turqs) and a soldier”, captured in 1595, drawn by Domenicus Custos [1]

Dominicus Custos (1550/60–1612) was a copper engraver in Antwerpen and Augsburg.

Don’t forget to check the rest of [this page].

 

De Monstrorum (1616) – Fortunio Liceti

For the Italian physician Fortunio Liceti, true monstrosity inspired wonder and not horror. He criticized the association of monsters with divine wrath, and pointed out that the word ‘monster’ came from the Latin verb ‘monstrare,’ meaning ‘to show.’ Hence, Liceti argued, monsters were not signs of God’s punishment, but rather, they were creatures to be displayed because of their rarity. —source

In 1616 Liceti published De Monstruorum Natura which marked the beginning of studies into malformations of the embryo. He described various monsters, both real and imaginary, and looks for reasons to explain their appearance. His approach differed from the common European viewpoint of the time, as he regarded monsters not as a divine punishment but rather a fantastical rarety. He also supported the idea of transmission of characteristics from father to son. —Wikipedia

Elephant-headed man from Fortunio Liceti’s De Monstris (1665).

Amorphous Monster (Fortunius Licetus, De Monstris, 1665).

Pope-ass and other monsters from Fortunio Liceti’s De Monstrorum causis natura (1665).

 

 These are some of the many oddities pictured in a treatise simply entitled De Monstris, by Fortunato (or Fortunio) Liceti (1577-1657), an Aristotelian scholar who also published works on hieroglyphics, spontaneous generation and astronomical controversies. —Il Giornale Nuovo

 

For those of you unfamiliar with this masterpiece of the genre:

Old Woman. (The Queen of Tunis). c. 1513. Oil on panel. National Gallery, London, UK

Old Woman. (The Queen of Tunis)., Quentin Matsys, c. 1513. Oil on panel. National Gallery, London, UK

The two men had an elective affinity to each other

 

Meryon’s engraved views of Paris. No one was more impressed with them than Baudelaire. To him the archaeological view of the catastrophe, the basis of Hugo’s dreams, was not the really moving one. … Meryon brought out the ancient face of the city without abandoning one cobblestone. It was this view of the matter that Baudelaire had unceasingly pursued in the idea of modernism. He was a passionate admirer of Meryon.

The two men had an elective affinity to each other. They were born in the same year, and their deaths were only months apart. Both died lonely and deeply disturbed — Meryon as a demented person at Charenton, Baudelaire speechless in a private clinic. Both were late in achieving fame. Baudelaire was almost the only person who championed Meryon in his lifetime. –Walter Benjamin [1]

Hystéro-épilipsie: attaque

Photographic Iconography of Salpêtrière.
Paris: 1876-1880
Image sourced here.

More from this collection:

Salpetiere3 Salpetiere2 Salpetiere1 Salpetiere4

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a hospital in Paris. Salpêtrière was originally a gunpowder factory, but was converted to a dumping ground for the poor of Paris. Eventually it served as a prison for prostitutes, and a holding place for the mentally disabled, criminally insane, epileptics, and the poor; it was also notable for its famous population of rats.

During the French Revolutionary period, it was stormed by the mob and the prostitutes released, but others (probably madwomen) were less fortunate and were murdered. Since the Revolution, La Salpêtrière has served as an insane asylum and a hospital for women.

Three immoral tales

A 1833 novel by Petrus Borel: Champavert, contes immoraux

Champavert : Contes immoraux (1833) – Pétrus Borel [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]more …

A 1974 film by Walerian Borowczyk. Tagline: “You don’t have to go to a museum to see an X-rated Picasso”.

Immoral Tales (1974) – Walerian Borowczyk [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK] more …

A 1994 non fiction book Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, that won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction. The book covers European Cinema with profiles of Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, José Larraz, José Bénazéraf, Walerian Borowczyk and Alain Robbe-Grillet.


Immoral Tales: Sex And Horror Cinema In Europe 1956-1984 (1994) – Cathal Tohill & Pete Tombs [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK] more …

Immorality is poised on the brink of good/evil, psychopathology and morality.

To the creator of films as well as other forms of literature, the dark side of human nature has often proved more rich and interesting than the bright. Films and books on the lives of saints have not been as popular as murder mysteries and works of horror. While we may have no desire to experience them in our own lives, terrible deeds and evil people exert their perverse attraction on our psyches. We who consider ourselves moral and upright are often fascinated by the behavior of the pitiless, merciless, and guiltless psychopath. Like a magnificent black panther: powerful, dangerous, and alien, the psychopathic character can have a dark, perfect beauty that simultaneously attracts and repels us. –Gordon Banks [1]

The last quote by Gordon Banks reminds me very much chapter four in Aristotle’s Poetics which explains our attraction to the horrific when fiction is concerned. Why we like things which are painful.

Depending on the translation Aristotle states:

  • Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced with minute fidelity: such as the forms of the most ignoble animals and of dead bodies. –sourced here. [Aug 2005]
  • for we enjoy looking at accurate likenesses of things which are themselves painful to see, obscene beasts, for instance, and corpses. –sourced here. [Aug 2005]

See also: ambivalenceart horrorrepresentation

The history of four-footed beasts and serpents

WilliamDent TumorAlibert Scythian Ruskin2 Ruskin RegDouble RegChild Races Puck pig natter1754 mclean1836 mandrake Licetus1665b Licetus1665 Licetus LepraNigrans Lavater2 Lavater Lamia Lambert human hairy goose Elephant Cyno Cholic Caylus Carlyle Buffon Boruw Birthmarks Bidden Baynes ArcimboldoCooking

The legend to the series of illustrations posted above by Ian McCormick is posted below. Alternatively, you can consult these images at my Flickr account here. The enigmatic Ian McCormick posted the images to his easynet page in the late nineties when I found them. I’ve tried joining McCormick’s Yahoo group, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone there. Does anyone know of the current whereabouts of Ian?

Scythian Lamb

Mandrake from Herbarius (1485).

One-eyed monster from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Blemmyae, or headless monster from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Long-eared Phanesians from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Big-lipped monster from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Sciapodes from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Goat-people (satyrs) from Hartman Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (1493).

Monstrous pig of Landseer by Albrecht Durer (1496).

Human Monsters from Gregor Reisch’s Margarita Philosophia (1517).

Cooking from Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s The Genius of Cooking (1569).

Triton and Siren from the Latin edition of Ambroise Pare’s Des Monstres et Prodiges (1582).

Lamia See Topsell’s The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents (1607, 1608, 1658).

Biddenden Maids “Pygopagous twins”.

Parastic ectopy; Siamese twins from Johann Schenk’s Monstrorum historia memorabilis (1609).

Cynocephali from Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum Historia (1642).

Goose-headed Man from Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum Historia (1642).

Hairy Man from John Bulwer’s Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transformed: or the Artificial Changling (1653).

More monsters (Fortunius Licetus, De Monstris, 1665).

Medusa Head Found in an Egg (Fortunius Licetus, De Monstris, 1665).

Elephant-headed man from Fortunio Liceti’s De Monstris (1665).

Amorphous Monster (Fortunius Licetus, De Monstris, 1665).

Bear-headed Roman Senator (Anne-Claude-Philippe, Conte de Caylus, Recueil d’antiquites, 1665)

Pope-ass and other monsters from Fortunio Liceti’s De Monstrorum causis natura (1665).

Sneering Woman (James Parsons, Crounian Lectures on Muscular Motion, 1745).

Black Albino Child (Georges Buffon, L’histoire de l’homme, 1749)

Chimera (Laurent Natter, Traite de la Methode Antique, 1754).

Miniature Count Josef Boruwlaski with his wife Islina and their baby.(18th century).

Large Man Daniel Lambert. (18th century).

The Cutter Cut Up (William Dent, 1790).

Calculating Facial Disproportion (J.C. Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, 1792).

Birthmarks (J.C. Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, 1792).

Rage (J.C. Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, 1792).

The Siamese Brothers (T. M. Baynes, 19th century).

Double Child (Nicolas-Francois Regnault, Descriptions des principales monstruosites, 1808).

Monstrous child with multiple sensory organs (Nicolas-Francois Genault, Descriptions des principales monstruosites, 1808).

Tumor (Jean Louis Alibert, Clinique de l’Hopital Saint-Louis, 1833)

Lepra Nigrans (Jean Louis Alibert, Clinique de l’Hopital Saint-Louis, 1833)

The Cholick (George Cruickshank, 1835).

The Body Politic or the March of the Intellect (T.Mclean, 1836).

Electric Kingdom ‘Postmodern Arcimboldo’. Club Flyer, 13 March 1999.

This post was inspired by Marginalia’s post on Jan Jonston.