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December 2010 Archive 31 December - Little Shop of Ex Voto Horrors  I mentioned last week that some modern ex votos are a bit harder to believe in than others. Well, I totally believe in this one, which is currently for sale on eBay. Here's the translation of the inscription, as provided by the seller: In the gavels of the patio began to sprout some very strange plants, and I allowed them to grow and I even watered and took care of them because I found them very exotic. I thank to the Rosario's Virgin because I realized that they ate insects and other animals and I could pull up them on time before they ate up to my cats and maybe later to me.Good sets of choppers on the plants - this one would look nice on a dentist's waiting room wall, I bet. Previous Cat-Related Ex Votos: Cat Bath Miracle Cats vs. Red Demons Merchandise-Hungry Cats Unmupped Kittens - More Miraculous Trusting Cats Miracle of the Trusting Cats Big Blue Cat Miracle Brave/Ugly Cats Miracles Miracle of Feline Augmented Literacy Pretty Hairy Kittens Miracle Demonic Fear of Kitties Cat Scratch Fever Miracle Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link 30 December - Goodbye, Kodachrome  A sad day for photography...  Was always more of a black-and-white kind of guy, but can't help feeling mournful and whiney at the end of the Kodachrome era. link 25 December - A Fond Glimpse of My Last Christmas  Via the fascinating Workhouse site. The illustration illustrates George R. Sims' moving recitation, The Workhouse: Christmas Day. And it reminds me of another pathetic Christmas verse: 'Twas Christmas in the haremlink 23 December - Cat Bath Miracle  Some miracles documented in the ex votos offered up on eBay are a bit harder to believe in than others; this one, currently for sale by seller intonarumori, raised my suspicions. Here's the seller's translation of the inscription: Little girl Demetria Tiomitzi gives thanks to San Antonio Abad. Her cats got used to being bathed and no longer scratch her when she does so.Would have liked to have witnessed one of little Demetria's miracle cat baths - at a safe distance and wearing a raincoat. Previous Cat-Related Ex Votos: Cats vs. Red Demons Merchandise-Hungry Cats Unmupped Kittens - More Miraculous Trusting Cats Miracle of the Trusting Cats Big Blue Cat Miracle Brave/Ugly Cats Miracles Miracle of Feline Augmented Literacy Pretty Hairy Kittens Miracle Demonic Fear of Kitties Cat Scratch Fever Miracle Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link The Lozenge Camo Plot  W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, was said to be entirely too taken with the "magic lozenge" plot, wherein a lozenge or elixer is administered and all is turned topsy-turvy. And now is turns out that our Museum's museum shop buyers are also a bit too devoted to lozenges - in our case, merch using the German aircraft lozenge camouflage from World War I (Buntfarbenaufdruck). We're already flogging Lozenge Camo Keds and Lozenge Camo ties; we now seemingly also offer a Lozenge Camo mug (above) which one can carefully place on this...  ... Lozenge Camo coaster. Sorry - I have to post this stuff on command. This is what a small museum has to do to survive, nowadays. I'm also obligated to mention that both items, which are exclusive to the Janus Museum Museum Shop, can still be ordered in time for delivery by Christmas. link 15 December - Suffering Cats Miraculously Liberated From Red Demons  Just in time for holiday giving is this superb ex voto - a painting commemorating a miraculous intervention - currently available on eBay. A lady welds her charmed broom against the red demons and saves her traumatized pastel cats. Here's the translation of the inscription, as supplied by the seller, grancopio: Some red demons were bothering my cats just for fun. I thank to the Sacred Sacramento because he charmed my broom and I could toss to those monsters by broom-blows and this way I liberate my poor cats of the suffering.By the way, this is the first ex voto featured here that shows a miracle performed by the Sacred Sacramento. Previous Cat-Related Ex Votos: Merchandise-Hungry Cats Unmupped Kittens - More Miraculous Trusting Cats Miracle of the Trusting Cats Big Blue Cat Miracle Brave/Ugly Cats Miracles Miracle of Feline Augmented Literacy Pretty Hairy Kittens Miracle Demonic Fear of Kitties Cat Scratch Fever Miracle Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link 14 December - Hanging in Sydney  Antikythera (Apollo), Herbert List. Gelatin silver print, 1937 - Nicholson Museum. Very pleased to report that a couple of Allan Janus photographs are included in an upcoming exhibit at Sydney's Nicholson Museum starting in January - Exposed: Photography and the Classical Nude. Also included in the exhibit are greats like Henry Fox Talbot, Eadweard Muybridge, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Chim, Brassai, Robert Doisneau and Herbert List. And also Wilhelm von Gloeden and Leni Riefenstahl; I believe this is the first time that Leni and Janus have been hung together. The exhibit "is a celebration of the naked human body in photography - and of the influence of the Classical ideal of ancient Greece and Rome on that art form." The Janus images included are...  ... Adam and Eve, Ladew Gardens, and also...  ... St.-Cloud. We were all planning on jetting down for the opening, but the damn Gulfstream's in the shop, again. link 12 December - Holiday Horror  Down in Wallingford Park, by the gazebo, to view the newly enstalled holiday decorations - what has startled Cat Natasha so, that she recoils in horror?  It was the first sight of the new electric reindeer, which moves its head from side to side in a terrifying sort of way, and looks kind of skeletal. I admit that I also was taken aback by it, and cried a little. And...  ... Nutmeg, usually quite intrepid, was also awed by the contraption. And later...  ... I had to endure Natasha's reproachful gaze. But home, a snack, and a nap put things right enough. Many thanks to the Friends of the Museum who have helped us out by purchasing items from the Janus Museum Museum Shop, such as our exclusive World War I German Lozenge Camouflage Keds and the elegant Natasha in the Snow necktie. And other patrons have made purchases through our handy Amazon product links - we get to dip our beak on any sales made through the links, even if it's a different item entirely. We appreciate the patronage, a lot. link 11 December - Light Dusting  The merest dusting of snow, like sugar on a doughnut, in The Circle. Not quite up to the standards of last winter, yet. link 5 December - Wind Fall  With the Museum unable to pay for for a tank of heating oil, the staff was out in the Forest Preserve this morning, picking up windfall to burn in the wood stove. There's an icy edge to the wind, and I think I saw a snow flake or two, though it could have been a symptom of hypothermia. I was able to make a couple of snaps for a stitched panorama (above), and also...  ... For a nice anaglyph (red/blue glasses required) of the Preserve's swamp, before the Curator started yelling at me. The cats were too intelligent to come with us. So cold... link 4 December - More Turkeys  Here's a rare post-Thanksgiving turkey posting - it came up to the top of the scanning queue tragically too late for the holiday. Taken at Accokeek, 1982 - possibly on this occasion. link 4 December - The Bold Texican Cat  Here's a fine ambrotype of a Texan cat on a serape, c.1860, from the Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photography Collection, courtesy of Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library - via Historical Indulgences, a fascinating Tumblr blog. Note the steely glint to his eye; looks like he just came off the trail - Would look mighty fine in a little Stetson, I'm thinking. link |
