Who is Guignol? There’s something familiar about the word…guignol. We use the phrase "Grand Guignol” to refer to performances with a heightened emotional—almost hysterical—quality, often of melodramatic and highly stylized horror. Films such as Hush, Hush…Sweet Charlotte, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and Die, Die my Darling are often called “Grand Dame Guignol” playing on the phrase and referring to their “movie queen” stars. You may have heard of the Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol—The Theater of the Grand Guignol. Founded in 1894 in a former Parisian chapel, by Oscar Méténier, The Theater of The Grand Guignol was dedicated to “naturalistic” performances about subjects deemed not appropriate for mainstream theater—prostitution, poverty, mental illness, and murder among others. Often filled with grisly, shocking special effects and brutal representations of horrifying acts, the patrons of the theater would often pass out from fright and revulsion. After many changes in management and direction, the theater closed in the 1960’s, but not before leaving an indelible mark on the art world. In fact, this theater inspired Anne Rice’s Theater of the Vampires. But, who is Guignol? Guignol is a puppet. In fact, the “Grand Guignol” means “Big Puppet.” Specifically, Guignol was a puppet introduced to Lyon, France in 1808 by Laurent Mourguet, a silk-weaver-turned-dentist who used puppet shows to attract people to his traveling dental practice. At first borrowing characters from Italian Commedia dell'arte, Mourguet soon created his own characters, Gnafron, and then Guignol as well as others. Guignol became a means of offering up political and social commentary. Though clever, generous and kind, the character of Guignol soon became associated with buffoonery and, even today, the word is often used as an insult. The broad, stylized performances at these puppet shows inspired the name for the naturalistic, yet melodramatic, plays at the Theater of the Grand Guignol. The Guignol character has his roots in a long tradition of puppetry. He is also related to other similar puppets. In fact, you could say, he is a cousin to Punch and his wife, Judy. Yes, he is Punch’s Cousin… Guignol Puppet Theater image courtesy of Venetian Red.
For background and links, please see: bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2013/09/comet-sketches.html
Literally #blessed.
Nesse post, vamos dar dicas maravilhosas para você se preparar para o turismo na Islândia, um país como nenhum outro e um destino imperdível!
The Kometenbuch is a 16th-century manuscript with stylized watercolor illustrations of comets and meteors, now at the University of Kassel in Germany. Produced in Flanders or northeastern France in 1587, it is one of a whole class of such manuscripts. After all, everybody knew that comets portended dramatic changes in the world. But which changes? Perhaps, the thinking went, an encyclopedia detailing the appearance, duration, and other key characteristics of all the known comets could be cross-referenced with the historical record, telling us what each kind means. Red, sword-shaped comet in the west around sundown? The king will fall! That sort of thing. The one above bears the legend Pertica orientalis und occidentalis, and looks dire to me. The text of this particular Comet Book has been traced to an anonymous Spanish manuscript that first appeared in 1238, titled Liber de Significatione Cometarum. This Spanish book spawned a library shelf of copies and imitations, including a French manuscript of the 15th century that may have been the direct source for our Flemish painter. The flaming city probably clues us in to what the Aurora comet portends. The Miles comet, said to be "the harbinger of upheaval to laws, social norms and hard times for royalty." I suppose the man under the tree expresses the artist's idea of how this comet treats the earth. Gebea ou Tenaculum, a comet from the reign of Emperor Nero (54 to 68 CE). The comet of 66, if that's what this means, had long been associated in Christian lore with the first great persecutions of Christians. It was actually the one we call Halley's. Vertu, dated to the year 69 CE; this marked the fall of Nero and the Year of the Four Emperors. More at BibliOdyssey. The vast lore associated with comets and their worldwide association with disaster explains the significance of Edmund Halley's discovery that many of the most famous were repeat visits, every 76 years, by the comet that now bears his name.
In honor of the miniature interiors that Peak of Chic blogged about today, I thought I would show you the set designs displayed in the library of the Garnier Opera House in Paris. The Paris Opera House is also known as the Palais Garnier, after the architect who designed this magnificent structure, Charles Garnier. Designed in neo-baroque style, the opera was completed in 1875 and is truly one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. I can't wait to show you more of it at a later date. However -onto the miniature set designs! These small boxes line part of the library you can see above and aren't more than 12 inches high and are lit from behind. I'll never know what it is about miniatures that are so fascinating. Can't you see yourself viewing an opera in one of these? This seems to have been part of the tour of the opera that visitors tend to linger at the longest! Everyone loves a miniature: I suppose it brings out the child in all of us. At the end of the library is this really beautiful painting, definitely not in miniature as the ballerina is shown at full scale! Make sure to click on the images to see them at a larger size -the detail is amazing!
Nationaal Archief / Spaarnestad Photo, SFA002015278 Nederlandse schaatser Jaap Eden op het ijs. Plaats onbekend, 1890-1900. Ingekleurde zwart/wit foto. Dutch skater Jaap Eden on the ice. Location unknown, 1890-1900. Coloured black and white photograph. Collectie Spaarnestad Voor meer informatie en voor meer foto’s uit de collectie van Spaarnestad Photo, bezoek onze Beeldbank: www.spaarnestadphoto.nl/
When anyone speaks of the Reykjavik Church, this is the one they are referring to. Hallgrímskirkja is the center point in downtown Reykjavík and without a doubt the most grandiose building in the area. Guðjón Samúelsson was the architect for the project and he is said to have found inspiration in the heavenly waterfall Svartifoss with it's hexagonal basalt columns. In Hallgrímkirkja’s lobby you can, for a small fee, take the lift up to the church tower. Definitely worth it.
The very first thing that drew me to the band The Decemberists were the illustrations on their first album Castaways and Cutouts by Carson Ellis. The scratchy, old-timey drawings seemed so epic and full of stories. I was taken immediately,...
Stereoscopy is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision.[2] The word stereoscopy derives from Greek στερεός 'firm, solid', and σκοπέω 'to look, to see'.[3][4] Any stereoscopic image is called a stereogram. Originally, stereogram referred to a pair of stereo images which could be viewed using a stereoscope.
