Half-naked Africans made to gnaw bones and presented as "cannibals" as they shivered in a mock tribal village in northern France; Native American children displayed at fairgrounds; families from Asia and the South Pacific behind railings in European zoos and dancing Zulus on the London stage.Wow. Finally. The exhibition I have long been waiting to see (and which just might inspire a pilgrimage!)
Paris's most talked-about exhibition of the winter opened on Tuesday with shock and soul-searching over the history of colonial subjects used in human zoos, circuses and stage shows, which flourished until as late as 1958...
--Paris show unveils life in human zoo, The Guardian, Tuesday 29 November 2011
HUMAN ZOOS, The invention of the savage unveils the history of women, men and children brought from Africa, Asia, Oceania and America to be exhibited in the Western world in circus numbers, theatre or cabaret performances, fairs, zoos, parades, reconstructed villages or international and colonial fairs. The practice started in the 16th Century royal courts and continued to increase until the mid-20th Century in Europe, America and Japan.You can also read the entire article from which the introductory quote was drawn by clicking here. More can be found on the museum website by clicking here. For more on The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, click here.
A wide array of paintings, sculptures, posters, postcards, movies, photographs, mouldings, dioramas, miniatures and costumes provide insight on the scope of the phenomenon and on the success of the exotic performance industry, which captivated over a billion spectators who, between 1800 and 1958, marvelled at more than 35,000 individuals throughout the world.
Through 600 items and the screening of many film archives, the exhibition shows how this type of performance, when used as propaganda and entertainment, has fashioned the Western perspective and deeply influenced a certain perception of the Other for nearly five centuries.
The exhibition explores the sometimes fine lines between exotic individuals and freaks, science and voyeurism, exhibitionism and spectacle. It also questions visitors on their own contemporary biases.
While the exhibitions gradually disappear in the 30s, they have by then already had their effect, of setting a boundary between the exhibited and the spectators. Which begs the question: does that line still remain today?
Exhibition Path
Human zoos, The invention of the savage aims at giving back their name to women, men and children used as extras, circus freaks, actors and dancers, by telling their diverse and forgotten stories.
Based on research started over ten years ago (Pascal Blanchard, Human zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of Empire, Liverpool University Press, 2008), a corpus of several thousand documents from over 200 international museums and private collections (including the Prado Museum, the Paris Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, the Frankfurt historical museum, the musée du quai Branly and the private collection gathered by the Achac research group), and cross cooperation with over thirty countries, this is the first major exhibition to internationally approach what has been called the ‘human zoos’.
In a scenography inspired by the world of theatre, the exhibition historically and thematically approaches the staging of so-called ‘exotics’ or ‘freaks’, as well as the reactions to these popular scientific or avant-garde shows throughout the world. In an audio guide, Lilian Thuram provides his comments to visitors as they walk through the exhibition to view posters, photographs, sculptures and other items, putting them in their specific context.
ACT 1 - DISCOVERING THE OTHER: REPORT, COLLECT, PRESENT
The first Act features the 15th and 18th Century arrival of exotic people in Europe, and their consideration as ‘strange foreigners’, categorized in four archetypes throughout the exhibition: the savage, the artist, the freak and the exotic ambassador.
Various media reported on the parade of Brazil’s Tupinamba ‘savages’ for the royal entrance of King Henri II in 1550 in Rouen, on the arrival of Siamese ambassadors at the Court of Versailles in 1686, on the 1654 presentation of Inuits to King Frederik II in Copenhagen and on the return of Captain James Cook to England with Tahitian ‘Noble Savage’ Omai in 1774. The latter inspired a play that was presented in Paris and London for many years…
The exhibition also features a famous portrait of Antonietta Gonsalvus painted by Lavinia Fontana (1585), depicting one of the Gonsalvus children, a family of the Canary Islands known in the 16th Century for its legendary hairiness.
ACT 2 – FREAKS & EXOTICS: OBSERVE, CLASSIFY, CATEGORIZE
The early 19th Century brings the emergence of a new genre: ethnic shows. They first develop in theater cafés before spreading to larger and larger venues and being included in exhibitions and circuses.
This process of staging the difference blurs the difference between the deformed and the foreign: physical, psychological and geographical abnormalities are first staged, and then become the focus of performances.
The first ethnic and freak shows add a new dimension to popular culture by more and more regularly bringing together exotic people alongside freaks. Case in point: Saartje Baartman, nicknamed the “Hottentot Venus”, exhibited in London and Paris in the early 19th Century. She represents a new phase of the exhibition process.
The first shows fashion and structure the Western view on otherness, specifically from regions such as the various regions Europe hopes to conquer or in the process of colonizing.
In the early stages of imperial colonization, theories arise on the classification and organization of humanity and on the concept of race: an academic way of thinking that marked humanities throughout the 19th century.
ACT 3 – THE SPECTACLE OF DIFFERENCE: RECRUIT, EXHIBIT, SHARE
Between 1870 and WWII, many venues start specializing in ethnic performance as the Crystal Palace, Barnum and Bailey in Madison Square, the Paris Folies Bergères or the famous Panoptikum in Berlin. It is the time of the professionalization of the activity, and exotic performance morphs into mass entertainment.
Visitors are introduced to “actors of savageness” who become true genre professionals: Aboriginals, ‘lip-plate women’, Amazons, snake charmers, Japanese tightrope walkers or oriental belly dancers, but also the first black clown in France called “Chocolat” and drawn by Toulouse-Lautrec and legendary Buffalo Bill, whose show revolves on the native American Indian archetype, which forever brands the Far West imagery.
Unbeknownst to them, audiences encounter made-up ‘savages’. Generally paid, the exhibited actively participate in building the imagery.
ACT 4 – STAGING: EXHIBIT, MEASURE, PROFILE
Reconstructed ethnic villages, zoos, colonial and international fairs, science and spectacle merge in multiple places. Exotic peoples and physical strangeness are brought together on stage as if they both equally represented the realm of abnormality.
Excess, grandeur and ephemeral reconstructions characterize this section of the exhibition with posters and painted dioramas, film ,screenings, photographs, automates and postcards.
The practice starts in public gardens, following the one in Paris which, in 1877, is the first in Europe to exhibit tribes and groups. Such exhibitions lead to the invention of travelling Villages, like Carl Hagenbeck’s. Major tours start in 1874, and in 1878 until the 30s, international and colonial fairs include an exotic dimension to their programs.
While this trend primarily hits Europe, it also reaches America, Japan and the colonies themselves (Australia, India and Indochina), and attracts hundreds of million visitors.
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular DemandMore information can be found here. Mouse shown above was created in our last class, created by attendee Ronni Ascagni. More mice from that class can be found here.
Date: TONIGHT Tuesday, November 29th
Time: 7 PM-11 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
Anthropomorphic taxidermy–the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities–was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces–which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party–in his own museum of curiosities.
Tonight, please join Morbid Anatomy and taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven for a beginners class in anthropomorphic taxidermy. All materials–including a mouse for each student–will be provided, and each class member will leave at the end of the day with their own anthropomorphic taxidermied mouse. Students are invited to bring any miniature items with which they might like to dress or decorate their new friend; some props and miniature clothing will also be provided by the teacher. A wide variety of sizes and colors of mice will be available.
No former taxidermy experience is required.
Also, some technical notes:
- We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
- Everyone will be provided with gloves.
- All animals are disease free.
- Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone.
- All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class. All mice used are feeder animals for snakes and lizards and would literally be discarded if not sold.
- Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class
CLASS: Dissection as Studio PracticeIf you are interested in signing up for this class, please email me at morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com. To see more of Laura Splan's fantastic work, click here. This class is one of the newest installments in the series newly termed The Morbid Anatomy Artist Academy; to find out more about that--including a full class list thus far--click here.
Lecture and Studio Art Class with artist Laura Splan
Date: Sunday, January 8th
Time: 1-4 PM
Fee: $60
*** Class size is limited to 20; please RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.comThis class will survey the use of dissection in contemporary art practice through an illustrated lecture, discussion and collaborative art project. We will examine the conceptual and cultural significance of cutting, excavating, disassembling, labeling, observing and displaying “bodies.” The lecture will present a brief history of dissection as well as work by contemporary artists exploring imagery, tropes and methods of dissection. The collaborative project will be a fun and lively hands on exploration of the meaning of dissection in a work of art. Participants should bring an object, artifact or specimen to “dissect” for the group exercise. Additional supplies, tools and materials will be provided. No prior art training is required.
Laura Splan is a Brooklyn based visual artist. Her mixed media work explores historical and cultural ambivalence towards the human body. She was recently a Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University where she taught “Art and Biology” in the Art & Art History Department. She has been a Visiting Artist at the New York Academy of Sciences, California College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Cal Arts. She curates the visual portal DomesticatedViscera.com. Images of her artwork can be found on her website: LauraSplan.com.
You can contact Laura through her website with any questions about the class by clicking here.
In Cheselden’s time, surgeons trained through an apprenticeship during which, they would attend private anatomy lessons. Before the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only legal supply of bodies for anatomical purposes where those of criminals condemned by the courts. The Barber-Surgeons’ Company kept scrupulous control over the use of bodies dissected in their hall, with the macabre ritual of often later displaying the dissected bodies of executed criminals in niches around the walls. Cheselden himself was fined by the Company in 1714 for carrying out dissections without permission, which drew away audience members from regular lectures at the Company. With students having little opportunity to take part in dissections themselves, teachers would rely on models or anatomical preparations for class...Image and text from The Wellcome Collection blog; you can learn more about this fabulous painting--and read the text in its entirety--by clicking here.
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand
Date: Tuesday, November 15th
Time: 7 PM-11 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** SOLD OUTAnthropomorphic taxidermy–the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities–was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces–which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party–in his own museum of curiosities.
On Tuesday November 15th, please join Morbid Anatomy and taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven for a beginners class in anthropomorphic taxidermy. All materials–including a mouse for each student–will be provided, and each class member will leave at the end of the day with their own anthropomorphic taxidermied mouse. Students are invited to bring any miniature items with which they might like to dress or decorate their new friend; some props and miniature clothing will also be provided by the teacher. A wide variety of sizes and colors of mice will be available.
No former taxidermy experience is required.
Also, some technical notes:
- We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
- Everyone will be provided with gloves.
- All animals are disease free.
- Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone.
- All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class. All mice used are feeder animals for snakes and lizards and would literally be discarded if not sold.
- Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the clas
You can contact Sue with any more questions by clicking here.
The Occult in Modern Art 101
An illustrated lecture by Pam Grossman
Date: Friday, November 18th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8
Presented by: PhantasmaphileThough few history books make mention of it, many of our most lauded artists — Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Duchamp, to name but a few — were deeply influenced by the occult. The imagery and tenets of arcane traditions including alchemy, Spiritualism, Theosophy, and shamanism have infused the work of artists through the ages. Beginning with the Symbolists, then spiraling through such periods as Cubism, Dada, Surrealism (with its wonderfully witchy women), Abstract Expressionism, and the visionary art of today, this evening’s lecture will be a visual primer on the existence of magic in our museums and galleries.
Pam Grossman is an independent curator and lifelong student of magical practice and history. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent. Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION QUEST, and Alchemically Yours have been featured by such outlets as Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach. By day, she is the Creative Planning Manager for Getty Images North America.
Image: Leonora Carrington "La maja del tarot" 1965
“No Computer Is An Island” : PowerPoint Film with Live Musical Accompaniment
Film by James Bell and music by Paul Deuth (a.k.a. Meteorologeist)
Runtime approx 1 hr.
Date: Saturday, November 19th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy“No Computer Is An Island” is a silent movie animated entirely in PowerPoint and accompanied by electronic music, mixed live during the presentation. Utilizing inventive music and limited animation presets, a depressing world of office life, shallow relationships and adult responsibility is presented in 256 colors. The presentation follows a day in the life of one workflow shape, appropriately named Bubbles, as he goes about the business of being a detached thought bubble. Other workflow characters overlap and interrupt his story, creating images that exploit the constraints of PowerPoint as an animation tool by using the conventions of silent film. “No Computer Is An Island” engages the timeless need for narrative, inviting the viewer to create meaning slide by slide.
James E. P. Bell regularly makes PowerPoint presentations in an office building in midtown Manhattan. A founding member of the interactive performance group PowerPoint, James has explored the aesthetic potential of MicroSoft Office applications in productions such as “Introduction to Change Management” (1999), “Violence in the Workplace” (2003), and now “No Computer Is An Island” (2010).
Paul Deuth is an electronic musician/composer/producer (A.K.A. Meteorologeist) and director of photography. With an extensive career in television, Paul most enjoys expressing himself in multi-media artistic ventures including projects with PowerPoint, Fire and Ice, Hold Please, and the Prospects. You can experience some of Paul’s music at http://www.myspace.com/meteorologeist
Onwards and Upwards:
Tuesday, November 29: Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand. 7-11pm/$60 *** SOLD OUT
Monday, December 5: Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive: Illustrated Lecture and book signing with Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS 8pm/$5
Saturday, December 10: Grand Guignol Variety Show at The Coney Island Museum: Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, antique 3D stereoscopic slides, puppet and toy theatre, song, dance, film and more, followed by after-party with cocktails courtesy of Hendrick’s Gin; support this project on IndieGoGo by clicking here 8pm/$25
Tuesday, December 13: The Missing Dimension: A Cultural History of 3D Images - Anaglyphs, Stereographs, View-Masters, Holograms, and Flaming Arrows Coming Right at You!: Illustrated lecture on and in 3D (glasses provided) by artist and NYU Professor Chris Muller 8pm/$5
Saturday, December 17: “Oddities” Marathon and Season Launch Party: Screening of TV’s “Oddities” followed by after party with MC Lord Whimsy, giveaways, special drinks, and DJ 8pm/$8Tuesday, December 20: Anthropomorphic Chick Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Limited class size; must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com 7-11pm/$60
Sunday, January 8: CLASS: Dissection as Studio Practice: Lecture and Studio Art Class with artist Laura Splan *** Class size is limited; Must RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com 1-4pm/$60Thursday, January 26: The Search for Granny-Dump Mountain: Illustrated lecture by Journalist Justin Nobel 8pm/$5
Thursday, February 2: PERFORMANCE: Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre: A matchbox theatre performance by Deborah Kaufmann 8pm/$12
Sunday, January 29: Class: Mummification: Learn the art and ritual of animal mummification with instructor Sorceress Cagliastro *** Limited Class Size; Please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com 1-4pm/$65
Friday, February 3: PERFORMANCE: Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre: A matchbox theatre performance by Deborah Kaufmann 8pm/$12
More on Observatory can be found here. To sign up for events on Facebook, join our group by clicking here. To sign up for our weekly mailer, click here.
The Grand Guignol: Parisian Theatre of Fear and Terror 1897-1962
Illustrated lecture/booksigning with author and scholar Mel Gordon
Date: Friday, November 11th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
Complimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
***Signed copies of Gordon's long out-of-print Grand Guiginol will be available for sale at $30 (copies generally go for $60-150)Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 1 (For Decadent Paris Event #2, Click here)
Hidden among the decadence and sleaze of Pigalle with its roughnecks and whores, in the shadows of a quiet, cobbled alleyway, stands a little theatre... --"Grand Guignol: The French Theatre or Horror," Hand and Wilson
From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol--literally "grand puppet show"--gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today.
Tonight, join Professor Mel Gordon--author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror--to learn about the largely forgotten history of the Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in this heavily-illustrated and highly engaging lecture.
Mel Gordon is the author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.
Image: Grand Guignol Poster, from the collection of Mel Gordon
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Absinthe and Other Liquors of Fin de Siècle Paris: Lecture and Tasting
Illustrated lecture and liquor tasting with film maker Ronni Thomas
Date: Saturday, November 12th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid AnatomyComplimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 2 (For Decadent Paris Event #1, Click here)
On Saturday November 12th, join Ronni Thomas and Observatory for an exploration of the exotic and often diabolic liquids of France's antiquity featuring absinthe, a liquor known in fin de siècle Paris as "the green fairy" for its bewitching allure and poetically transporting nature. Among history's most infamous and romanticized liquors, absinthe became a symbol of decadence and was drink of choice of such bohemian luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Jarry, Édouard Manet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. By 1915, it was widely banned after having been publicly tied to sensational stories of madness, murder and degeneracy; recently re-legalized, it has developed a passionate contemporary fan base.
Tonight, absinthe devotee Ronni Thomas will deliver an illustrated lecture on the history of absinthe and other great elixirs of fin de siècle Paris--such as green chartreuse, armagnac, and ricard--complete with artwork and video excerpts; he will also screen his own contribution to the absinthe mythos: a promotional video he produced for contemporary absinthe maker Le Tourment Vert. Liquor samples for tasting will also be available throughout the evening, including complimentary absinthe from our sponsor La Fée. There will also a Francophile music-filled after party. It will be a night straight out of Brassaï's Paris right in the heart of Brooklyn.
Ronni Thomas filmmaker and creator of The Midnight Archive web series is an avid drinker who appreciates both the history of antique spirits and the effects they have on his self esteem. Incidentally, his favorite absinthe is tonight's sponsor La Fée.
Image: "La Muse Verte" (The Green Muse), Albert Maignan, 1895
More on Observatory can be found here. To sign up for events on Facebook, join our group by clicking here. To sign up for our weekly mailer, click here.
Illustrated lecture/booksigning with author and scholar Mel Gordon
Date: Friday, November 11th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
Complimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
***Signed copies of Gordon's long out-of-print Grand Guiginol will be available for sale at $30 (copies generally go for $60-150)Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 1 (For Decadent Paris Event #2, Click here)
Hidden among the decadence and sleaze of Pigalle with its roughnecks and whores, in the shadows of a quiet, cobbled alleyway, stands a little theatre... --"Grand Guignol: The French Theatre or Horror," Hand and Wilson
From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol--literally "grand puppet show"--gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today.
Tonight, join Professor Mel Gordon--author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror--to learn about the largely forgotten history of the Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in this heavily-illustrated and highly engaging lecture.
Mel Gordon is the author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.
Image: Grand Guignol Poster, from the collection of Mel Gordon
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Illustrated lecture and liquor tasting with film maker Ronni Thomas
Date: Saturday, November 12th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid AnatomyComplimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 2 (For Decadent Paris Event #1, Click here)
On Saturday November 12th, join Ronni Thomas and Observatory for an exploration of the exotic and often diabolic liquids of France's antiquity featuring absinthe, a liquor known in fin de siècle Paris as "the green fairy" for its bewitching allure and poetically transporting nature. Among history's most infamous and romanticized liquors, absinthe became a symbol of decadence and was drink of choice of such bohemian luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Jarry, Édouard Manet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. By 1915, it was widely banned after having been publicly tied to sensational stories of madness, murder and degeneracy; recently re-legalized, it has developed a passionate contemporary fan base.
Tonight, absinthe devotee Ronni Thomas will deliver an illustrated lecture on the history of absinthe and other great elixirs of fin de siècle Paris--such as green chartreuse, armagnac, and ricard--complete with artwork and video excerpts; he will also screen his own contribution to the absinthe mythos: a promotional video he produced for contemporary absinthe maker Le Tourment Vert. Liquor samples for tasting will also be available throughout the evening, including complimentary absinthe from our sponsor La Fée. There will also a Francophile music-filled after party. It will be a night straight out of Brassaï's Paris right in the heart of Brooklyn.
Ronni Thomas filmmaker and creator of The Midnight Archive web series is an avid drinker who appreciates both the history of antique spirits and the effects they have on his self esteem. Incidentally, his favorite absinthe is tonight's sponsor La Fée.
Image: "La Muse Verte" (The Green Muse), Albert Maignan, 1895
Illustrated lecture/booksigning with author and scholar Mel Gordon
Date: Friday, November 11th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
Complimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
***Signed copies of Gordon's long out-of-print Grand Guiginol will be available for sale at $30 (copies generally go for $60-150)Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 1 (For Decadent Paris Event #2, Click here)
Hidden among the decadence and sleaze of Pigalle with its roughnecks and whores, in the shadows of a quiet, cobbled alleyway, stands a little theatre... --"Grand Guignol: The French Theatre or Horror," Hand and Wilson
From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol--literally "grand puppet show"--gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking "splatter" movies of today.
Tonight, join Professor Mel Gordon--author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror--to learn about the largely forgotten history of the Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in this heavily-illustrated and highly engaging lecture.
Mel Gordon is the author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptious Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; The lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Now, Mel Gordon is completing a companion volume for Feral House Press, entitled Horizontal Collaboration: The Erotic World of Paris, 1920-1946. He also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.
Image: Grand Guignol Poster, from the collection of Mel Gordon
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Illustrated lecture and liquor tasting with film maker Ronni Thomas
Date: Saturday, November 12th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid AnatomyComplimentary absinthe provided by our sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l'Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise
Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 2 (For Decadent Paris Event #1, Click here)
On Saturday November 12th, join Ronni Thomas and Observatory for an exploration of the exotic and often diabolic liquids of France's antiquity featuring absinthe, a liquor known in fin de siècle Paris as "the green fairy" for its bewitching allure and poetically transporting nature. Among history's most infamous and romanticized liquors, absinthe became a symbol of decadence and was drink of choice of such bohemian luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Jarry, Édouard Manet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. By 1915, it was widely banned after having been publicly tied to sensational stories of madness, murder and degeneracy; recently re-legalized, it has developed a passionate contemporary fan base.
Tonight, absinthe devotee Ronni Thomas will deliver an illustrated lecture on the history of absinthe and other great elixirs of fin de siècle Paris--such as green chartreuse, armagnac, and ricard--complete with artwork and video excerpts; he will also screen his own contribution to the absinthe mythos: a promotional video he produced for contemporary absinthe maker Le Tourment Vert. Liquor samples for tasting will also be available throughout the evening, including complimentary absinthe from our sponsor La Fée. There will also a Francophile music-filled after party. It will be a night straight out of Brassaï's Paris right in the heart of Brooklyn.
Ronni Thomas filmmaker and creator of The Midnight Archive web series is an avid drinker who appreciates both the history of antique spirits and the effects they have on his self esteem. Incidentally, his favorite absinthe is tonight's sponsor La Fée.
Image: "La Muse Verte" (The Green Muse), Albert Maignan, 1895
And also:
NetherWorld: A Morality VaudevilleYou can find out more by clicking here.
The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio
196 Columbia Street Brooklyn, 11231
Thursday to Saturday at 8 PM
Saturdays & Sundays Matinee at 4 PM
The Follies of Humanity… Enacted by Demonic Puppets!
Grimly Comical Vignettes… and Surreal Melodramas!
Journey Beyond the Grave… and Return!
“NetherWorld, A Morality Vaudeville” is a variety show in hell, interwoven with an operetta which tells the tale of the Demon King, Mister Scratch, and his search for an heir to the throne of NetherWorld. It features creepy & surreal marionettes, live sound effects, and an original live score performed on accordian, piano, and toy piano. NetherWorld was an Off-Off Broadway Review Award recipient for one of the Best Performances of 1995.
Of Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration FranceMore on this symposium can be found here.
Interdisciplinary Symposium
December 1 - 3, 2011
American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum, Philadelphia
Of Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France is organized by the APS Museum in conjunction with its current exhibition, Of Elephants & Roses: Encounters with French Natural History, 1790 - 1830. The symposium includes French and American scholars, and addresses key ideas raised by the displays in the exhibition. Included are presentations exploring how Empress Josephine became shepherdess, botanist, and estate manager, how top scientists and artists pictured nature, and how natural science influenced everything from Balzac's novels to the 19th century's romanticized notions of long-lost worlds.
Of Elephants & Roses celebrates the life sciences during a time when Paris was the center of natural history in the Western world. On view are more than sixty objects from France never before seen in the U.S., including Josephine's black swan, gorgeous renderings of flowers on Sèvres porcelain, a mastodon fossil bone sent by Thomas Jefferson to Paris, an herbarium specimen of the flowering Franklinia tree, and everyday objects decorated with charming images of a giraffe who walked 550 miles across France to greet the king.
For information on speakers and program: apsmuseum.org/symposium
For online registration, required by Nov. 28, 2011: apsmuseum.org/registration
SYMPOSIUM IS FREE OF CHARGE
The symposium is made possible through generous funding by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.
