Danza Macabre Website

Check out Danza Macabre, a lovingly compiled website showcasing a vast collection of historical art images dealing with death and mortality. Takes a few minutes to download, but well worth the wait; a veritable embarrasment of riches. A wide range of imagery, from medical Danse of Death woodcuts, to Durer, Goya, Bosch, Vesalius, Gautier, Robert Geisseler, and 19th century examples. Found via Wikipedia's entry for Danse Macabre.

Absinthe in The New York Times

From today's New York Times:

Dear reader! Should this column impress you as being more than usually lyrical, recalling perhaps the imagery and elegance of poetry by Baudelaire or Verlaine; should it seem a bit decadent, redolent of Oscar Wilde’s withering hauteur; should it have a touch of madness or perversity, combining, say, the tastes of Toulouse-Lautrec with the passions of van Gogh; should it simply sound direct and forceful and knowing like one of Ernest Hemingway’s characters; should it do any or all of that, let me credit something that each of these figures fervently paid tribute to: the green fairy, the green goddess, the green muse, the glaucous witch, the queen of poisons.

Read the whole article, filled with fascinating information (and purchasing tips!) here.

Confronting Mortality with Art and Science Conference, 2007

Just back from the Confronting Mortality with Art and Science Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, where I presented a lecture and photographs relating to my recent project Anatomical Theatre.

I had a wonderful time; the presentations and artworks were amazing, the conference was held in a zoo from the 1840s with all the appropriate grand marble architecture, collections of curiosity, and dramatic natural-history themed oil paintings (click here to see a complete collection of photos.) We even got to lecture beneath a giant whale skeleton. I met a score of fascinating people (attendees included contemporary anatomical wax workers Pascale Pollier and Eleanor Crook, and visual artists Jo Ann Kaplan, Chantal Pollier, Beverly Ress, Bryan Green, Jeff Wycoff, and Laurie Hassold ) working at the interstices of science, art, and mortality; their work will be featured in future posts.

The Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, 2007

Congratulations to Mike Zohn of the wonderful Obscura Antiques and Oddities for garnering the grand prize in the The Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, a Secret Science Club event held at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn, last Friday night. (The first two photos feature Mike and his winning entry--see his quote, following, for more information). Other (non-grand prize-winning) entries included Takeshi Yamada's Fiji Mermaid, an "Indian Corndog," a two-headed chick (above), and a "Rump Ape."

The judges of the contest included the American Museum of Natural History's collections manager for mammalogy Darrin Lunde; Robert Marbury, co-director of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists; and Dorian Devins of WFMU and the Secret Science Club.

Here's what the champion has to say about the experience:

Ive been meaning to attend and enter this contest for 3 years now, and Im glad I finally did. The piece that I won with has been in my collection for about 10 years, and its one of my favorites. Its a Victorian shadowbox diarama from the 1880's depicting a winter scene of a cliff, covered in trees, glass icicles, snow and what appears to be 2 tiny polar bears. They are actual mounted specimens, made to look like polar bears. I believe they are in the weasel family, although one of the judges had thought they were arctic voles. I have since googled arctic voles, and I am positive they are not. Also, judging by the scale of the trees and icicles, as well as the pose of the animals, I am positive that it is supposed to be a representation of a larger scene, and not a 1:1 depiction of a smaller creature in its habitat. Apparently, the judges agree. The same judge who doubted my description, later made an announcement that he was mistaken and admitted they were some sort of weasel. I have also decided to have the winning entry on display at the store for at least a month so that It can be viewed by those who did not attend the contest, or for those who did and would like another look...

As Mike mentioned, the winning entry will be on view for the next month at Obscura Antiques & Oddities, 280 East 10th Street Between 1st and A East Village, New York City.

All images, care of "Dogseat's" Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest" photoset on Flickr. Check out the rest of the images here.

The Living Dead: Inside the Palermo Crypt, Marco Lanca (2000)

Thanks so much to Herbert Pfostl (of the wonderful websites Blind Pony Books and Paper Graveyard) for alerting me to the presence of this amazing book from his collection, Living Dead: Inside the Palermo Crypt. Per my request, he kindly scanned in some images from the book and wrote a brief review for Morbid Anatomy:

A splendid photo book about the eight thousand 'paper' corpses - hanging, drained, straw filled and eyeless from 'walls darkened by death' in the niches and corridors beneath the Chiesa dei Cappuccini. Forty four saints, virgins and very old looking children, and soldiers and priests in lace and garments with stories from their 'dust filled hearts' - beautifully imagined by Laura Facchi.

Thanks Herbert!

Note: If anyone has books, images, films, websites, exhibitions, article, etc. they would like to review for Morbid Anatomy, or link suggestions of any sort, we would love to hear about it; Please email us here.

Happy Halloween!!

Une Fin A l’Ecole Pratique, Camille Félix Bellanger, 1902.

Thanks to James Edmonson, curator of the Dittrick Medical History Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for sending this really wonderful image of a dissection scene my way. He came across the lithograph at Librairie Alain Brieux; it now resides in his collection.

Mr. Edmonson is seeking further information about this image. If anyone has ever seen this image, knows of an original drawing or painting of it, or has any other information, please let us know, either by email or by a comment to this post. Thanks!

Skulls in Design

Check out Forever Skull, an interesting article about the use of skulls in design from the AIGA website. Thanks to Susannah McDonald for passing it on. And my apologies for being a poor blogger of late. In Belgium for the Confronting Mortality conference, which has been absolutely amazing. More on that later when I have regained the energy necessary to say anything intelligent about it.

"Autopsy", Circa 1900

A disturbing and somewhat prurient image from the Corbis website. Title reads, simply, "Autopsy."

Anatomical Crucifixion (James Legg),1801

"This gruesome figure was cast from the corpse of a murderer, taken straight from the gallows to be nailed to a cross and flayed in order to settle an artistic debate. Three Royal Academicians... conducted this experiment to prove their belief that most depictions of the Crucifixion were anatomically incorrect. " --The Royal Academy of Arts Website

A nice, visceral intersection of religion and anatomy in one lovely object. Entitled "Anatomical Crucifixion (James Legg)," this plaster cast of murderer James Legg was made in 1801 by an unknown maker. Find out more about the history of this remarkable object here. Via Mutant Sloth.

Mirror World

What a wonderful website is "Mirror World: Photographs of Unknown Origin." Filled with enigmatic unlabeled photos and an evocative soundtrack, one could easily get lost in there. Here is a selection of a few of my favorite images, but check them out in context; they are much more moving in their origial habitat (I am especially exctited by the shot from what looks like the Visible Man factory.) Thanks to Herbert Pfostl, of the similarly evocative and mysterious Blind Pony Books and Paper Graveyard websites, for sending this link along.

Christie's "Anatomy as Art" Auction, Part IV

I attended (and photographed, until reprimanded) the Christie's "Anatomy as Art" auction last week. By the time I arrived, rather late in the auction, only 25-30 bidders were in attendance, though there was a full and very active phone bank in effect. When the beautiful Fritz Kahn poster sold ($3,750), the auctioneer adlibbed to the buyer, "you won't regret it." The coveted Ruysch book went for $6,250, the D'Agoty's for $39,400 and $67,000, and the Durer went for a whopping $73,000. The anatomical waxes, alas, did not sell at all. You can find out more details about the auction sales here.

Christie's "Anatomy as Art" Auction, Part III

I visited the preview for the Anatomy as Art auction at Christie's today (see previous postings here and here for more information.) It was really rather breathtaking to see all those beautiful old books, anatomical waxes, and framed prints in one modest room. The collection was truly awe-inspiring, and the room was filled wth a fascinating assortment of people--collectors with varying accents earnestly paging through huge ancient portfolios, a slew of young goth-esque kids with their mother(?) paging through same, and a bunch of young teens oohing and ahhing over the stereoscopic slides. I had the opportunity page through Frederik Ruysch's amazing Thesaurus animalium primus... Het eerste cabinet der dieren... from 1704, within which I saw many really incredible engravings I had never seen before; Too bad its estimated to go for $6,000 - $8,000...

Sadly, I did not have my camera, but Melanie at Christie's kindly took these snap shots for me (thanks Melanie!) They give you an idea, but do not nearly do it justice. I suppose the catalogue is all I will be able to afford, but it is a pretty great consolation prize, featuring many of the most memorable images beautifully reproduced explicated by excellent scholarly notations by Jeremy Norman.

The auction itself is tomorrow at 10:00 AM. I plan to spend my lunch hour there; it promises to be an interesting scene. I recommend any people in the area to do the same! The collection is truly a wonder.

Obscura Antiques and Oddities, NYC

Long before Cabinets of Curiosity made their way to Barney's, Damien Hirst unveiled his diamond-encrusted skull, and Marilyn Manson made news for his compulsive collecting of dead children, there was Obscura Antiques and Oddities. Less a store than a museum you can shop at, Obscura, located in the East Village, is, by far, my favorite shop in New York City.

Stock varies, but on a given day, here are some things you're likely to come across: anatomical models, memorial photographs, medical art prints, taxedermied pets, shadow boxes, fraternal organization memorabilia, prosthetic limbs, victorian mourning jewelry, magic lantern slides, collections of pinned insects, funeraral ephemera, stereoscopopic cards, carnival castoffs, two headed fetal pigs, a jar of worms, corsets, top hats, glass fronted cabinets, victorian vitrines ... the list goes on. Don't be intimidated by their celebrity clientele (they feed the habits of The Sedarises and Chloë Sevigny, among others) or the uber-hip east-village customers you might see within; the proprietors are very friendly and extremely knowledgable, and you'll probably leave knowing something you didn't know before. See above photos for details of merchandise over the past few years.

Johann Jakob Haid (18th C)

'Everything is Vanity', a mezzotint by German artist Johann Jakob Haid. Via Bibliodyssey.