Friday, September 12, 2008

more stuff from chartres








NB
IF YOU GO TO CHARTRES ...
... STAY FOR AT LEAST TWO NIGHTS
... AND TAKE SOME GOOD BINOCULARS TO STUDY THE STAINED GLASS NARRATIVES
the best internet guide to the stained glass might well be adrian fletcher's ...

borrowed image


















at the jeu de paume in paris, there is a big exhibition of wonderful photographs by the late richard avedon

i had a lot of delightful surprises and one big surprise

somehow or other, for nearly forty years, this triptych had passed me by ... i had never seen it

in the second room at the jeu de paume, the three prints, each about ten feet square, are displayed higher up the wall than in this picture from the milan show

so coming face to face with some of the "cast" of lou reed's "walk on the wild side" was quite a shock

for some reason that i'm not yet able to rationalize, i was immediately reminded of some of botticelli's great canvases, primavera, venus and mars, ... but of course warhol's factory had nothing to do with idealism ... maybe someone else can figure out the connection for me

any suggestions ?

a discreet little cafe




not bad ... as cathedrals go



































Thursday, August 28, 2008

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

a stage outfit worn by the supremes

i spent some time in the V and A this afternoon practising my photography-in-the-dark skills


you will have seen some of the objects before, but not quite as clearly ...


these dresses are by the entrance to the supremes exhibition


i first heard "where did our love go ?" performed by johnny anger and the wild ones on stage at beeches barn in cirencester in nineteen sixty something just before the record was released over here ...


i went there with my excellent schoolfriend robert hitchings whose dad, fred, kindly drove us over from malmesbury


the wild ones were not quite as wriggly as the supremes, all of them were stubbly males wearing black leather cuban heels and matching black leather jerkins, but they sang it ever so well


cinderella's other slipper ... click on the picture to see the nice button


the norfolk room without concert chairs ... the camera was teetering on a ledge




more old tins ... including robin hood as dick whittington as principal boy



my second best dressing gown ... too many buttons


posh frocks in low light ... now you can see the stitching



a clearer view of those gilbert bayes' figures



try milk of magnesia


typical millwall supporters ... mister nobody ... 'an 'is bruvver


in the back room at the museum


i'm sure there's a rational explanation


happy dragons


is that a green man i see before me ?


fine and dandy


an elizabethan music room


this triptych of portraits must have been too nice for the national portrait gallery