Music of the Month - February

Spring is nearly here now in Northern England - a few flowers are out and the snow is finally gone. To celebrate the coming of the good weather I have decided to share some of the music I have been listening to to get me through the winter. I think it would be nice if I could carry this on every month, for I love discovering and sharing music - it is such a special thing and an important part of human culture. [Just to clarify I do not own any of these videos, they are off Youtube].

Matt Corby - Brother and My False

All the way from Australia, Matt Corby is one hell of a musician. The music he creates is utterly beautiful and soulful. To me, Matt Corby's voice is the most beautiful in the world - even challenging the legend that is Art Garfunkel! - it is full of soul, passion and grace, and the range to his voice is just outstanding. These two tracks are my favourite, but I find all of his music absolutely wonderful. Have a listen, you will not be disappointed!

Joe Banfi - Nomads and Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

I have recently had the fortune to get tickets to see Joe Banfi in March, on his first headline UK tour for the release of his new EP Nomads (cannot be recommended highly enough). I look forward to this date as I have been a fan of his for a while now. A relatively recent addition to Communion Records' wealth of talents, Joe Banfi is a promising musician. His voice can go from a quiet whisper to an emotional howl often in one song, sometimes in the same line - his music is filled with raw emotion and passion and the stories he tells through song are outstanding. I love the split screen music video for Nomads - a nice piece of filming there!

The Tiger & Me - I Left The Wolves Behind That Night and Pantomime
The Tiger & Me are a wonderful sextet from Melbourne, Australia. Having six talented musicians, including three lead singers, in one band, you would expect the music to be very complex and unusual - it is, and that is part of the beauty of the band. Combining elements of folk, rock, waltz, gypsy and pop, and mixing them together, this band creates some truly wonderful and unique pieces of music. They have recently released a new album The Drifter's Dawn which features the wonderfully bright Pantomime. The epically good I Left The Wolves Behind That Night comes from their amazing album From A Liar To A Thief. The video of that particular song that I have included is great - wonderfully shot, and really shows how talented this band is. Enjoy!

Hope these few songs have brightened up you're day wherever you are!
Best Wishes 

Street Life in London - Photography of John Thomson

When a child in primary school, I remember being decidedly disinterested in history lessons when we learnt about the Victorian era. It is maybe because all they decided to teach us was how horrible life was for children of that time - factory work, coal mines etc - probably to make us feel bad for living a nice life in modern day. Therefore, for a long time, the age of Queen Victoria's reign was my least favourite period of history, but now knowing about all the art and culture of the day I find social history wonderfully interesting!

John Thomson, self-portrait in China

So, finding the wondrous photography of John Thomson intrigued me greatly. The life of the Victorian London poor has been brought to life, through the beautiful and expressive medium of photography. John Thomson (1837-1921) was a Scottish born photographer, geographer and traveller, who traveled mainly in Far East Asia, documenting and photographing the culture, before returning to London to work on collaborative photography project with friend Adolphe Smith, a journalist. Their project was to document the street life of London - laying the foundations for photojournalism.
The accompianing descriptions for the photographs are written by Adolphe Smith.

Covent garden flower women

"How different is the Covent Garden of to-day, with its bustle and din, its wealth and pauperism, its artifices, its hot-house flowers and forced fruit, its camellias with wire stems, its exotics from far-off climes, to "the fair-spreading pastures," measuring, according to the old chronicle, some seven acres in extent, where the Abbots of Westminster buried those who died in their convent. In those days vegetables were not only sold here but grew on the spot; and the land, now so valuable, was considered to be worth an annual income of £6 6s. 8d., when given by the Crown to John Russell, Earl of Bedford, in 1552. […] When death takes one of the group away, a child has generally been reared to follow in her parents' footsteps; and the "beat" in front of the church is not merely the property of its present owners, it has been inherited from previous generations of flower-women. Now and then a stranger makes her appearance, probably during the most profitable season, but as a rule the same women may be seen standing on the spot from year's end to year's end, and the personages of the photograph are well known to nearly all who are connected with the market."

London nomads

"He honestly owned his restless love of a roving life, and his inability to settle in any fixed spot. He also held that the progress of education was one of the most dangerous symptoms of the times, and spoke in a tone of deep regret of the manner in which decent children were forced now-a-days to go to school. 'Edication, sir! Why what do I want with edication? Edication to them what has it makes them wusser. They knows tricks what don't b'long to the nat'ral gent. That's my 'pinion. They knows a sight too much, they do! No offence, sir. There's good gents and kind 'arted scholards, no doubt. But when a man is bad, and God knows most of us aint wery good, it makes him wuss. Any chaps of my acquaintance what knows how to write and count proper aint much to be trusted at a bargain.'

The Temperance Sweep

"He is now the happy father of a large family, he lives in a house near Lambeth Walk, where he once humbly worked in the capacity of a mere assistant. As a master sweep he has an extensive connexion. The money he earns enables him to subscribe to several benefit societies, and he is entitled to receive from them 10s. a week in sickness, while his wife will have £46 given her at his death, or he will receive £18 should she die first. Altogether he is both prosperous and respected throughout the neighbourhood, where he ardently advocates the cause of total abstinence, and is well known as the temperance sweep."

Street advertising

"There is a certain knack required in pasting a bill on a rough board, so that it shall spread out smoothly, and be easily read by every pedestrian; but the difficulty is increased fourfold when it is necessary to climb a high ladder, paste-can, bills, and brush in hand. The wind will probably blow the advertisement to pieces before it can be affixed to the wall, unless the bill-sticker is cool, prompt in his action, and steady of foot. Thus the "ladder-men," as they are called, earn much higher wages, and the advertising contractors are generally glad to give them regular employment. The salaries of these men vary from £1 to £1 15s. per week, and they work as a rule from seven in the morning to seven at night."

Street doctors

"The subject of the accompanying illustration is a vendor of cough lozenges and healing ointment. He was originally a car-driver employed by a firm in the city, but had to leave his situation on account of failing sight.”

More photographs from the series will be posted soon... hope you find these interesting for now!

Waterhouse's Circe

In my Classics class, we have just finished studying Homer's The Odyssey. I have come to really love The Odyssey - it is a great story and is surprisingly easy to read, given it is over two thousand years old. One of my favourite characters that is included in the epic poem is the Goddess Circe. Circe was a favourite subject of Pre-Raphaelite painters; the wonderful John William Waterhouse produced three finished paintings.    

Circe Offering The Cup To Ulysses 1891

This painting depicts the moment when Circe offers the cup of poison to Odysseus/Ulysses which will turn him into an animal, like his crewmen before. In this version Circe looks rather powerful, for at this moment she does not realise that Odysseus has taken an antidote given to him by the god Hermes. The mirror is useful to let much needed light into the scene and to give the viewer a chance to see Odysseus. Circles are used to good effect in this painting; the mirror, the tiled floor, the curve of marble and chair, and the cup. They balance out the straight lines of the column, the diagonal line of Circe's dress and her outstretched arms. 

Circe Invidiosa 1892

This second Waterhouse painting is not a depiction of Circe from The Odyssey, but taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. In Metamorphoses the story is told of Glaucus and Scylla ( another Odyssey character). The sea-god Glaucus falls in love with the beautiful Scylla, and asks Circe for a love potion. Circe, however, fancies taking Glaucus as her lover and, when he refuses, she takes revenge and pours poison into the pool where Scylla bathes; transforming her into a monster. The act of poisoning the water is the scene which Waterhouse chose to depict for his second painting of the Greek sorceress. The strange sea monster (?) at her feet hints at the outcome of this jealous act. Again, different shapes are contrasted in the composition  the vertical features such as the rectangular canvas shape, Circe's body elongated by the fall of her dress, and the thin stream of poison, are balanced by the circular shape of the bowl, the curl of the ghostly tail, and the ripples and bubbles in the water. The colours in this painting are really beautiful. the variants of gorgeous blue are balanced by the darker hues of Circe's dress and the woods and the pale colour of her skin. I find her dress is very aesthetic - the lose flowing lines and pattern of peacock feathers, which is also suggestive of vanity.

 Circe (The Sorceress) 1911-15

This is the last painting of Circe that Waterhouse did. I think it is quite different from the previous two, for Circe is not shown as a powerful enchantress, but rather a normal woman. She looks quite sullen and thoughtful. The colour orange is prevalent and varies in shades, most striking is Circe's hair and dress. Beautiful!
Best wishes

Harry Clarke - Poe Illustrations 2

To go with the previous post (here) on Harry Clarke's monotone illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe' Tales of Mystery and Imagination, here are the eight colour illustrations. They are, like the others, so beautiful! I am especially fond of the picture for The Tell-tale Heart, for that is my favourite of Poe's stories; Clarke's illustration is just as I imagined the scene to look, yet actually slightly creepier! The murderer's toes are rather scary. I have seen a copy of Poe's book with the 24 monotone illustrations, and what a lovely book!, but never one with the coloured plates as well. That would be wonderful but I assume quite expensive. And also, the beautiful pictures wouldn't be seen - I would rather put the pictures up on my wall. I might just do that... with some nice gold frames.

Harry Clarke - Poe Illustrations

Being a massive fan of Edgar Allan Poe for years, I was very pleased to discover the wonderful illustrations of Harry Clarke, 1889-1931. Clarke, an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator, is surprisingly little known these days, despite being a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and a general amazing artist. I think this a great shame, for his work is really beautiful, similar to Aubrey Beardsley but still unique. For this post I wish to share Clarke's illustrations for Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. These are only the 24 monotone illustrations, I will post the 8 colour plates tomorrow. I really love these works; really dark and gothic, perfectly illustrating Poe's short stories. I love the contrasts between solid black and white and exquisite detail.  I wonder what Edgar Allan Poe himself would think of Harry Clarke's imaginings of his stories... I for one think they perfectly embody the masterful and amazing stories of Poe.

Hope you have enjoyed these stunning illustrations as much as I do!

Best Wishes