From a photograph taken at the age of sixty-six, by Rockwood in the Yale University Library. ”The Pageant of America” Collection / v.11 - The American spirit in letters / (Published photographs)
« Herman Melville died yesterday at his residence, 104 East Twenty-sixth Street, this city, of heart failure, aged seventy-two. He was the author of Typee, Omoo, Mobie Dick, and other sea-faring tales, written in earlier years. He leaves a wife and two daughters, Mrs. M. B. Thomas and Miss Melville ».
The New York Times, September 29 1891
(Source: l-amour-a-trois)
Charles L Johnson
Ida Rubinstein by Antonio de la Gandara, 1913. She was a ballet star.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows and the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. — Audrey Hepburn
(Source: lamodeillustree.livejournal.com, via cystallineambermoments)
Vietnam, Song My, Attica
collage by Kjartan Slettemark, Nixon Visions series, 1971
(Source: melisaki)
Mugshot of Mr. WM. Connolly, aka Slops, arrested for pickpocketing in New York - May 2nd, 1888
(Source: victoriasrustyknickers)
Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of Elisabeth Bellinghausen, 1538-39 (via).
(via journalofanobody)
“Mad” King Ludwig of Bavaria, The Drowned Swan King, von Frz. Werner, Munich, Cabinet Card, 1886
King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) was noted for his bizarre behavior, attributed perhaps, to syphilis. He drowned under mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg, three days after being declared legally insane. Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm’s extravagances ranged from his obsession with swans, the building of fairy-tale style castles, his latent homosexuality and his relationship and patronage to composer Richard Wagner. His excessive behavior kept him in the public eye. It earned him many nicknames, including “Mad Ludwig,” “The Swan King,” as well as “The Dream King.” His unusually designed anachronistic castles, such as Neuschwanstein, are now important Bavarian tourist attractions. The castles were inspired by Wagner’s operas. Most postmortem photographs of European leaders and nobility are simple dignified compositions. However, this postmortem image of King Ludwig II, with his casket surrounded by candles, was perhaps inspired by his love of Wagnerian opera. He is depicted as a quintessential Wagnerian hero returning as a warrior to his maker.
From Sleeping Beauty II - Grief, Bereavement and the Family in Memorial Photography by Stanley B. Burns, M.D.
Frisian Family posing in Regional Dress at the studio of Wilhelm Müller in Wyk auf Föhr, Germany - late 1800s
(Source: victoriasrustyknickers)
Damien Hirst with Dead Head, 1981.
“Quick. Quick. Take the photo.” This photograph of Hirst at 16 with a severed head was taken at a morgue in Leeds where Hirst tagged along with a friend who was studying microbiology (the branch of biology dealing with the structure, function, uses, and modes of existence of microscopic organisms). By the time he was immersing himself in the world of the human cadaver - he had already built up an impressive collection of books on pathology (the science and course of diseases). As well as being fascinated by the gorier side of the human body, such as burns and wounds he was also interested the work of Francis Bacon, inspired by both to create his own paintings. Hirst maintained that, although he was fascinated by corpses - how they can be both visually horrific and beautiful at the same time - dead bodies still didn’t explain anything about death. From TATE Artist Rooms
(Source: less-ismore)
