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April 2008 Archive 26 April - The New Old Footbridge  We ventured out during a break in the monsoon the other day for our first glimpse of the new Old Footbridge - regular readers, if any, will recall how stunned we were to find the old Old Footbridge had gone missing. Above, the site of the old Old Footbridge, now strangely bridgeless. Wallingford Creek is in full flood due to the monsoonal rains and the removal of the dam of leaves and branches that had formed under the old Old Footbridge. The new Old Footbridge can be glimpsed behind the trees to the right of the picture. I don't know why the new location was used - it'll take some getting used to, I can tell you.  Cat Natasha makes the ceremonial first crossing of the new Old Footbridge. It's very well-made and solid, and now one can cross the creek without fear of wrenching one's ankle, and the danger of sudden ambush has been removed, but it does lack the rustic charm of the old Old Footbridge. Gad, the world has run mad with innovation... I apologize for the gap in posting - I was moderating one of the sessions at the meeting of the local conference of ALTGEM, "Dealing with Unruly Curators" - pretty interesting session - the secret is not to leave visible marks. link home 20 April - Le Cochon Danseur Since pigs fly, why shouldn't they dance, too? This superb Pathé film dates from 1907. link home 12 April - Max Gray, Photographer, in Portrait Mode  That fascinating young Washington Grove photographer Max Gray, whose work we've been featuring here from time to time, was in the mood for making portraits today out in The Circle, near the Historic Cottage. Above, a nice shot of Cat Natasha.  And here's a rather jolly snap of Martha Norbeck-Wallingford, the Janus Museum's Director of Planned Giving, and Gus the maintenance man - Max Gray has given Martha a real Modigliani sort of vibe. Gus has once again jumped the gun on Straw Hat Day, I see.  Finally, a pretty terrifying close-up of Gus. Interesting, but I think I prefer Max Gray's landscape work. link home 12 April - Christopher Smart  Christopher Smart, c.1745, artist unknown. National Portrait Gallery Happy birthday (yesterday) to Christopher Smart (1722-1771), poet, friend of Samuel Johnson, and author of a work beloved of cat owners, For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry, a part of his longer poem Jubilate Agno. Smart composed the poem while confined in a madhouse, Cat Jeoffry being his companion in the asylum. Here's a bit of the Jeoffry section of the poem: For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.The Janus Museum Press once offered an elegant tasteful small edition of the poem, illustrated with photographs of dear old Museum Cat Toby, about ten years ago. It's highly sought after today - we really ought to reissue it. Smart's Wikipedia entry reveals that he also was something of a proto performance artist, appearing in taverns and theaters as the midwife Mary Midnight, dressed... ...'in a high crown hat' and deliver[ing] outrageous 'oratories' or monologues about controversial topics of the day. His performances were accompanied by boisterous comedians, slapstick acts, one-legged dancers, and animal tricks...How I wish someone had taped his act! Smart was sent to the madhouse for his religious mania - he would fall to his knees in the street and demand that strangers kneel and pray with him. Though, as Dr. Johnson said, "It is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as Smart did... His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as anyone else..." Here's Benjamin Britten's setting of Jubilate Agno, which he titled in the English - Rejoice in the Lamb (streaming MP3). Jeoffry makes his appearance about four minutes into the piece. link home 8 April - Surveillance  Natasha keeps an eye peeled for our local fox. I saw him Saturday, trotting out of The Circle, with a squirrel in his mouth. And neighbors Lee and Marlene Fisher report that he was hanging out on their porch just a few minutes ago. Here's an appropriate song for the occasion - Tomorrow the Fox will come to Town (streaming MP3) by Thomas Ravenscroft, performed by the Pro Cantione Antiqua. Here's the music, in case you'd like to join in. link home 5 April - From the Collection  We haven't had a featured artifact from the Janus Museum's collections for such a long time, so here's a 1/6 plate ambrotype (collodion positive on glass) of a Federal artillery crew at Fort Washington, Maryland, possibly made by Allan Janus. Here's another superb artillery ambrotype from Fort Washington. link home 4 April - Shocking Case of Footbridge Larceny  Just last Sunday, we enjoyed a little picnic during our catwalk to the Old Footbridge, our destination of choice for many years, little knowing it would be our last. 'Cos the next time we strolled over - yesterday, it was - the footbridge was missing - gone! This was the scene:  ... With Leroy and Natasha sadly checking out the crime scene by the banks of Wallingford Creek. Well, I was aghast - the Old Footbridge, the focus of most of our catwalks, the subject of hit movies, and moving tableaux vivants - stolen. Later, a reliable source (Friend Ann Briggs) sent me this horrifing snap:  ... Of the actual act of the bridge theft. Actually, she says it's going to be refurbished, and a brand new Old Footbridge will soon be in place. Later, we found the old Old Footbridge, looking strangely out of place in the middle of the woods:  Leroy looks a bit confused, and who can blame him? It reminds me of London Bridge transplanted to Arizona. I'm sure the new Old Footbridge will be very nice, but such memories the old Old Footbridge had for us... Many thanks to the anonymous Friend of the Museum who made a generous contribution via our Amazon Tip Jar. I'd love to send a commemorative Janus Museum Fridge Magnet to the donor - please contact me at refdesk at janusmuseum dot org. link home 4 April - Something About Worms  Friend Mark Taylor pointed me towards this strangely compelling video from 1970 on the dangers of intestinal worms. For some reason it reminded me of an anecdote from the French Revolution. Fabre d'Églantine and Georges Danton were in the tumbril on their way to the guillotine (April 5, 1794) along with the other indulgents, the victims of Robespierre. Fabre, a poet, was mourning the verses he would never write, beheading being detrimental to poets. Danton replied, "Des vers... Avant huit jours, tu en feras plus que tu n'en voudras!" - "Before eight days have passed, you'll make more of them than you would like to!" Vers, of course, referring to either verses, or worms. Pretty good for a fellow on his way to the scaffold. By the way, Danton was purged by Robespierre for his obstructionism on the Committee of Public Safety, relentlessly vetoing Robespierre's more bloodthirsty initiatives. Which is why Robespierre is said to have said, on hearing the news of Danton's execution, "Mais, òu sont les nays Danton?" link home 4 April - Photo Review  Max Gray, Photographer Here's an excellent review of the work of Max Gray, that scintillating young photographer, by friend Hope Hare: It is good to see that younger artists such as Max have begun to investigate the possibilities of photography in a post-Kantian context, without giving up their works' traditional epistemological character in favor of a verbal model of production. It has perhaps been the impressive artisanry of historical hagiography that seemed to overwhelm the metaphoric possibilities, or perhaps the metaphor itself (weight as content) was simply too obvious, but the fresh and unusually organic plasticity so evident in Max’s oeuvre not only blends with figurative styles but also injects it with local folklore. It is irradiated with a progressive, optimistic outlook, and marked by a rejection of totalizing, essentialist, foundationalist concepts.link home 3 April - Walking with Coyotes  Kind of miraculous in its timing, considering the arrival of the Beast of the Grove, is this ex voto - a painting commemorating a miraculous intervention - recently offered on eBay. Here's the translation of the inscription: At dusk I went to take a walk by the forest with my little daughter, and suddenly we saw that we were sorrounded by coyotes, I took in my arms to my girl and I commended us to the Virgen de Guadalupe because the animals seemed hungry, under her holy mantel I walked among the coyotes very slow and they let me go away without attacking us and I thanks with this retablo for the miracle.link home |
