MetaFilter posts tagged with flight and art

Jen Wang draws

Caduceus — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:33:51 -0800

If you like the art styles of Dresden Codak, Questionable Content, or Tony DeTerlizzi, you'll probably like the style of Jen Wang. She has recently started a new art blog. She also has a pretty nice gallery. Sev eral of my fav or ites. (Several of the gallery pieces are NSFW.) I don't really know a lot about art; the extent of my art criticism skills consists of saying "Ooo, pretty!" when I see something I like. But I said that often enough when I discovered her site tonight that I thought I'd share. She was mentioned previously in this post, but her link in that is broken.

Dellschau + Sonora Aero Club Mysteries

peacay — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 02:16:23 -0800

Legend has it that Charles Dellschau (1830-1923) was the draftsman for the secret Sonora Aero Club, a collective of 60 or so mostly German immigrants who reportedly constructed dirigible like aircraft in California in the 1850's. One club member was said to have discovered suppe -- the magic antigravity fuel alleged to have lifted the craft. There were sightings of these 'airships', tenuously linked back to the club, up to the end of the 20th century.
Dellschau, described variously as butcher, inventor, civil war spy, scientist and America's first visionary artist, retired at age 70 in Texas and spent the last 2 decades of his life as a recluse, producing mixed media art works that record the craft and workings of the fabled Sonora Aero Club. They are accompanied by cryptic symbols, newsprint about aircraft and detailed notebooks and were salvaged from the garbage in 1967. His artworks were selling for $15,000 each 5 years ago. A would-be author and long-time sleuth believes he has unlocked the mysteries of Dellschau's cryptic accoutrements and may be publishing a book on the legends this year. via

Over 3,400 Annoying Gimmicks

breezeway — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 09:47:17 -0800

Consolidated B-24 Liberator nose art archive. S i g n s of the z o d i a c, dirty jokes, self-fulfilling prophecies, and stumpers . (Some questionable content [NSFW-ish] and site design)

Fantasy Planes

growabrain — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:05:35 -0800

Fantasy Planes. Sometimes I think the most interesting airplanes are the ones that never got built

Long Lost Leo

ScottUltra — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 12:56:41 -0800

"Researchers have discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence."

taz — Tue, 12 Nov 2002 11:02:25 -0800

The Smithsonian offers an online sampling of its Collection of Aeronautic Sheet Music. From the introduction: "...widespread fascination with flight has inspired an enormous output of historical drawings, paintings, advertisements and illustrations for publications. Some of the most colorful illustrations are those which adorn sheet music. In the Bella Landauer collection, you can find illustrations that range from the bizarre to the commonplace, from the humorous to the mundane. But most are colorful and interesting."
The collection is divided into categories such as "Ballooning", "Biplanes", and "Flying Machines". I love this one from 1914, called "A Hundred Years From Now".