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Seeing the World Sideways: Prunella Clough. 'A private individual who chose to remain out of the limelight and yet was admired so highly by her peers, Prunella Clough, like Edward Burra, lived to paint. Her technique is masterly, her subject matter everyday in origin, her method idiosyncratic, the results atmospheric. She worked with her skill, not her ego, saying: "I like to paint a small thing edgily." '
Online gallery here.
posted on Mar-1-04 at 11:27 AM

A Short History of the Sex Film. Safe for work.
posted on Feb-8-04 at 10:26 AM

Southeast Asian Monuments: A Selection of 100 Slides. ''100 slides of monuments in Mainland Southeast Asia ( Burma, Thailand,Cambodia, Vietnam, selected from the collection of Marijke J. Klokke, are presented here ... '
posted on Feb-7-04 at 2:13 AM

Camping with the Sioux: The Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher. 'In the Fall of 1881, Alice Fletcher traveled to Dakota Territory to live with Sioux women and record their way of life, accompanied by Susette La Flesche, an Omaha Indian, and journalist Thomas Henry Tibbles... '
More online anthropological collections from the Smithsonian, including selections from William Duncan Strong's 1933 Honduras Journal, and Kiowa drawings.
posted on Feb-1-04 at 10:50 AM

Photo London. Images of London life over the years.
posted on Jan-31-04 at 10:03 AM

The Museum of Fred. Online gallery of art collected from thrift stores.
posted on Jan-30-04 at 9:52 AM

Visible Traces: Rare Books and Special Collections from the National Library of China. Rare books, maps and other texts, viewable online in this exhibition at askasia.org.
posted on Jan-29-04 at 9:51 AM

Harmonia Macrocosmica. A digitised book of seventeenth-century astronomy.
posted on Jan-28-04 at 6:37 AM

Byzantine Medieval Hypertexts. The idea of hypertext in the Middle Ages. Nice pictures, too.
posted on Jan-27-04 at 6:33 AM

Hanga Gallery: Side Gallery of Woodblock Prints. Actor, bijin-ga, landscape and wildlife prints, categorised by artist, with informative articles (for example, the articles on Toshi Yoshida and Yoshijiro Urushibara).
posted on Jan-26-04 at 6:32 AM

Burns Night. 'Robert Burns: poet and balladeer, Scotland's favourite son and champion of the common people. Each year on January 25, the great man's presumed birthday, Scots everywhere take time out to honour a national icon. Whether it's a full-blown Burns Supper or a quiet night of reading poetry, Burns Night is a night for all Scots.'
More on the Robert Burns Tribute site.
posted on Jan-23-04 at 6:26 AM

Tibet Visual History Online. A project of the Pitt Rivers Museum.
posted on Jan-15-04 at 11:15 AM

Embryo Images. A tutorial on mammalian embryology, using images of mouse and human embryos. Check out the eye.
posted on Jan-13-04 at 8:56 AM

15th Century Manuscript Illumination. Page through a chronicle of the world, the fates of illustrious men and women, a journey through Hell and Paradise and a Book of Hours.
posted on Jan-12-04 at 8:21 AM

Dentokogei. A site 'devoted to showcasing the work of the shokunin, or artisans, still working and carrying on the traditions of handcraft production in Japan. '
posted on Jan-11-04 at 7:51 AM

The Gulag. An online exhibition from the Open Society Archives.
posted on Jan-8-04 at 10:13 AM

Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon , at watergate.info. Extensive.
posted on Jan-7-04 at 9:42 AM

Cut the Knot. Interactive mathematics miscellany and puzzles.
posted on Jan-6-04 at 8:24 AM

The National Diet Library Gallery. Japanese arts and history. 'The NDL Gallery features electronic exhibitions of the NDL's unique collections with easy-to-understand explanations. Under the general title "Memories of Japan", an increasing number of exhibitions of Japanese history and culture will become available to the public.' Ex-libris stamps, the Japanese Constitution, the Japanese calendar, Nippon in the world.
Related :- The Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts. Traditional arts and crafts.
posted on Jan-5-04 at 8:22 AM

Le mur des je t'aime. 'In a world marked by violence and dominated by individualism, walls, like frontiers, are usually made to divide and to separate people and to protect them from one another. On the contrary, le mur des je t'aime (The Wall of I love Yous) is a link, a place of reconciliation, a mirror which reflects an image of love and peace. '
A Montmartre wall of calligraphic 'I love you's in 280 languages.
posted on Jan-4-04 at 8:12 AM

Poland's Class of 1936 - A WWII Survivor's Quest. 'There were twenty-five proud graduates in 1936 from Krzemieniec High School, famous as Poland's Eton. From their graduation photo they smiled confidently -- university and illustrious careers awaited them in a Poland that had recently arisen from the ashes of World War One. A Nobel Prize in their chosen field was a legitimate ambition ... ' [more inside]
posted on Jan-3-04 at 8:08 AM

Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. 'Vodou is Haiti's mirror. Its arts and rituals reflect the difficult, brilliant history of seven million people, whose ancestors were brought from Africa to the Caribbean in bondage. In 1791 these Africans began the only successful national slave revolt in history. In 1804 they succeeded in creating the world's first Black republic: the only one in this hemisphere where all the citizens were free. Their success inspired admiration, fear and scorn in the wider world. Cut off from Euro-American support, Haitians managed to created their own dynamic "Creole" society-one rooted in Africa but responsive to all that was encountered in their new island home.' History, theology and religious art.
Related :- an essay on the Vodou concept of soul, Voodoos and Obeahs on sacred-texts ('required reading if you want to understand the background of Haitian and Jamaican Vodun, and the profound influence of imperialism, slavery and racism on its development').
posted on Jan-2-04 at 8:05 AM

New York World's Fair 1964/65. The future as they saw it then.
posted on Dec-27-03 at 1:15 AM

Circlemakers. 'Home of England's crop circle makers.' Circle stories, images etc.
posted on Dec-26-03 at 12:46 AM

L'Oeuvre Notre-Dame cathedral, Strasbourg (in English). History, virtual tours, and Gothic architecture.
posted on Dec-24-03 at 3:42 PM

Investigating the Renaissance. 'This interactive program demonstrates the ways in which computer technology can be harnessed to add to our knowledge about Renaissance paintings and how they were made.' Analysis of paintings using x-ray, infrared and ultraviolet technology.
posted on Dec-23-03 at 1:54 PM

Hunkin's Experiments. 'Cool cartoons that will have you experimenting with food, light, sound, clothes, and a whole lot more! Hundreds of cartoon experiments from cartoonist, broadcaster and engineer Tim Hunkin.'
These 'rudiments of wisdom' first appeared in the Observer newspaper in the 1970s and 1980s.
posted on Dec-22-03 at 1:46 PM

A Sightseer's Guide to Engineering. Engineering sights around the USA.
posted on Dec-21-03 at 1:42 PM

Echoes of Incense: A Pilgrimage in Japan. 'The route of the eighty-eight temples of Shikoku is the classic Japanese Buddhist pilgrimage. Its 1300 kilometers test the body and spirit and open the mind to an experience of its true nature. For over a thousand years, only Japanese followed the path to the remote places of the Japanese island of Shikoku. In the winter and spring of 1993, I walked this path. Afterwards, I wrote Echoes of Incense to record what I experienced in words and pictures. '
Related :- Experiencing the Shikoku Pilgrimage, from the Asian Wall Street Journal, 1977.
posted on Dec-20-03 at 7:15 AM

Red Tape from Red Square. Russian and Soviet cartoons. An interesting collection, despite a couple of broken images.
posted on Dec-18-03 at 11:36 AM

Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan. How views of the Mongol leader have altered with political changes throughout history: Manchurian domination, Communism and democracy. After the transition from Communism to democracy in Mongolia, interest in Genghis Khan seems to have enjoyed something of a comeback. More on the artistic legacy of the Mongols across Asia in this online exhibit; or take a look at the Great Mongol Shahnama, or Book of Kings.
Related :- a potted history of Mongolian Buddhism.
posted on Dec-15-03 at 1:36 AM

The Master and Margarita. A hypertext exploration of the subversive Stalin-era fantasy, with maps and illustrations. A background to Bulgakov's life is here.
posted on Dec-14-03 at 12:54 AM

Johannes Matthaeus Koelz: A Life Divided. An artist who escaped to England from Nazi Germany. From the exhibition :-
'Koelz, a painter, was living in a small cottage in the Bavarian forest estate of Hohenbrunn. One morning he travelled to nearby Munich on a routine visit to police headquarters to renew his exit visa for a planned trip to Italy.'
'At some point during the following night Koelz instructed a young man from the local woodmill to take his major work - a triptych which had occupied him since the early 1930s and cut it into pieces. He left Hohenbrunn at dawn, arranging for his family to follow ... It was the first stop on a journey that would take them to England. '
'Meanwhile the state police had raided their home and interrogated family members left behind. They were searching for the painter and his triptych, a massive anti-war painting which not only questioned the horrors of war but also the rising power of the Nationalist Socialist Party and by implication, its leader, Adolf Hitler.'
'Thou Shalt Not Kill', Koelz's tryptych.
Timeline and artworks.
posted on Dec-12-03 at 12:33 PM

The Barren Lands Digital Collection. J.B. Tyrrell's expeditions for the Geological Survey of Canada, 1892-94. 'This site documents two exploratory surveys of the Barren Lands region west of Hudson Bay, in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the area now known as Nunavut. Drawing on materials from the J.B. Tyrrell, James Tyrrell and related collections at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, it includes over 5,000 images from original field notebooks, correspondence, photographs, maps and published reports. '
posted on Dec-11-03 at 12:22 PM

How I Sent My Father to Heaven. A Hindu funeral. 'My non-believing heart had melted and I once again saluted my father's dedication to my mother. '
New content on The Call of Yama, a page about death and dying in Hinduism (and part of Kamat's Potpourri, a huge personal site devoted to Indian culture, history, art and scenery).
posted on Dec-10-03 at 11:55 AM

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record. 'This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public -- in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World. '
posted on Dec-9-03 at 11:52 AM

The Museum of London.
posted on Dec-7-03 at 4:17 AM

Makola Market. 'West Africa's markets are legendary and none more so than the famous Makola market in Ghana's capital, Accra. Run by powerful women traders who sell in the market, Makola is a place where you can buy anything you need - manufactured and imported foods, fresh produce, tools, medicines, shoes, pots and pans etc etc. It's also a place that's good for the soul; its humour and energy will recharge your batteries. If you aren't lucky enough to be in a West African city, you can still imagine you're there. Whether you are in New York, Paris or Sao Paolo, Johannesburg, Nairobi or Cairo, click on the link and join Ofeibea Quist Arcton on a stroll through Makola Market. It will do you good. '
Via allafrica.com's photo pages.
posted on Dec-6-03 at 3:20 AM

Fossil Horses in Cyberspace. Equine history.
posted on Dec-4-03 at 11:39 AM

Framley Museum. 'The museum was founded in 1882 when objects of local interest began to gather in the field where the museum now stands, due to the natural action of the wind and rain. '
'In 1886, visionary Whoft philanthropist, Manimal MacCorkindale proposed building some walls around the objects, forming Framley's first museum. A door fitted in 1932 cemented the museum's popularity.'
Courtesy of the mighty Framley Examiner.
posted on Dec-3-03 at 11:00 AM

The Songs of Bilitis. 'First published in Paris in 1894, this purports to be translations of poems by a woman named Bilitis, a contemporary and acquaintance of Sappho. This caused a sensation, not only because finding an intact cache of poems from a completely unknown Greek poet circa 600 B.C. would be a miracle, but because of its open and sensitive exploration of lesbian eroticism. Actually Bilitis never existed. The poems were a clever forgery by Pierre Louÿs--the "translator"; to lend weight, he had even included a bibliography with bogus supporting works ... '
A new addition to the sacred-texts.com canon.
posted on Dec-2-03 at 10:56 AM

Alum Falls Ohio. 'An original comic about growing up in the Fifties.'
posted on Nov-30-03 at 3:26 AM

Sheremey's Gallery. Russian artists and photographers.
posted on Nov-28-03 at 11:03 PM

The Beck Isle Museum , Pickering, North Yorkshire, chronicles rural Yorkshire life of the last 200 years. The collection of photographs by Sidney Smith is good. Via Museophile's museums around the UK links page.
posted on Nov-27-03 at 4:13 AM

Lala Deen Dayal: Photo Glimpses of 19th Century India. Lala Raja Deen Dayal, pioneer Indian 19th century photographer(1844-1905). has left for us an exquisite photographic record of British India, of a bygone Colonial era influenced by Native Princely India- its picturesque opulence, rich costumes, whiskered nobility, hookah bearers, royal palaces, hunts, and parades, elephant carriages, historic events - golden moments captured on "silver" plates for posterity.' Gallery here.
posted on Nov-26-03 at 4:02 AM

The May 1970 Tragedy at Jackson State University: "Lest We Forget..." 'In the Spring of 1970, campus communities across this country were characterized by a chorus of protests and demonstrations. The issues were the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia; the ecology; racism and repression; and the inclusion of the experiences of women and minorities in the educational system. No institution of higher education was left untouched by confrontations and continuous calls for change. '
'At Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, there was the added issue of historical racial intimidation and harassment by white motorists traveling Lynch Street, a major thoroughfare that divided the campus and linked west Jackson to downtown ... '
posted on Nov-22-03 at 4:55 AM

Dentsu Advertising Museum. Japanese advertising 1603-1926.
'The Edo Era (1603—1867), during which a full-fledged feudal system was established by the Tokugawa shogunate, was also an era in which the culture of townspeople flourished. That Japan had already developed distinctive advertising techniques of its own as early as the Edo Era might come as a surprise to you. But ample evidence of these remain for us today to follow a historical trail, in the form of nishiki-e (a multicolored woodblock print), hikifuda (handbills) and signboards. A witness of the times, as well as a chronicle of advertising creative work in Japan, these relics represent a valuable record of both the evolution of corporations and the history of common people's lives.'
'Dentsu Advertising Museum presents selected advertising artifacts and works of art from the Yoshida Hideo Memorial Foundation collection, in order to give you a taste of the historical background to Japanese advertising techniques.'
posted on Nov-21-03 at 3:21 AM

Lichens of North America 'This website grew out of the activities of Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff, who did the photographic fieldwork for the book Lichens of North America, by Irwin M.Brodo and the Sharnoffs, published in November, 2001 by Yale University Press ... ' - the human uses of lichens, a lichen sampler, lichen portraits ('This lichen is used medicinally in India as a poultice to induce copious urination, as a linament and an incense for headaches, and also as a powder to help wounds heal.') ... more lichen links.
Related interest :- The Hidden Forest, photos of lichens, fungi, mosses and slime moulds of the New Zealand bush.
posted on Nov-20-03 at 3:01 AM

Japanese Prints and the World of Go. Classic Japanese art meets classic Japanese boardgame.
'The purpose of this catalogue is twofold: to enlarge the understanding of print collectors who may be unaware of the long historical and legendary background of a game that has for centuries engaged the interest of many artists in Japan; and to enrich the experience of go players by presenting works that reveal some of the large body of traditions and associations connected with the game in Japan's cultural life. Although artists were inspired by the game of go to work the theme in several media--wood, ivory, metal, textiles, and clay, and while the motif appears on numerous scroll and screen paintings--it is in woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) that its image is most frequently found.'
'. . . there is a text that likens the world to a go-board. For those who see with their minds, it is the centre of the universe.'
Warning: Each sub-link in the article opens a new window.
posted on Nov-19-03 at 2:59 AM

The Digital Mirror: Treasures of the National Library of Wales. Online collections related to Welsh history and culture - the Mary Dillwyn Album (a Victorian family photography album), autobiography of a smuggler, Lloyd George's 1886 diary, witchcraft in 17th century Flintshire, the 'Black Book of Carmarthen', a letter in the hand of Ann Griffiths, hymn writer, the Book of Taliesin (14th century), and more.
posted on Nov-18-03 at 2:52 AM