Comstockery Mockery
ITALIAN NUDES BANNED 50 PRINTS SEIZED DECLARING that their subject matter is prurient, the Customs Department has seized 50 prints of a painting by the...
Category: Art
Vumps Stumped
“Vumps” has been proclaimed as Australia’s “first comic book” – published in Sydney in 1908. Unfortunately it didn’t survive beyond the first issue, despite high...
Spate of great bookplate
Ex Libris When I moved my abode from house to boat a year ago, one of the most difficult decisions was how do “rationalise” a...
Unshackle Haeckel
While researching chimera (after Max Klinger) I stumbled across…. Ernst Heinrich Haeckel (1834 – 1919) There is much written about Ernst Haeckel in regards to...
Linger on Klinger
Max Klinger [1857-1920] As long as the eyes and the stomach are well served, one is rich (…) The magic of the picture lies in...
Drawn On Redon
Odilon Redon [1840 – 1916] My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of...
Bluegum and Rumpus Bumpus
When koala Bunyip Bluegum first leaves home due to his Uncle’s whiskers; he can’t decide whether becoming a ‘Traveller’ or a ‘Swagman’ would suit him...
Proclamation
Cartoon: From the Italian cartone. The concept originated in the Middle Ages and first described a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting...
Beating around Busch
A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS — Shakespeare The greatest comic artist of the 19th century is the German, Wilhelm Busch. His innocent fun, based upon...
Cyclorama
I was researching the Eureka Stockade in Ballaraat, 1854. (yes, it had 4 “a’s” then) and came across a pictorial phenomena I hadn’t been aware...