12minds

Utagawa Hiroshige, Dawn in Yoshiwara, 1850s

“Daybreak had classic associations in Japanese literature with parting lovers, and the scene played out by the four figures at the center of this print is in keeping with that tradition. It is early dawn in the Yoshiwara, the popular licensed pleasure quarters for the Edo demimonde. To the left is a departing guest, his “cheek-cover hood” discreetly in place for the journey home. An attendant to the rear seems anxious to return to bed, while another one with a lantern stands in front of the guest, facing awkwardly away from him and toward the courtesan, who is clad in a bright-red overgarment and wears raised black clogs that mark her high rank.” [source]

“From the dark and cold winter to the fresh and sparkling spring. Here Hiroshige has placed the viewers in a strangely evocative zone of transition, as dawn breaks in the Yoshiwara licensed quarter. The cherries, a peculiar Yohiwara’s institution, are in flower. Every year, for the brief duration of their spectacular bloom, they were temporarily transplanted to a raised bed of soil and then whisked away. The place is one of the several side streets leading out into the central avenue. To get out of the Yoshiwara’s enchanted world, one must make a turn: to the left from our point of view, toward Ômon Gate, the one point of entry and departure for visitors. The lead figure we see here is probably going home and therefore heading to the Gate. The smaller figures behind him are: a high rank courtesan wearing raised black clogs and her guest (to the left). The two other figures are two attendants that are escorting the couple through the darkness. Daybreak had classic associations in Japanese literature with parting lovers.” [source]

BibliOdyssey

Russell Moreton, Francis Crick, 2010

[But Does It Float]

P. Cezanne, Mont-Saint-Victoire, 1901-02

kateoplis:

“Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.”

—Rumi

One of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets and one of my favorite works of art. 

Pietro Rotari, Girl With a Book(detail), ca. 1750-62

[aurorae]

(Source: sforzinda)

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.”

-Willa Cather

Art: Werner Knaupp, Westmännerinseln, 2011

Source: But Does It Float

H. Rousseau, The Dream, 1910.

M. Chagall, Window in the Evening, 1950

[alongtimealone | mbell1975]

Lee Woodman, Charcoal no. 97, 2012

[theantidote | leewoodman]

texturism:

by martin creed. | via stoppages2: hawktrainer

Show me color, show me range and depth, show me a perspective I haven’t seen before.