Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Progress?

Usually when we see an image of this sort, with a dwelling holding out, as real estate builds up around it, it is of a tiny ma and pa Victorian hovel. Harrison Cady, he of the cute animal illustrations, shows us a lush beauty of an estate that will soon be paved over by the industrial revolution continuing to roll into the twentieth century. 

This was progress?

Harrison Cady — Urbanization — early xxth century

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Speaking of Old Ways

Speaking of old ways of architectural renderings . . . 

Otto Wagner — Karlsplatz Tram Stop, Vienna — 1898
pencil - India ink - watercolor


Decorating Number

The old way of architectural rendering had such warmth & character.

Brandt — House & Garden — September, 1922

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

A Hint

Somewhere along the way new-world architecture went totally left-brained and became 'stream-lined', and thus boring for the most part. 

This beautiful rendering in ink and watercolor gives us a hint of what a metropolis might look like if the old-world right-brain still had a hand in it as well.

© 1993 Albert Lorenz —Architectural Fantasia

Sunday, August 19, 2012

A World Treasure

Robert Crumb is a world treasure, a cartoonist/illustrator that has been so prolific in exploring the heights and depths of humankind with sometimes brutal and raw imagery. Here, tho, is an early bit of fantasy, circa 1960, a dream of an inn—the kind that opens all kinds of doors in my imagination. Oy, I want to stay here.

© Robert Crumb — An Inn

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Hedonist's Delight

Right then, a request for a get-away spot in the British countryside.

Similar to an edifice in France, this authentic Egyptian pyramid has been relocated to the British countryside, brick by brick, in the 1700s. Unlike the one in France it is the entrance to a subterranean wonderland that stretches for kilometers.

A hedonist's delight, for adults only, the activities and wonders are truly hedonistic and full of debauchery, equalled only in the outer rings of Hades. You have an option of a week or a month to indulge yourself in luxurious sin.

The only catch is that when you leave you are given a full round of medication that completely eradicates any memory of what took place, and substitutes pleasant memories of the equivalent time at Brighton Beach.

Remember, a true Hedonist enjoys pleasure just for the moment.

Friday, June 29, 2012

No Flash Mobs

Who's up to take in a movie and beauty parade?

If you're in, let's rendezvous in Times Square, September 2, 1934.

If anyone needs a ride we can chrono-pool, my machine holds 5. But no flash mobs! Be sure to dress appropriate for the year. The Time Patrol has issued travel advisories that anyone breaking chrono protocol will be dealt with severely. Leave your video cameras and smart phones at home!

Rumor has it that offenders will be sent back to the night of January 14, 65 million 1 hundred 27 thousand and 6 Before Now, which if you will recall is the night the Yucatan Asteroid hit atmosphere. They say there's no limit to the number of people they can deposit at ground zero. But oh, what a way to go!

The popcorn alone should be worth the price of admission. Anyone who can't deal with 2nd hand smoke should pass. See ya there!


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Outdoor Living Room

You may be tempted to follow the plans, above, for your very own outdoor living room. But be careful, uninvited guests may drop in:

Charles Soulacroix — Spring

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Godunov Decor

Designs for theater are always wonderful to see, as the artist is usually compelled to use a rich palette with a fanciful interpretation of reality.

These two decor designs are for Boris Godunov, one of the 1913 stagings of the opera by Modest Mussorgsky. I'm such a low level geek that I can never hear the name Boris Godunov without thinking of Boris Badenov, the no-goodnik villain from Rocky and Bullwinkle.
But I digress.

Leon Bakst — Decor for Boris Godunov — 1913

Leon Bakst — Decor for Boris Godunov — 1913

Saturday, June 9, 2012

City Above the Abyss

How utterly wonderful that artists' and writers' talents can transport us anywhere in time and space to locales undreamt of . . .

Rene Benezech — 1930s
Il bâtit une ville suspendue au-dessus des abîmes.
He built a city suspended above the abyss.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Waterside

A simple, yet fanciful, rendering of waterside architecture by Tim Kirk from way long ago. Since then Kirk has scaled the heights of success in design and illustration, with his studio link here.

Tim Kirk — 1970

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Art is Art

This painting comes awful close to infringing on that 'painter of light' guy (oh geez, did I violate his trademark by using those words here?). There is a certain quality to the light in this painting that makes the architecture interesting, yet there is an indefinable quality that borders on pandering to 'popular' tastes. There are some that would call this 'great art' and there are some that would call this 'schlock art' (jig-saw puzzle art). Art is art, yet how does one deal with this issue in appreciating the hard work of a productive painter?

Andre Andreoli (1933—2001) — Wassenaar, Holland

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Freeflowing

Back to concept art for films, especially animated films—I get much aesthetic satisfaction from viewing the freeflowing early work, such as this rendering from Disney's animated version of Tarzan. Whether you like the film or not, the concept art is lovely as always.

John Puglisi — Tarzan's Tree House

Monday, January 9, 2012

Spellbound

It doesn't have to be Christmas for winter to be cheery.

This illustration would be beautiful on its own, but as a magazine cover design it is so effective with its warm yellow logotype, red price button and white type situated for a lovely balance.

I am spellbound by this graphic as I imagine the interior of this warm 'n' cozy little bungalow, probably with a warm 'n' cozy little den (back there where that fireplace is being used), filled with warm 'n' cozy little books.

Not only was there a golden age of illustrative design in the early xxth century, but also a golden age of architectural design.

R.C. Hare — Own Your Own Home — ca 1920s

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Dream or Nightmare

The content of this image could either be an architect's dream or an architect's nightmare, but either way it's a beautiful rendering.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi — 1750 preliminary rendering for his print
Parte di Ampio Magnifico Porto

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Nouveau Sort of Way

And, oh, I could live and work in a place designed by Mucha. It would be warm and cozy as well, in a nouveau sort of way.

Alphonse Mucha — Design for Documents décoratifs — 1902

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A Bachelor's Room

It's been so long since I was a bachelor that I can't even remember the fun of being single . . . oh, wait a minute, yes I do.

Talkin' about warm 'n' cozy, here's some designs of a bachelor's room circa 1900. An excerpt from a description of the time:

'There are bachelors and bachelors, and it would be a task of some little difficulty to decide upon the type thereof for whom the typical bachelor's room should be designed, decorated and furnished. Mr. G.M. Ellwood, designer of A Bachelor's Room, has evidently had in mind that sort of bachelor whom even married men may be allowed at times to envy.

He is evidently a man of means in the first place, of excellent taste in the second. He is probably, indeed, an artist or designer, and his room has to serve as studio and living-room combined. A very charming combination it makes.'

The description goes on to say how the features are such that 'on some chilly winter's night a party of bachelors would find the perfection of cozy comfort." Now really, it may be decades since I was a bachelor, but I remember enough to know that it would not be other bachelors that would keep me cozy on a winter's night.

Never the less, yes, this is a place I could be comfy cozy in.

Above, the inglenook, or chimney corner, a lovely warm recess.

Above, entrance door from the hall, with figures of knights which support the brackets to the shelf and are considered as sentinels, 'appropriate for an entrance'.

Above, windows and writing table—function and character.

Above, manly oak and mahogany. Below, a tidy book collection flanking decorative peacocks. We do not see a bed among these designs, but let us use our vivid imaginations that it would be the coziest comfort that a bachelor could want for on a chilly winter's night.

Illustrations by G.M. Ellwood — 1899

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Who or What

Decay and disuse haunts this painting by Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, evoking a mystery of who or what might reside behind those bricked-in windows, or the subterranean recesses, of this house. And in fact, in the 1980s, Omni magazine used this painting to illustrate an article about real-life ghost busters.

Jean-Marie Poumeyrol — 1980s

Thursday, May 26, 2011

You Can Be Sure

This storybook cottage looks like it's from the 1920s, but the ad is from 1951. Every light in the house is on, which felt right for folks in the post-war era, following blackouts. The 50s may have been dry culturally, but it certainly was a time of plentitude.


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Illumination

Oh, to be a reveler of the upper crust in the 18th century . . .

. . .

Yeah, alright, to be a reveler of the upper crust anywhere in time.

Claude-Louis Châtelet
Illumination of the Belvedere Pavilion for Emperor Joseph II