#friedrich bury

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Friedrich Bury (German, 1763-1823) Amor Triumphant, ca.1803 Mauritshuis, Den Haag

[royalty-nobility]

Portrait of Princess Augusta Von Hessen-Kassel

Artist: Friedrich Bury  (German, 1763–1823) 

Title: Portrait of Electress Auguste of Prussia

Genre: Portrait

Depicted People: Princess Augusta of Prussia

Date: c. 1815

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; 1 May 1780 – 19 February 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and Electress consort of Hesse by marriage to William II, Elector of Hesse. She was the third daughter and fifth child of Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

[amourdivine]

୨ ♡ ୧ WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE THEY?   ઉ   PAC

Hello, angels! I hope you're well. I'm bringing in another nosy type of reading. We'll look into who this person really is and if any advice comes up. If you liked this reading, please consider tipping me at @ amourdivinetarot@gmail.com via paypal! xo ♡

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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR PILE.  take a few deep breaths and look at each picture separately. see which one brings you to a feeling, a place or a memory. take your time and feel free to come back to it later!

amourdivine 2021 - 2024 © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content!

୨୧ PILE ONE

who is this person, deep down? two of cups ✧ the hermit ✧ judgement

This is someone who values meaningful, deep, soulful relationships. They do not crave the buzz of parties or endless chatting with strangers. They don't like small talk. Others may describe this person as an old soul, someone introspective and wise. Their friends turn to them for honest and sensible advice; they may be an older sibling, or someone who's seen as a role model in some type of way.

Unfortunately, this wisdom came at a cost. They have endured a thousand inner deaths in life. This person had to start over many, many times, but they always got back up. As strong as they are also loyal, they're mature and still believe in the magic of being surrounded by good people. Strong Virgo and Scorpio energy, given the cards you got.

It's likely they came from poverty or are enduring a financial loss at this moment in time. Since this person is hardworking and independent, I don't think you have anything to worry about - sadly or not, they're more than used to the weight of their shoulders.

Although they're not expressive with their emotions or thoughts, you can count on this person to be sincere. They seem heavily protected by something greater, something bigger. For most of you, this person is spiritual, but not religious. They're very private and you may have a hard time understanding them or figuring them out.

channeled words & songs: black and white, heavy as led, test of time, a drop of water, night of the soul, life path 7, seek solitude, "i'm always okay", read my mind by the killers, runaway horses, small towns.

quotes that remind me of this person

Tell me, Atlas. What is heavier: The world or its people's hearts? — Darshana Suresh.

I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses. — Friedrich Nietzsche.

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me. — Sigmund Freud.

୨୧ PILE TWO

who is this person, deep down? five of swords ✧ the world ✧ the moon

Accomplished, but lonely. It's how this person feels as I shuffled. They have seen and known so much, but it came at the cost of their morals. This person holds many secrets - even from themselves. Nothing dark, but they do regret their ways at times. With how competitive and aggressive they can be, it's difficult for them to hold onto anything but their success.

They may be famous or well-known in some way. Renowned. A lawyer, a judge. Someone with a fair share of experience and authority in a certain field. But my God, how their words can hurt. Have you ever heard that the pen is mightier than the sword? Yeah, that's this person.

Even when they bask in the glory of being so accomplished, no one really knows this person. Not even themselves, as I said. They're scared of vulnerability, emotions and intimacy. They're scared of the things the Moon tries to show them: their deepest fears, the nightmares and past traumas they've tried to bury deep down.

Interestingly, despite the cards, I get heavy Aries energy. This person may be an Aries Moon, quite a complex placement to have. They're good at being logical and practical, good at the doing, at the speaking, but they don't have the time for people, for emotions... for friendship or family. Given their history, it's likely they shut themselves off from connections out of fear.

I don't think they're happy. They look happy, they look so beautiful, so otherworldly, but inside of them there's this urge for something else. Something more meaningful.

channeled words & songs: ambitchous, aries, sagittarius, "i want it i got it", "let my money talk", chest pains, life path 8 or 9, neon pink, overprotective, oh no! by marina, terrible love by the national, bank account.

quotes that remind me of this person

I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else. — Marilyn Monroe.

My worst fear - that's anyone's worst fear - is to lose myself and become an empty person. And that happens a lot when you're very ambitious. — Marina Diamandis.

୨୧ PILE THREE

who is this person, deep down? two of pentacles ✧ the sun ✧ four of pentacles

What an interesting contradiction, it seems. The person on your mind is generous, extroverted and.. quite the busy bee. Their outer persona remind me of J-Hope from BTS, very caring and extroverted - someone who's got an infectious laugh, but despite his bubbly appearance, he's actually very caring and protective.

Although they may seen foolish, this person is anything but. They're quite careful and at times, intense. However, I don't think many people get to see this more serious and protective side of them. They seem guarded for the right reasons, because they know their heart is quite precious and too much of a good thing to be given away so easily.

It's possible they come off as brain-scattered or high maintenance to you, but they're genuine and one of their main purposes in life - whether they know it or not - is to bring joy to others. They're so good at it. It's not a party without this person, with or without alcohol, they know how to lighten up the mood and are an amazing team player.

It feels cheeky too. I think they like the dad jokes, the lighthearted atmosphere, but they know when to be serious. If I am to be honest, this person is an amazing partner (in case you're asking about a romantic interest) and an even more amazing friend. Someone who'll cheer you up and stick by your side through thick and thin. A very dear friend.

channeled words & songs: heart-shaped, light up a joint, weed, recreational drugs, easy breezy, life of the party by shawn mendes, 9 to 5, bisexual, lgbt+, rainbow, friend-shaped, dogs, cats, energetic, rap.

quotes that remind me of this person

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.— Bob Marley.

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. — Robin Williams.

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always. — Unknown.

୨୧ PILE FOUR

who is this person, deep down? ace of cups ✧ ten of swords ✧ seven of cups ✧ the lovers

I feel like whoever you're asking about is in a brand new mode. They seem to be someone who was previously overburdened by their past. This person is in a major transformative phase, both physically and internally. They have endured so much, it's heartbreaking just thinking about it. I don't think they're very open about it though, at least, they weren't before.

Honestly, this person may have suffered from addiction, major losses or betrayal. They're getting back up after a period of darkness. Spirit's referencing their current phase more so than they actually are, because I believe they haven't yet fully come to really be who they are. They're shedding the person they had become, in order to be who they were meant to be.

They seek a new beginning, new friendships, good, better choices. It seems this path they're on has just begun, so they're a bit.. amazed at the options being offered. Still, this person wants to choose well for themselves and the people they love. They've regained a great love for the world. I feel filled with wonder, with enthusiasm for what's to come. Like anything and everything is possible.

Although they may seem immature, they've seen a lot. They've had to fight to survive through their worst and now, they're learning to let joy and love in. They've come to realize their power, the magic in who they are and learning to accept that this too shall pass. However, this person feels peaceful yet determined, broken yet healing, quite balanced in their aspects. A thinker and a feeler.

channeled words & songs: ego, healing, therapy, six of cups, innocence, yet to come by bts, mbti types, dancing in the dark by bruce springsteen, "a do-over", "maybe", shufflemancy, spiritual, 777, 333, psychedelics, hippie, hologram, offline, nature.

quotes that remind me of this person

I go to seek a Great Perhaps. That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps. — John Green.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. — Steve Jobs.

I’ll rewrite this whole life and this time there’ll be so much love, you won’t be able to see beyond it. — Warsan Shire.

୨୧ PILE FIVE

who is this person, deep down? two of wands ✧ six of wands ✧ page of cups

A courageous, successful individual. This person has a lot of wanderlust. They are in love with life, in love with themselves, in love with the world. They like to be on the move, to party and be around other people they also admire.

However, they have an impulsive, non-committal side to them that is expressed mainly in the way they approach relationships, especially romantic wise. They have a fear of settling, so they're always on the go, on the search for the next best thing in every way. They may move a lot or have a different crush everyday. Although it isn't inherently bad, I think this person may come off as hard to pin down.

In reality, they're enthusiastic and ready to take on the world. They like the spotlight, they have big dreams too. It gives me Leo energy, in the way they love to be praised, to be adored. Depending on who you're asking, this may be polyamorous or they just enjoy being single and free. Many people describe this person as free-spirited and bold.

At times, their words and behaviors get the best of them. They're not good at keeping secrets and may have quite a temper when angered. They mean well, but there's a diva-like side to this person that can be egocentric or immature, since they've got a bit of a one track mind when it comes to their dreams. They're also very beautiful and they know it. It's also quite the ego boost to be around them - they love to give out compliments and flirt.

channeled words & songs: bisexual, "himbo", bucketlist, pinterest, clean girl era, "i want everything", poetry, interlude: shadow by bts, parallel universe, edm, party girl, wild, erratic, center of attention, instagram, social media influencer, blogger, barbie movie, hungry heart by bruce springsteen, rumors by ross lynch (this song started playing after i finished the section above! very relevant).

quotes that remind me of this person

If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days. — Sylvia Plath.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. — Audrey Hepburn.

amourdivine 2021 - 2024 © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content!

DISCLAIMER. tarot is a divination tool, it’s not a substitute for medical and professional advice, nor is it meant to be taken as such. i don’t take responsibility for any choice(s) made by you or others regarding my readings. be mindful ♡

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

taylor swift lyrics x colors x textiles in art – green

Sparks Fly – Speak Now // Colonel Robert Abercrombie – George Romney 💚 Holy Ground – Red // Study in Black and Green – John White Alexander 💚 Everything Has Changed – Red // Countess Luise von Voss – Friedrich Bury 💚 I Know Places – 1989 // Camille in a Green Dress – Claude Monet 💚 Wonderland – 1989 // When the Blue Evening Slowly Falls – Frank Bramley 💚 the last great american dynasty – folklore // Irma von Geijer – Julius Kronberg 💚 invisible string – folklore // The Magdalen – Bernadino Luini 💚 champagne problems – evermore // Little Boy with Violin – Miklós Barabás 💚 happiness – evermore // Portrait of Edward Holden Cruttenden – Joshua Reynolds 💚 Snow on the Beach – Midnights // The Salutation of Beatrice – Dante Gabriel Rossetti

[estcaligo]

From cold Winter Night to warm Spring Light or Less Fae, More Human

some thoughts about the order of Diasomnia birthdays Lilia → Malleus → Sebek → Silver

Winterlandschaft, Caspar David Friedrich (1811) Spring (Fruit Trees in Bloom), Claude Monet (1873)

Even if Lilia's birthday date isn't real, it doesn't matter here. I see it as a beautiful symbol of transition and growth.

Nocturnal faes… long-living, cold, and distant, blessed by the Night. Winter nights are cold and dark, often scary and dangerous if you're not careful. No matter what happens, snow will fall and cover everything, burying even the most violent battlefields under millions of snowflakes, capturing even the grandest castle ruins in a frozen tomb. Sometimes, when the nights are especially silent, it feels like time freezes in winter… Much like it sometimes feels for faes.

Lilia and Malleus are winter children, those of January. Lilia is too old now, but Malleus has hundreds of years ahead - a chance to look into the future, to into new possibilities, to step into Spring.

Spring is the season humans greet with relief. Another yearly trial of death has passed, and with it comes the promise of new hope. Days grow longer, the Sun shines warmer, birds sing, and people spend more time outdoors, bonding with each other and finding joy in simple, human pleasures.

Sebek was born in March - not quite Winter, but not fully Spring. March often brings snow, as if winter's legacy lingers. The weather is unstable, with winds and thunderstorms, as though the season is torn between two halves.

Sebek reflects this turmoil. Born of both human and fae heritage, a storm rages within him, much like the storms outside in March. Is it even possible to find balance when you are born on the borderline? When your very nature is to embody the qualities of two opposing worlds? A difficult question indeed.

Yet time moves on, and with it, the world grows brighter. As spring unfolds, it brings more Light, more Warmth, and with them, more Peace and Hope.

May is a wonderful month - gentle, joyous, and beautiful. It feels as though all living beings - humans, faes, beastmen, and more - agree on this. As if it unites all species, harmonizing them in the shared delight of Nature's renewal.

Silver, born in May, treasures this month. It's warm enough to train comfortably outdoors, but what he cherishes most is the sight of his loved ones' smiles as they gather to celebrate his birthday. Their smiles warm his heart like the gentle May Sun, filling him with the purest happiness. Seeing faes and humans together, united in peace at the birthday table, means everything to him.

Though they come to honor him, Silver wishes to thank them instead - for being together, for their unity. His feelings are as pure as Spring itself.

"May I?"

[nanowrimo]

How to Find Hope for Completing Your Writing Goals

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Campfire, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a writing and worldbuilding platform to help you create an immersive experience benefitting both authors and readers. Today, Campfire Community Manager Emory Glass shares some words on having hope when writing feels overwhelming:

It has been 3,265 days since I won NaNoWriMo. I was 16 and wrote 75,000 words. It was exhilarating and cathartic and everything I ever dreamt of.

Tomorrow it will be 3,266 days since I won NaNoWriMo. I look back on my projects thinking, “2,500 words a day is lightspeed. The words flowed so freely then, so quickly.” I want to be a writer–I am a writer. It is my identity, my purpose, my reason, yet I cannot bring myself to finish what I have begun.

The next day it will have been 3,267 days since I won NaNoWriMo. The words do not fly from my fingertips but crawl, sapped of energy, the page a grave for ink stains posing as letters. I talk to my characters often. My writer friends tell me I speak of them as if they were real people, but I cannot seem to lift the weight of their stories from my mind. Still, I have no platform, no audience, no one eagerly watching for the next installment.

The day after it will have been 3,268 days since I won NaNoWriMo. Two publications, no published novels, hundreds of thousands of words gathering dust. I am no writer, I am a collector of words. There must be something wrong with me. I have so much to tell, so much to share, so much to create, but here I am not telling, not sharing, not creating.

One day it will have been 3,269 days since I won NaNoWriMo. I will not have published a book, I will not have a new story, I will not have an audience or a platform or one–just one–person looking forward to what happens next.

But I will not give up.

"...and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

It's rather typical for a dark fantasy writer to peer into the void, but it quickly becomes an intoxication and an excuse to never move a muscle. Do not succumb. Push forward, even if you barely move an inch. If you wish to be a builder, you build. If you wish to be a fighter, you fight. If you wish to be a writer, you write.

Brute force seems barbaric. Should words not spill onto the page? It is said that art cannot be coerced or bent to one's own will; it comes easily, naturally, swiftly. The very best art is created in a creative frenzy, so they say, and the very best artists are recognized in memoriam.

But if you delay and evade and wither your ambition as you count the days since your last success, your oeuvre halts and is buried and perishes by your own hand. So if you, like me, too often find yourself peering into the void where the words have gone to fade away, cleave to the remedy for its gaze: hope. This is the heart of creation. Laudation and lucrativeness are but two measures of success. They will not themselves burst a dam of words within you and imbue every project with Midas' touch. Creative fever is not catching–you must seek it out.

Give yourself a reason to write even when you do not want to or it feels too Herculean a task. If you seek new horizons, a useful tool, or a supportive community to accompany you on this odyssey, enlist Campfire to help. Whether it behooves you to squeeze out words on your mobile device, stay focused offline with a desktop application, or keep inspiration at hand via browser-based work and Discord chats, it's the best place to bring your stories to life.

NaNoWriMo participants can save on Campfire’s writing software! Use the discount code LETSGONANO23 for 30% off your first year of an annual subscription to our Standard Plan. It’s free to create an account. Offer expires March 31, 2024.

Emory Glass is an avid artist, worldbuilder, and author with a passion for strong female characters in leading roles and meticulous attention to detail in lore. She loves tea, learning Scottish Gaelic, continuing her work on The Chroma Books, a series of interconnected stories, and running Inkblood Book Company for similarly enthusiastic dark fantasy writers. When not chasing down stories, Emory works as the Community Manager at Campfire.

Top photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash.

[sollannaart]

Finding the body of Prince Józef

Having finished the series about the last year of Prince Józef's life, it is impossible to ignore the issue of finding his body, especially since many paintings illustrating that event were created in that era and later.

The Allies began searching for the bodies of those killed in the Battle of Leipzig already in the afternoon on the 19th October.

Prince Poniatowski's body was found only on the 24th, a very short distance from the place - about three hundred steps - where he tried to cross the Elster. It was recovered from the river, according to Szymon Askenazy, by Leipzig fishermen Johann Christian Friedrich and Johann Christian Meissner, and their assistants Adam Solten and Beniamin Meissner.

At the time of his death, the prince was wearing a Polish general's uniform, with a Virtuti Militari cross on his chest; some sources even state that being found he still was holding a broadsword in his hand. However, the wig Poniatowski used to wear, together with the artificial sideburns attached to it, slipped off the prince's head and wasn't found together with the body.

This circumstance made the identification of the body rather difficult. (Though, I had to say, the body’s state wasn’t as bad as it might be expected on the 5th day after death - the cold water kinda preserved it. Antoni Ostrowski even states that prince’ face was serene, smooth and beautiful as in life. But others wrote that there had been a dark spot on his forehead.)

Nevertheless, the Polish generals who had been taken by Allied as prisoners of war - Grabowski, Kamieniecki, Krasiński, Rożniecki and Umiński - recognized in the deceased man his commander...

Czesław Tański, Prince Józef's body recovery from the Elster

One of the images from my collection even shows prince Józef without his wig (though with sideburns, and moustache - about which I am still not sure whether Poniatowski) was wearing it at the time of his death:

Leszek Woźniak, prince Józef drowning 

Having being found, Poniatowski's body was then deposited in the underground vault of the city hall of Leipzig (it was there where the official recognition was made).

Charon, Soldiers carrying the body of Prince Józef

Then it would be buried in the church of St. John (but this is the topic for another post...)

[bruceburgdorf]

The Germans of Stalag Luft III

One of the films which got me interested in WW2 from an early age is The Great Escape (1963) which is based on the 1944 escape from Stalag Luft 3.

The escape was famous for the sheer number of men who escaped at one time but also the unlawful execution of 50 of the escaped prisoners by the Gestapo on Hitler’s orders.

Apart from the inventiveness of the escape itself, one thing what drew me to the film was the way in which the German officers and guards of the POW camp were depicted. Instead of being cruel and cold these Germans were shown as understanding and considerate. Given that the film was supervised by former POWs and having read several books and articles on the subject there is evidence to show much of this was true for the Luftwaffe camp staff of Stalag Luft 3 and conditions were reportedly a lot better than in other POW camps.

The books talk about life in the camp and also describe the staff of the camp in detail. The person that stands out the most is the Commandant who was based at the camp from 1942 up until the escape in 1944 which led to his court martial. He was remembered by the prisoners for adhering to the Geneva Convention but was also someone they had respect for although they did occasionally pull pranks on him and his staff.

I think it’s important to remember him as a man who did his best given the position he was in but also for being a genuinely good person.

Oberst Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau 1880 - 1963

Lindeiner had opposed the Nazi party from as early as the first elections. One reason for this was he had lived with his Dutch wife in the Netherlands in the early 1930’s and could see the effects the Nazis were having on Germany from an outsider’s perspective.

He had been a Colonel in the First World War and had tried to retire before accepting his position as the Commandant of Stalag Luft 3 but was refused due to his high rank. Although not the best outcome he was relieved to be away from the front lines. He was already 62 years old when he took command of Stalag Luft 3.

From his arrival at the camp he sought to improve living conditions for the POWs. Although food rations were beyond his control he discovered Red Cross Parcels were going missing and put a stop to this. He liaised with the senior officers to ensure the men had access to adequate leisure facilities and worked with the YMCA to see this was done. He discussed ways to improve sanitation and a saw that a sewer system was built for the camp, something the nearby German town of Sagan didn’t have.

Orders from High Command were often confusing and contradictory however Lindeiner instructed his staff to treat prisoners as they would wish to be treated. Orders denied prisoners who had died in the camp the right to be buried with military honours but Lindeiner still insisted on this. The orders also depicted on how prisoners should be treated according to country depending on each country’s status. For example Russians could be used for manual labour and were denied by the German government the conditions of the other prisoners had a right to. Lindeiner improved their conditions the best he could despite warnings of close friends that the High Command was keeping tabs on him. He was certain there were men on his staff who were reporting his behaviour.

When he learned through British POWs that the Gestapo was holding a number of prisoners in their custody he began action which would see the prisoners transferred to the Luftwaffe’s care and to his camp. He also intervened when Dutch prisoner Bram Van Der Stok was almost tricked into leaving the camp with the Gestapo, fortunately both Van Der Stok and Lindeiner guessed what they were up to.

When orders from the OKW in early 1944 stated the escaped prisoners should be handed to the Gestapo, Lindeiner feared he may be given an order to execute prisoners within his camp. He later told his deputy Major Gustav Simoleit his concerns about receiving such orders and they both concurred they would rather be executed themselves for insubordination than carry out such an order.

The actual order for the gestapo to execute the escaped prisoners was protested by Göring and a number of senior Wehrmacht officers.

At his court martial in 1944 he was charged with transferring staff whose views were too National Socialist. He denied these claims but said he did remove any staff whose conduct was not morally correct or who didn’t adhere to the Geneva Convention which he made a point of following. He was also charged with being too friendly with the POWs, it was noted he had spent much time speaking with the prisoners and given some of them gifts on their birthdays. He had had a very good relationship with the Senior British Officer.

He was tried by the allies after the war and a number of former POWs testified to his character during his time as the Commandant. Letters were exchanged between himself and former prisoners after the war up until his death.

Stalag Luft III Staff

Lindeiner’s deputy Major Gustav Simoleit, and Captain Hans Pieber were of similar minds and also well respected by the POWs. Simoleit attended the prisoner re-union in 1965 and Pieber was reported to have been visibly upset when he learnt of the executions. It was also said that Pieber turned a blind eye to a few of the escape related activities including lending his camera to the POWs without asking questions.

Another man who was extremely popular with the POWs was Oberfeldwebel Hermann Glemnitz, the sergeant of the Trackers (Ferrets). Unlike his counterpart in the film he was a likeable character showing more curiosity about methods than anger over foiled escape attempts. He attended several of the reunions and even visited a former POW in Canada.

The camp employed hundreds of staff and many of these were too old for military duty, recovering soldiers with injuries and sole survivors in families. Food rations for the staff were similar to that of the prisoners minus the Red Cross parcels so actually worse overall. It was due to this so many of the guards were able to bribed into assisting with the 1944 escape, around 100 in all, but several actually went out of their way to assist including a guard in the watchtower who distracted his colleague while an escape took place but the plan failed and another guard whose wife made stencils for official documents and mailed them back to the camp from her home in Hamburg. It was unfortunate that the relationship between some of the guards deteriorated after the heavy bombing of German cities later in the war.

Recommend books about Stalag Luft 3

The Great Escape: The Full Dramatic Story with Contributions from Survivors and Their Families - Anton Gill

Escape from Stalag Luft III: The True Story of My Successful Great Escape: The Memoir of Bob Vanderstok - Bram Van Der Stok

The True Story of the Great Escape: Stalag Luft III, March 1944 - Jonathan Vance

From Commandant to Captive: The Memoirs of Stalag Luft III Commandant Col. Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner genannt von Wildau - Marilyn Jeffers Walton

[one-additional-time]

Daft Punk in Chronic'art 2007/2008 - scans & translated interview

Here it is, the long-awaited monster interview that sat untouched on my bookshelf for 6 years. I bought this magazine on eBay in 2017, fresh off the Grammys performance with The Weeknd, and I was really excited when I realized it was a huge 10 page spread... Until I started translating and realized the content was extremely in-depth and complicated. So, it got put to the side and accidentally left there for many years.

Anyway, here we go. Buckle in for a long read! Please note that I did not translate the extra sections of the article titled "Discovered" and "Very Disco" as these are just basic information about DP's discography and samples they've used- they are not part of the interview.

My usual disclaimer- I am not French, nor am I fluent in French, so some of this may be incorrect or interpreted differently than the author intended. If you find any glaring errors, my ask box is open for feedback and I can update the post/files as needed. (Post updated May 2023 with corrections)

Feel free to repost to other platforms/social media sites, but I humbly beg that you link back here or give me credit because I really spent a lot of time slaving over this (like 50+ hours).

Thank you so much for sticking around my blog after so many years. I really appreciate this fandom and community and I'm excited to experience new music with you all soon!

(Trigger warning for discussion of suicide [Electroma] in the interview!)

Download full scans and translation at my Dropbox.

Full translation below the cut.

In ten years, from Homework in 1997 to Alive 2007 and Electroma, the electro duo Daft Punk have popularized electronic music, launched fads (the French Touch, filtered house, monumental live shows), and transformed a simple music project into a verifiable universal, even metaphysical, concept. Are Daft Punk dropping the helmets?

BY: WILFRIED PARIS & OLIVIER LAMM | PHOTOS: © MAUD BERNOS

SCANS AND TRANSLATION BY STEPH @ ONE-ADDITIONAL-TIME.TUMBLR.COM

(Please see the downloadable PDF file for translation notes/comments)

Everyone has been hearing about Daft Punk for the last two months, because their live CD (Alive 2007, from EMI) and the DVD of their robotic road-movie Electroma are being released for the holidays. We wanted to go a little bit beyond the obligated promo, and the repeated wooden language found in all the media, by trapping Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo for an hour and a half in a restaurant in the Latin Quarter, subjecting them to questioning, and if possible, making them drop the helmets a little bit, over ten pages and many questions.

We’re not going to harp on what you already know (the French touch, the robot helmets, the live pyrotechnics), we’ll just say that we wanted to do this thorough interview with Daft Punk because they’re more than a CD or a DVD, more than music, more than any current pop group. They are an essential symbol of our post-post-modern times, speaking in a very clear yet always paradoxical voice (between hedonistic joy and profound existential sadness) on the human condition, no less. Over the ten years of their career (Homework, like Chronic’art, again, decidedly, appeared in 1997), Daft Punk have invented a new way of presenting music to the world. The robot helmets reveal (social uniformity) more than they cover (buried humanity) and have given them perfect anonymity, which seems like the anonymity of those who succeeded, not in annihilating the self, but becoming self-less. This anonymity accentuates the dominance of the art over the artist, and it has made Daft Punk a universally well-liked and famous group.

A conceptual, pop, philosophical, even metaphysical group, Daft Punk mixes Andy Warhol (seriality, pop art, emptiness) and Friedrich Nietzsche (the man who wanted to die in Electroma, the superhuman for and against technology), mass culture (disco, Albator, Star Wars) and esoteric symbols (the masonic pyramid), the dancing body and thinking brain. In that respect, they are a purely manufactured product of our culture and likely represent the completion of the pop figure began by the Beatles: fragmented culture (the sample) and repetition, theatricality and abstraction, universalism and experimentation, technological innovation and advanced marketing, refusal of the embodiment and worship of the personality…

The current tour (Alive can also mean “en vie”) also refers to an interstellar voyage, like Discovery and Interstella, which seemed to mean that humanity is, by nature, dispossessed, that humans do not belong on Earth but came from Heaven and are destined to return there, that they are “stardust.” They themselves [Daft Punk] are probably not aware of the symbolic and almost metaphysical significance of their creations, and they always prefer to talk about “emotions” rather than thoughts, the heart instead of the head, and they act as the “guinea pigs” for their own experiments. Listening to them, we realized that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo do not really theorize their work, their music, or their image, but that they react to the infinite accumulation of data from our culture of abundance, that they are indeed the guinea pigs of an experience that has outrun them, marionettes played by “high culture,” pop culture, and the entertainment industry. Maybe Daft Punk really are robots, and no one is pulling the strings, certainly not them.

Chronic’art: Between Homework, which would correspond to your schoolwork or your learning phase, Discovery, which would represent your adolescence, the discovery of the world, microscopic to macroscopic, and Human After All, a moment of reset before a new cycle, it seems to us like you have come full circle, which would be represented by the mirroring of your two live albums, in 1997 and in 2007. Could you have scripted your career?

Thomas Bangalter: It’s strange. We have never written out any part of our career, because even ten years ago we didn’t think we would do this for a long time. After the fact, without having planned it, we realize more that we had sort of reset prior to the live show from 2007. For us, these concerts, this tour, this CD, they are more of a new step than a conclusion. We had not done concerts for 10 years, and there was something very exciting about doing things that weren’t technologically possible when we started. With the last live, we wanted to produce something original, that could predict what might become the norm of tomorrow. We know that we’ve done certain things in the past that were five years ahead of their time, and we are happy to be trying something no one else has done right now. We feel like, during each album, we’ve started back at zero and have had to create a new process, even if it’s true that there is a consistency which emerges in the straight line of our career. But this consistency is not defined a priori, we just emphasize working on projects that can become sort of a realignment of everything we’ve accomplished until now. Interstella was consistent with Discovery, the live show was consistent with our third album compared to the two previous albums, but each step represents, in the moment, the desire to start a new cycle. As for Human After All and Electroma, they’re about something darker, less celebratory… Maybe the live show is a loop; our record label released a Best Of last year, but the concert itself and the way we worked on it is more a way of combining things and expressing them in a new way, rather than celebrating a sort of anniversary or something from the past. We definitely didn’t want to give people the impression that they were in 1997, in a continuation of past music: we instead wanted to give them the chance to feel like they were really in 2007.

During the live shows, you mix together your own tracks, referencing and quoting yourselves. It’s like being simultaneously and precisely between 1997 and 2007, as if the past and the present were merging. All of your songs evolving in a sort of loop…

T.B.: It’s almost the third generation of sampling: us sampling ourselves. At the same time, it’s like having created a universe and an aesthetic that is more than the music, or that the music isn’t actually a central vector. Our approach isn’t at all demonstrative, it’s entirely sensory. There isn’t another message to understand. That being said, there is a desire for cohesion, to make sure that each element added to the structure resonates with the others, with the little mythology that governs this universe. It’s a bit like in a video game, each new element opens a new level in a new environment rather than replacing an older element. We wanted, for example, to break these things with Human After All, but in the end we realized that the album was very cohesive in the continuity of our work.

There is a very strong sense of nostalgia, mixed with a strangeness, in the timeless juxtapositions listeners are subjected to in the tracks. They seem to be complementing and responding to each other, as much musically as thematically… 

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo: It’s especially very exciting to see that twelve or thirteen years after our first maxi, our music has not aged too much. There is a sense of nostalgia1, but it still works in the present, and it’s very strange to see that we can mix four tracks from four different eras simultaneously, and not a single one kills the mood. Right after we started making music, we were seeking timelessness. It’s the same with Electroma. At our core, we are fans of timeless things. If you listen to the Beatles, aside from their very first period which is a little bit stuck in the past, you notice that time doesn’t touch their music. We are following that: we are trying to move through time without getting stuck in it. In the same way, we are trying to make sure that our music can be listened to by a lot of different people, without having to worry about languages or genres.

The Beatles were, for that matter, the first group to reference themselves, for example in All You Need is Love, where John Lennon sings She Loves You… 

G-M.H-C.: We don’t compare ourselves to the Beatles, either… 

T.B.: The idea is constructing a cohesive universe from a series of spontaneous attempts. If you watch Star Wars, people don’t seem to come from when the film was made. It’s as if the 70s have no effect on the film’s universe. Its atmosphere is its own, even if mixes a lot of things together. For about five or six years we have tried not to let the times we live in make an impression on us.

You are very privileged to be in a time when everything moves so fast, or everything ages so fast, right in the middle of acceleration. For example, you did a massive world tour without having an album to promote… 

G-M.H-C.: The day before the first concert of the tour, at Coachella, we were terrified, we weren’t sure of anything. Every time we try something new, we start back at zero.

T.B.: It’s the live show that sparked the craze, I think, truly. The success was really unintentional. Separate from that, being immersed in a certain underground before our first album taught us a lot. We’ve seen all the trends come and go—jungle, speed garage, electroclash, new rave, French touch, revival—and we are really surprised to have slipped by all of that. We didn’t want to be specifically concentrated on music, we only released three albums in 15 years, and we had a lot of luck. The legitimacy of our music, the future of our music lives in the combination of different forms of expression, the scope of influences, the mixing of techno with funk, with metal, the intermingling of rules and cliches. A lot of important decisions have been roughly made; also by means of spending time solidifying this roughness in order to share it. In fact, electronic music, in the 90s, put you in a state of experimentation, urgency, innovation, it literally prohibited you from repeating yourself. Electronic music was still very elitist, because it was expensive—you had to go to the library to find out about these musicians, you had to go to Beaubourg to make photocopies of books on filmmakers, you had to go to small shops to buy old drum machines. We know what changed, we’re familiar with the saturation that followed. We were also lucky because actually there wasn’t much of that happening when we started out.

The permanence of Daft Punk is also really linked to your image. People don’t only dance to your music, they dance with your personas, with the robots, like you predicted the fatal characteristic of the embodiment of rock (John Lennon, Kurt Cobain). With your robot helmets, you have made the entire process of love, requisition, and the sacrificial reclaiming in your place impossible. You come across as impersonal and therefore verifiably impossible to sacrifice. Not gods, rockers, heroes, nor rulers. The helmet prohibits any kind of identification process. When put on, they show the listener-viewer their own reflection. By giving nothing, the helmet says (silently), “Know thyself.” Can your work be considered an invitation for people to know themselves?

G-M.H-C.: Yes, I agree with that interpretation. At least, that’s what happens with our concerts. Audience members, rather than being lost in the view of a far-off guy, Mick Jagger or another inaccessible idol above the audience, find themselves between us, or even with themselves. It’s kind of like a rave, without superstars, like in the era of anonymity. The robots don’t give the audience much except music. There are robots in a pyramid, but the audience enjoys it in a more selfish, more self-centered way.

T.B.: It’s a mixture—the chance to show the listener their own reflection, to respond to a question with another question, but also the opportunity to go back to a fiction, in a cult that isn’t the cult of a personality, but of an art, of an image, of an aesthetic. Without personification. Then we can let ourselves to be two robots in a pyramid of light. If our faces were uncovered, it would be the most megalomaniacal thing in the world; with the helmets, no one sees us because we stay within the fiction. And without wanting to make a joke, there is also a degree of separation, a distance. A distance from the reflection, like in Electroma, or a distance from the entertainment, softer.

All the lines from Human After All work in the same way. They recall Kraftwerk, but Kraftwerk developed a precise message about celebrating, in a way, the immediate future. Your messages are a lot more ambiguous: are they critical, ironic, devoid of meaning? Like we see so well in Electroma, your helmets are, above all else, mirrors…

T.B.: Ambiguity is good, because it allows for a certain interaction between the viewer and the artist; between what the viewer interprets and what the artist is trying to depict. It’s very participative, and that comes from a desire to go against the demonstration. We are the first consumers of our music, and we hold the view that we can’t make any judgement values by calling things into question. In speaking about technology, about consumer society, which completely inhabits our art, we don’t want to teach a lesson, or offer a point of view or a judgement, we just want to find paradoxes and point them out as is. For example, we’re dependent on consumer society and it’s so appealing, productive, optimized, and at the same time totally terrifying, horrible, and very funny.

Your work is dialectical: sometimes it seems to denounce a sort of robotic totalitarianism (like in the Technologic video which depicts propaganda of a robot on top of a pyramid) and at the same time it plays with this imagery, strikingly. The video for Around The World also shows how robots surround and surveil the population; they are in the last circle, and they are the ones who chant the phrase “Around The World.” Does the video denounce the surveillance of us by nonhumans, or does it condition us to accept it? We never know if you’re denouncing a conspiracy against humanity or if you’re participating in it. You use of language is equally dialectical. Your language is refined, born from catchphrases and words of totalitarian order (Technologic), and if taken literally, it’s this: the phrase “Television Rules The Nation” can be taken as the assertion of an established fact. It then becomes constraint, manipulation. At the same time, the distance imposed by the performance can give the words a double meaning, and adds to them a critique of this established fact, even the denunciation of a totalitarian power. This recalls the “doublethink” in Orwell’s 1984: the capacity to simultaneously accept two opposing points of view and thereby put critical thinking on the back burner. Where do you situate yourselves in this in-betweenness?

T.B.: But it’s inside this paradox where we progress. In terms of our experimentation, we are in fact the heart of the system; it would be totally obscene to lean more to one side or the other, to claim to be part of a totalitarian system, as if we were giving lectures. It’s because this is so interesting that we refused to do any promotion for Human After All, because there couldn’t be a willingness on our part to encourage people to buy the album, because of this paradox. Because it’s like an unbiased opinion on technology, on consumer society. The video for Technologic actually gives you the keys to derive an ironic and scary message from the track, but it has since been used by Apple in a commercial for the iPod, and there the lyrics turned into blind praise for technology! It’s funny seeing to what extent the double meaning has effectively functioned. That’s why we so often refer to Andy Warhol who had an experimental approach through his connection to pop culture that, depending on the project, had as much a place in very elitist and private circles as it did on supermarket shelves. Creating with perplexity, in short.

Nevertheless, you use very strongly significant symbols, like the robots or the pyramid. The pyramid that you use on stage is a Masonic symbol. It is on the dollar bill, with George Washington and the note, “New World Order.” The pyramid represents the structure of society, from the masses up to the elites and the leaders. The cornerstone with the “all-seeing eye” surely represents the summation of technology which, though it could be plainly operational, will make sure that the “New World Order” can truly start coming forward and establishing itself on Earth. Some interpret it like the construction of a new technology, a technologic eye that would see all, through a generalized surveillance. With that said, the presence of robots like operators of this pyramid makes a lot of sense. How do you fit in with regard to these symbols and this story?

T.B.: We work a lot with the senses, with the power of symbols on the subconscious, and the pyramid, in effect, is a very heavy symbol, in terms of the senses. We don’t want to discuss the details of the symbolism, but to question its power without its history. The pyramid has become a symbol because, geometrically, harmonically, it’s a magical, occult, mysterious object. There is also this mysterious and occult, on the verge of paranormal, power in music. No one can really theorize about the effects of music on the body and mind, so it’s incredible. We just try to pass on that magic in a rather empirical way. Moreover, we could carry out experiments on the way in which light or sound intensity acts on the body and on crowds, to see which types of sensations or emotions are provoked by one frequency or another. But we could never really explain the reason for these effects.

G-M.H-C.: We are the guinea pigs of our own universe. We managed to create a sort of self-sufficiency between the two of us, which lets us experiment with a consistent voice, and what works for us tends to work for the audience, it’s like a small miracle. We put a pyramid on stage because we think it’s cool, and it makes everyone trip out.

When you talk about guinea pigs, it’s as if you were manipulated from the outside, by a mysterious third-party, as if you were also puppets. There is a determinism there, but one that serves humanity. According to the Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov, it’s humankind who constructed the robot, and the robot is at its service…

T.B.: Above all we want to express a paradox on the discussion of human dependency on technology. We’re not virtuosos and we rely on technology like a crutch. We could never do it without technology, and at the same time, we try to value, like any artists, the human element in our work. The process we’ve used for these fifteen years has been to try merging the machines and us. We are the operators of these machines, the editors of the experiments: we select them, we choose them, and we decide to keep them or not. Daft Punk is the product of a tug of war between human and technology, always questioning the place of technology in the project.

Electroma addresses this discussion between human and machine, in a sort of grand general inversion. Electroma seems to be the account of a traumatic experience: in the world of robots, the two characters presented a human face to the others, in openness, generosity, expressiveness. The result of this demonstration of humanity leaves them ostracized, chased, and reduced to aimlessness and suicide. Do you think that showing your humanity is dangerous?

T.B.: Yes, that’s the background of the film. But speaking more broadly, formally, it’s part of the same approach as what we’ve been able to do before; to know how to create emotion while using machines, in a creative process. Without actors, without a script, without a real plotline, but with photography, color, framing, made from machines, objects, just like a still life. We began with creating an environment around the spectator, who is almost like the only actor in the film, and wondering how to make them experience these emotions, which are not the same as those on the dancefloor, but aesthetic emotions, where the spectator can project onto themselves. The film is totally open, and we thought a lot about Magritte when making the plans. What you can see in Electroma is essentially sensation, that’s a lot more at the level of the gut or the eyes than of the brain…

Robots After All by Philippe Katerine was clearly inspired by your album Human After All and touches on the idea that human society has attained such a degree of conditioning and conforming that humanity became a species of robot, a determined creature, ruled by automation, in their language as much as their everyday comportment. When we recently asked what he thought about your music, Katerine told us, “I hear nothingness in it, so I want to find a place there.” Is the universality of your music due to the fact that it’s also, in a sense, empty?

T.B.: It’s empty because it’s more sensory than significance, yes. Theoretically devoid of sense, it allows people to see something from nothing and project themselves there. We just heard Katerine’s single. Our music is open, it can be interpreted and taken in different ways.

The musical abstraction and loops that by and large make up your music allow each person to take possession of the music and go beyond it. There is a shamanic aspect in this usage of emptiness and repetition. As a matter of fact, musicians like Animal Collective, who were inspired by shamanic trances, now cite you as an influence. Also, you could interpret the end of Electroma, when the two robots die by explosion and combustion, as referring to shamanic initiation rituals, in which one goes through a symbolic death by division of the body or self-combustion. Could you say that the end of Electroma represents, in some sort, this symbolic and initiatory death? In other words, do you perceive a shamanic side to your music?

T.B.: Yes, it’s a trance: the loop, the heartbeats… We use samples to express the desire of prolonging a strong sensation that comes during one or two seconds in a track, and wanting to repeat this sensation, not only feeling it for ten minutes, but also seeing what consequences come from ten minutes of that feeling, how everything unfolds. Visually, with Electroma, our desire is the same: to create images or an assembly of images that produce a physical sensation, a feeling of hypnosis, wandering, or weariness; in any case a state of mind that you can only reach by feeling this sensation for a certain time, for quite a long time. 

Wandering, loss of identity, and expropriation are pop themes in a sense. If you think of the Beatles, the “Magical Mystery Tour,” the transformation of the Beatles into the “Lonely Hearts Club Band.” As of now, you are a group that “turns,” that travels, to those “lonely hearts.” Is there a “trip” pop?

T.B.: It’s true that during this tour, we felt a little bit of a psychedelic thing: there are people who saw and re-watched the concert multiple times, almost like a Grateful Dead concert, with this idea of there being, during the concert, something imperceptible that you can never capture on disc or on film: an experience which was unique and can only live in reality, at a time where everything is virtualized. We felt like people wanted happenings, concrete experiences, which could consequently be produced by advanced technology: we could multiply the giant screens, have a very strong sound, and combine everything into these unprecedented audiovisual processes, which had never been seen anywhere before. Even a film projected in an IMAX theater could be no more than the “ghettoblaster” from another experiment with new technologies. Our music is moving: it was within an industrial system which ended, it was dependent on the economy. And the economy was destroying itself, it influenced new formats and new ways of creation, like the tours we’re doing currently.

Today, music needs to find new ways for distribution, with the death of the record industry and the virtualization of music. The live show, as a unique experience, is a response to this situation. You were the first to start a download site on the internet, with the Daft Club in 2001, which didn’t work out. Was it five years too early?

T.B.: Being current five years too early is really better than we can hope for. It’s good to be precursory, it’s almost our principal objective. Speaking about the musical economy, I think that music has never been as important as it is now, and the concert isn’t a response to difficulty selling CDs nowadays, because live shows are also very expensive. Economic upheavals are interesting: I read a book recently by Jacques Attali, Bruits, which talks about the musical economy and its power since the Middle Ages, and if you look at the place of music in the world in the last 2 thousand or 3 thousand years, the place of the record and pop music industries will have not been an end in itself, compared to music as a whole. It’s interesting to try to find out where music will go and what it will generate, in the sense that it is often a precursor of the relationship to come between social and economic powers. But we define ourselves less as musicians than as artists and creators, in trying to combine things and experiment with new formats and new technologies. We aren’t uniquely musicians.

Homework represents a sort of pinnacle of the age where a certain technologic novelty was expressed directly through music. You could literally hear knobs being turned. Does Daft Punk necessarily have to excel technologically in an age where all these methods have become normalized? Were the concerts from your new tour sort of like an advantage?

T.B.: It’s not an advantage, it’s a set of challenges that could be technological, actually. You wind up with a concert that looks sort of futuristic, like a remake of Close Encounters of the Third Kind or a mix of a Grateful Dead and a Kraftwerk concert. Making something that we couldn’t make before. We pick up the tools, we manipulate them, we try to progress. Electronic music in itself, in 2007, doesn’t seem to me to be very conducive to experimentation from a strictly musical point of view. I’m waiting for the new generations to prove to me otherwise… We pay attention to technological developments because we’re interested in them, and because they are at the heart of our art. Musical instruments are advanced technologies which have continuously reinvented music.

Since Human After All was released online, there were a lot of rumors about the album, which was an indication that people were waiting for you. In that context, are you able to feel free as musicians? Have you produced things in reaction to the public’s expectations?

T.B.: Actually, we aren’t free relative to our own expectations. We can’t totally set the public aside, but we have our own demands and we respond to our own vision of what we make, while taking into account paradoxes, contradictions, restarts, new beginnings. But we don’t think about the public: it’s both selfish and more respectful for people because we don’t have the pretentiousness of putting ourselves in their shoes.

G-M.H-C.: We are our own fans. We work until we find moments of pleasure in our work, and when we save those moments and explore them on an album or in a film which we release, that resonates for people. But within those moments, which are like lightning, we are like spectators—we feel like we’re revealing something, and discovering something we created at the same time. In this way we are ourselves in the position of spectators and fans. I imagine that this process is even more evident in painting: you have a piece of canvas in front of you, and there is a tangible process of creation. Creation is a mystery and you can really speak about magic when it comes to music or art.

Could the image of the pyramid that you use be a graphic representation of your music? With its foundations, progressions, ascents, and its climax? Bercy, it so happens, also has a pyramid shape…

G-M.H-C.: Not all of our songs follow a progression. We have flat songs, square songs, round songs… And in the live show, there are a few final moments where the tension comes back down. Bercy really does have a pyramid shape, but the top is missing. And it’s true that we would have really liked to play on top of it (laughs)…

[scotianostra]

On 23rd November 1844, Thomas Henderson, Scottish astronomer, died in Edinburgh.

Born in Dundee in 1798 Thomas James Henderson was an astronomer most known for being the first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth. He was also the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland.

Henderson was the son of a tradesman born in Dundee who stressed education. Henderson attended Dundee high school, after which at the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to an attorney, Mr. Small. He apprenticed for six years and afterwards moved to Edinburgh to further his law study. Due to his fine work he would take many jobs with nobles like Lord Eldin and the Earl of Lauderdale.

Astronomy and applied math were hobbies of his during his apprenticeship and time in Edinburgh, and to his fortune while in Edinburgh an observatory was erected on Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, which allowed him to further his passion.

The 1830’s saw its own type of space race with the desire to be the first person to correctly measure the distance to stars. Officially Henderson acquitted himself well and finished second in that race behind the German Friedrich Bessel- But! Hs observations took place in 1832 and 1833, he did not publish his observations until 1839, Bessel published his calculation in 1838. Oor Thomas, for fear of criticisms and doubts about the accuracy of his instruments caused him hesitation in publishing his findings.

The astronomical works of Thomas Henderson allowed for future astronomers to find the distance to stars thousands of light years away, and to further increase the world’s knowledge of the universe.

Henderson is remember on Calton Hill with a memorial at the observatory on, he is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, his grave has a simple marker there, as seen in the pics.

[shmowder]

Do you have an all-time favorite painting(s)? I think mine will always and forever be The Lovers by Rene Magritte. Ever since a classmate did a presentation on him when we were 12. Also, Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich.

🐿️ anon

The Lovers are an absolutely beautiful set of paintings! They fill you with uneasiness that never quite goes away, a bright grassy field, a well lit room, the elephant is front and center, there is no shying awaying from love–nor death.

You're forced to come to terms with both at the exact same time, resulting in an uncomfortable mixture of emotions swirling in your chest, sinking dread in your stomach at the deathlike cloth used for corpses covering their faces, a flutter in your heart at the intimate and sweet display of affection. You're pulled from opposite directions at the same time, tugged up and down, conflicted.

You can't ignore one for the other either, you can't forgo the grim reminder of death for the blissful ignorance of love. Neither can you bury your head in the cynicism fatalistic sand to deafen the loud melody of love echoing into every crevice.

It's surreal yet a grim reminder of reality. There's something to be said for the way the fabric drapes on the side of their heads almost resemblaing fingers, a human hand cradling each other's heads with and desperately attempting to close the distance, to merge their souls.

To know each other fully, but they never can. They never will truly kiss, they will never be truly themselves nor remove their cloth masks as long as death looms by. As long as they remain mortal and human.

I absolutely love it <333 Thank you for suggesting it.

God I have so many favourites and I still find more each day.

"Orestes and The furies" circa 1920–21 + "Mrs Carl Meyer And Her Children" 1896. Both by John Singer Sargent. He's one of my favourite painters, his artsyle is genuinely breathtaking, it's what I dream my writing would feel like.

"Night" 1875, by Auguste-Alexandre Hirsch. Aka Nyx herself, how could I not?? I like the contrast between the dream-like soft skin, feathery foggy clouds, with the sharpness of the flowers.

"Ideallandschaft mit Tempel" by Christian Wilberg. It's so vivid and the colours are literally dancing oh my god, this can't be a still painting because why is it brimming with life?

[royalty-nobility]

Countess Luise von Voss

Artist: Friedrich Bury  (1763–1823)

Genre: Portrait

Date: 1810

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Countess Sophie Marie von Voß (1729-1814) was a German lady in waiting and memoirist. She was the influential confidant and Oberhofmeisterin (mistress of the Robes) for many decades at the Prussian royal court. Her memoirs have also been published.

From 1743 until 1751, she served as maid of honor to Queen Sophia Dorothea. Prince Augustus William of Prussia fell in love with her, and to discontinue what could have developed into a socially unacceptable affair, and end the difficult situation created when the prince reacted with jealous fits, she was married to her cousin, Count Johann Ernst von Voss (1726-1793), in 1751.

From 1763 until 1793, her spouse had the office of chamberlain of the household of Queen Elisabeth Christine at Schönhausen Palace, which meant that she often attended court. In 1787, the crown prince committed bigamy with the daughter of her brother-in-law, Julie von Voss.

After the death of her spouse in 1793, she temporarily retired to her estates in Mecklenburg. From 1793 until 1810, she served as mistress of the robes to the new crown princess, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She accompanied the Prussian royal family to East Prussia during the invasion of Napoleon in 1806 to 1807. After Queen Louise's death, king Frederick William III relied upon Voß's company. With Voß's help, Prince Wilhelm zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was introduced to the king's circle.

In 1811, after the death of Queen Louise, she returned to her residence in Berlin. She died in Berlin in 1814.

[leftistfeminista]

The formidable erudition of The Second Sex and the sheer length and breadth of resources with which it interacts also function to conceal or bury her engagement with Karl Marx’s works. Interestingly, Beauvoir only mentions Marx’s name and those of his works explicitly a few times. While one might assume that the obvious place to find him is in the chapter titled “The Point of View of Historical Materialism,” this chapter actually engages with the book of his collaborator Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which appeared the year after Marx’s death — although recent research suggests that Engels drew upon Marx’s unpublished notebooks in writing it.

Beauvoir’s engagement with Marx’s works in the history chapters of The Second Sex enables her to offer a nuanced account of the experience of being both working-class and a woman. In fact, she makes use of Marx to establish the specific ways in which women were “more shamefully exploited” than workers of the opposite sex, noting that employers preferred hiring women (and especially mothers) to men because women “did better work for less pay.”

Some key passages in these chapters show that Beauvoir did not exclusively imagine the working class as male (and nor did Marx for that matter). Drawing on Marx’s work, she demonstrates how women workers are uniquely oppressed on the basis of their gender — inexperienced in political organization, sexually harassed and abused. As girls, they are socialized into docility; later, as workers, they are reluctant to assert their rights. And as working mothers, canny employers ruthlessly find new ways to exploit them.

[thequiver]

Ashe Vernon, from "Buried," Not a Girl | Uncanny X-Men (1963) #280 | Ocean Vuong, Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong | X-Factor (1986) #70 | Dan Deacon, When I Was Done Dying | New Mutants (2009) #4 | Franz Kafka, Diaries, 1912-1923 | Way of X (2021) #4 | Friedrich Nietzsche, Good and Evil | Legion of X (2022) #10 | Ocean Vuong, Prayer for the Newly Damned | Legion of X (2022) #10 | Mitski, Jobless Monday

[archivist-crow]

Odds and Ends:

THE AMBER ROOM

In April 1717, the Amber Room, "Eighth Wonder of the World," was packed up in crates and shipped by horse and cart from Berlin to St. Petersburg, Russia, as a gift to Tzar Peter I from Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm. Twelve years in the making, though incomplete, the room consisted of over 100,000 pieces of carved amber—golden prehistoric tree resin—placed in panels. It was a puzzle to Russian craftsmen when it arrived and stayed in the crates for fifteen years. Eventually Tzarina Elisabeth requested that it be completed and mounted. Another fifteen years later, the room was open to the public for the first time in 1746.

Ten years after that, Catherine the Great had the treasure moved to the imperial summer residence in Tsarskoye Selo, where it stayed until the outbreak of World War II. In 1941, when German troops advanced into the area, the room was given a quick camouflage of paper and gauze; however, Nazi soldiers discovered the panels, packed them into twenty-seven crates, and moved them to Königsberg. A few years later, they were recrated to protect them from bombing, but when the Soviet army regained the city in 1945, the Amber Room had vanished.

Covering fifty-five square meters of wall, the amber panels were interspersed with eight mirrored pilasters and mosaics of semiprecious gems depicting the five senses. An exquisitely painted ceiling, rare wood mosaic floor, and bottom panels of carved amber lined with gold foil completed the room. Rumors suggest that the panels were hidden in a silver mine or buried by the shores of a murky lagoon, which have since been swallowed by water. In 1997, the son of a Nazi officer who was involved with the crating was arrested trying to sell a piece of mosaic, but no one knew where the piece came from.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[zerogate]

Amid parties, dinners and his trysts with Dorothea, Friedrich Schlegel tried to find a publisher, and there were rumours that he had embarked on an affair with a publisher’s wife to get a deal. He dashed off notes to printers and to Jena, again and again demanding pieces from Caroline. Her natural literary genre, he told her, was the rhapsody. Peppered with jokes, myths, tales and improvisations, these epic poems, which had been performed by singers in ancient Greek, most mirrored Caroline’s lively personality. Maybe she could take her rich and sumptuous letters and turn them into ‘a great philosophical rhapsody’? August Wilhelm’s character was better suited to longer, denser pieces, while Friedrich himself was inclined to fragments of which, he claimed, he had an infinite supply. ‘My whole self’, he said, was in fact ‘a system of fragments’.

Fragments were the perfect expression for Friedrich but also for Novalis, who said that ‘my nature consists of moments’. The friends were the first to elevate a deliberate fragment – as opposed to the accidental, say the few surviving lines of an ancient poem – to a literary genre and it became their favourite. Some fragments were a short line or two, others were several paragraphs long. They covered everything, from art and nature to the self, from law and philosophy to history. Nothing was off limits.

[...]

As easily deployed for pithy criticism as they were for snappy barbs or short bites of wisdom, fragments required little research and could be composed over a glass of wine or a meal – and ideally when the friends were together. Fragments were ‘marginalia on the writings of the age’, as August Wilhelm explained. Dorothea called them Friedrich’s ‘spoiled children’ and Novalis wrote that they were ‘literary seeds’ – while some might be barren others would sprout. Another advantage was that incendiary sentiments could be buried among hundreds of less radical fragments. It was unlikely that the Prussian civil servants in charge of censorship in Berlin would detect them, Friedrich thought; ‘if you only write for philosophers, you can be incredibly daring before the police will notice anything, or even understand the audacity.’

-- Andrea Wulf, Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self