#jan palaty

[classic-art-favourites]

Saint Luke Painting the Virgin by Jan Gossaert, 1520-1522.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Peter Paul Rubens, Dance of Mythological Figures and Villagers (Antwerp, 1630–35.)

A group of figures dance to the tune of a flute played by a man perched on an oak tree, and to the bells that some dancers have attached to their lower legs. The scene evokes the dances that are part of Ancient Greek history and myths and the tradition that followed—the book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili includes a description and a woodcut of a similar dance. The painting also evokes the arcadian settings of pastoral lyric and drama inspired by Theocritus’s Idylls. In that tradition, and in Rubens’s interpretation of it in numerous paintings, the countryside is considered as an ideal place of plenitude, romance, and sexual fantasy for men. The setting is enlivened by the handling of brown, green, and blue paint. The texture builds on the panel support defining the folds of draperies, head buns and ornaments, and the areas where the light hits the trees. In the middle distance is a farm building with a Palladian motif of arch and lintel—if we were to take this literally, we would place the scene in the Veneto. Rubens favoured this style of sixteenth-century Italian architecture, as witnessed by his designs for his own palatial house and garden in Antwerp.

The dancing figures move their limbs and contort their bodies, an expression of the passionate feelings involved in dancing as it is described in Greek literature. Two dogs positioned as mirror images of each other emphasise the circular movement, and the flowing draperies also contribute to the sense of motion. Many of the figures seem concentrated on the mechanics of the complicated dance, as they try not to lose the hands of the others. In the centre foreground, one of the women appears to be upset by the proximity between a woman with a bare breast and a large bearded man with an ivy wreath; his lascivious attitude is intimidating. To the right another couple come close to kissing. Dionysius, ressed in his tiger skin and crowned with a wreath of leaves, looks back apparently pleased by what he sees.

Only the young Dionysius is clad in attributes that allow us to identify him; the exotic tiger skin alludes to his exploits in the Orient. The epic poem Dionysiaca by Nonnos is full of references to such animals. It also mentions a dance that was part of a celebration of Dionysius’s conquest of India: "The foot-soldiers of Bromios danced round with their oxhides and mimicked the pattern of the shieldbearing Corybants, wildly circling in the quick dance under arms". This is not to imply that Rubens is depicting that specific dance, but a reminder of the very frequent descriptions of such activity in Ancient Greek texts, including whirlwind-like ones similar to the one Rubens painted. The most famous is perhaps one of the scenes that Hephaestus designed on the shield he made for Achilles, as described by Homer in the Iliad: "And young men were whirling in the dance, and with them flutes and lyres sounded continually". Other than Dionysius, the identity of the figures in this painting is ambiguous. I see them as timeless, generic characters inspired by ancient texts.

The flute player takes on the role of Pan, the sex driven, pipe playing shepherd god, but he has no animal features. The other dancers bring to my mind the satyrs, frequent companions of Dionysius (but none bear their animal features). Silenus usually formed part of Dionysius’s train as well; perhaps he inspired the large bearded man between the two women in blue in the foreground.

Some women wear high end outfit and sandals, others are barefoot and seem more peasant like. In fact, none of the figures in the scene dress the way high class or countrywomen did during Rubens’s time (as they are shown in his own paintings and in those by Jan Brueghel, David Teniers, or other roughly contemporary Flemish artists). Necks, breasts, and shoulders are more exposed here than they would have been in contemporary society and their uncovered hair and bare feet are also evocative of a different time and place. What the women dancers resemble is a host of timeless allegorical and mythological female figures painted by Rubens throughout his life. They also remind me of some of the bacchantes and nymphs that Titian painted in his Bachanals, following descriptions by Philostratus the Elder—dancing was a favourite activity of both types of creatures, which had the form of beautiful women.

Text translated from Alejandro Vergara, 'Comentario' in: Pasiones mitológicas, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2021, p.110-113 nº10

[unalacuna]

Last 12 hrs to mint your edition on manifold.xyz before full collection drops in Jan’23.

Palatial Frostscapes ❄️

[luisagiveproof]

Kazakh despot's daughter went on London spending spree after moving $300m out of country

Aliya Nazarbayeva's purchases included a $25m private jet and an £8.75m house in Highgate

Details of Aliya Nazarbayeva's purchases are likely to raise eyebrows in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by violent protests aimed at the country's maligned elite

The daughter of the former president of strife-torn Kazakhstan went on a spending spree in London after moving $300 million of her personal wealth out of the country.

Aliya Nazarbayeva instructed two professional financial advisers to buy palatial homes, a private bank and a luxury jet after transferring the money into a complex web of offshore trusts and companies stretching from Liechtenstein to the British Virgin Islands.

Her purchases included a $25m Challenger Bombardier private jet, an £8.75m house in Highgate, north London - meant to help her obtain British residency - and instructing her team to buy a $14m of property in Dubai, including a villa in the man made Palm Jumeirah island.

Details of the 2006 spending spree, revealed for the first time on Saturday, are likely to raise eyebrows in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by violent protests aimed at the country's increasingly maligned elite.

Aliya is the youngest daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was Kazakhstan's president for 28 years until 2019, when he took a backseat but controversially retained much of his power.

While he led the country during and after its Soviet years, a small minority amassed enormous wealth while many ordinary Kazaks struggled to get by.

He dramatically quit as head of the Kazakh Security Council on Jan 5 and was reportedly preparing to leave the country. Authorities on Saturday insisted Mr Nazarbayev was in the capital, named Nur-Sultan in his honour.

It was earlier rumoured that Ms Nazarbayeva was seeking to travel to Dubai with her father as he tries to flee the upheaval, and that she may hope to use London as a secure base.

Aliya Nazarbayev pictured after her marriage to Aidar Akayev in 1998, alongside her father and former president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev (left) 

Her spending spree in London, described by one expert as “staggering”, only came to light when she fell out with the two financial advisers, accusing them of dishonesty, misappropriation of funds, conspiracy to defraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.

Ms Nazarbayeva, 41, sued the pair in the High Court in London for £165 million before settling the case in a confidential agreement. Her advisers, described as reputable and respected financial professionals, denied all the claims. Details of the 2016 case have only just emerged. 

Until now Ms Nazarbayeva - whose eldest sister Dariga owns £80m of property in London - was better known for modelling designer jewellery by Damiani, promoting her own couture clothes brand and owning a high-end beauty spa in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, as well as chairing a construction company.

On her Instagram account she frequently posts photos of herself with her father, who until his fall from power cultivated the image of “father of the nation”.

Aliya Nazarbayeva posts a number of photos of her lavish lifestyle on Instagram

The Nazarbayev family have long established financial links with the UK. The Kazakh oligarch paid Prince Andrew £3 million more than the asking price for his marital home of Sunninghill Park in 2007.

Ms Nazarbayeva claimed she transferred $312m of her personal wealth out of the country after advisers told her it would be “dangerous” to keep her fortune there and that she should “hide” and “disguise” it in a network of offshore foundations and trusts, according to legal documents seen by The Telegraph.

Documents lodged with the High Court include claims that Malik Ishmuratov, a Kazakh wealth manager, told her “on many occasions that Ms Nazarbayeva was a politically exposed person (PEP)” and that it was “dangerous for her to keep her assets in Kazakhstan”.

In 2006, Ms Nazarbayeva “confided” to Mr Ishmuratov that she had “sold some shareholdings in Kazakh companies, receiving approximately $325,000,000”.

Mr Ishmuratov went on to introduce Ms Nazarbayev to Denis Korotkov-Koganovich, a Kazakh wealth manager based in London.

Ms Nazarbayeva claimed she transferred $312m of her personal wealth out of Kazkhstan after advisers told her it would be 'dangerous' to keep her fortune there

In 2008, according to court documents, Mr Ishmuratov advised Ms Nazarbayeva to set up the Alsarah Foundation, in Liechtenstein, “through which her funds were held and would protect and disguise her interest”.

By June 2008, Ms Nazarbayeva “agreed orally” with Mr Ishmuratov to entrust an initial $150,000,000 capital to him and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich, transferring the cash to Marstock Ltd, a company the wealth managers had registered in the British Virgin Islands.

This was the first of several large transfers from Ms Nazarbayev to the pair, eventually totalling $312m.

Ms Nazarbayev claimed that Mr Ishmuratov advised her that as a politically exposed person she wouldn’t be able to open a bank account and to get around the problem should simply buy a bank instead.

Allegedly on his recommendation, Ms Nazarbayeva directed Mr Ishmuratov to invest $108m in CBH Bank, an exclusive Swiss private bank, in return for a 51 per cent shareholding.

Her cash was also put into bonds, investment funds - including a London-based wine fund boasting valuable 18th and 19th century cognacs - and an Essex-based loans company aimed at borrowers with poor credit records.

A burnt out car is seen in front of the mayor's office building, which was set alight during the protests

But, when Ms Nazarbayeva’s relationship with Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich broke down, apparently under pressure from her father, she lodged a £165m [$233m] claim against them in the London High Court in March 2016.

She claimed that the two advisers had not followed her wishes and had allegedly profited over-and-above their 25 per cent profit agreement, as well as investing her money in transactions she had rejected, including a luxury development in the Bishop’s Avenue "billionaire’s row" in Hampstead.

She also accused them of misappropriating 75million Swiss francs, over half the money meant to buy the Swiss bank.

The pair denied the claims and maintained they had acted at all times in her financial interests.

Ms Nazarbayeva sought an injunction stopping any further dealings with her assets and seeking payment of damages and compensation, with interest. The claim was subsequently settled in a confidential agreement.

Kazakhs stand in line to withdraw cash from a bank in Nur-Sultan in the wake of mass protests

While there is no suggestion that Ms Nazarbayeva’s money was acquired unlawfully, Kazakhstan commentators say the revelations raise questions about the way her wealth was moved out of the country.

Tom Mayne, a visiting fellow at Chatham House and research fellow at Exeter University with detailed knowledge of Kazakhstan, said: “This raises many questions as to Aliya Nazarbayeva’s business dealings in Kazakhstan. The amount of money is staggering.

“This case shows how the UK is often used as a safe haven for this kind of money. People who have taken to the streets in Katakhstan look around and see the family of Nazarbayev have multi-million pound houses and millions to invest in what they want.”

Ms Nazarbayeva did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich said: “The unfounded allegations against Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovitch were denied, the claim defended, and an amicable settlement was reached.”

CBH Bank has asked us to make clear that a complete list of the bank's shareholders is published each year in an audited report and neither Ms Nazarbayeva or Mr Ishmuratov are or ever have been shareholders of the bank.

[antihatelondon]

Kazakh despot's daughter went on London spending spree after moving $300m out of country

Aliya Nazarbayeva's purchases included a $25m private jet and an £8.75m house in Highgate

The daughter of the former president of strife-torn Kazakhstan went on a spending spree in London after moving $300 million of her personal wealth out of the country.

Aliya Nazarbayeva instructed two professional financial advisers to buy palatial homes, a private bank and a luxury jet after transferring the money into a complex web of offshore trusts and companies stretching from Liechtenstein to the British Virgin Islands.

Her purchases included a $25m Challenger Bombardier private jet, an £8.75m house in Highgate, north London - meant to help her obtain British residency - and instructing her team to buy a $14m of property in Dubai, including a villa in the man made Palm Jumeirah island.

Details of the 2006 spending spree, revealed for the first time on Saturday, are likely to raise eyebrows in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by violent protests aimed at the country's increasingly maligned elite.

Aliya is the youngest daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was Kazakhstan's president for 28 years until 2019, when he took a backseat but controversially retained much of his power.

While he led the country during and after its Soviet years, a small minority amassed enormous wealth while many ordinary Kazaks struggled to get by.

He dramatically quit as head of the Kazakh Security Council on Jan 5 and was reportedly preparing to leave the country. Authorities on Saturday insisted Mr Nazarbayev was in the capital, named Nur-Sultan in his honour.

It was earlier rumoured that Ms Nazarbayeva was seeking to travel to Dubai with her father as he tries to flee the upheaval, and that she may hope to use London as a secure base.

Her spending spree in London, described by one expert as “staggering”, only came to light when she fell out with the two financial advisers, accusing them of dishonesty, misappropriation of funds, conspiracy to defraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.

Ms Nazarbayeva, 41, sued the pair in the High Court in London for £165 million before settling the case in a confidential agreement. Her advisers, described as reputable and respected financial professionals, denied all the claims. Details of the 2016 case have only just emerged. 

Until now Ms Nazarbayeva - whose eldest sister Dariga owns £80m of property in London - was better known for modelling designer jewellery by Damiani, promoting her own couture clothes brand and owning a high-end beauty spa in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, as well as chairing a construction company.

On her Instagram account she frequently posts photos of herself with her father, who until his fall from power cultivated the image of “father of the nation”.

The Nazarbayev family have long established financial links with the UK. The Kazakh oligarch paid Prince Andrew £3 million more than the asking price for his marital home of Sunninghill Park in 2007.

Ms Nazarbayeva claimed she transferred $312m of her personal wealth out of the country after advisers told her it would be “dangerous” to keep her fortune there and that she should “hide” and “disguise” it in a network of offshore foundations and trusts, according to legal documents seen by The Telegraph.

Documents lodged with the High Court include claims that Malik Ishmuratov, a Kazakh wealth manager, told her “on many occasions that Ms Nazarbayeva was a politically exposed person (PEP)” and that it was “dangerous for her to keep her assets in Kazakhstan”.

In 2006, Ms Nazarbayeva “confided” to Mr Ishmuratov that she had “sold some shareholdings in Kazakh companies, receiving approximately $325,000,000”.

Mr Ishmuratov went on to introduce Ms Nazarbayev to Denis Korotkov-Koganovich, a Kazakh wealth manager based in London.

In 2008, according to court documents, Mr Ishmuratov advised Ms Nazarbayeva to set up the Alsarah Foundation, in Liechtenstein, “through which her funds were held and would protect and disguise her interest”.

By June 2008, Ms Nazarbayeva “agreed orally” with Mr Ishmuratov to entrust an initial $150,000,000 capital to him and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich, transferring the cash to Marstock Ltd, a company the wealth managers had registered in the British Virgin Islands.

[clarklovescarole]

March 1939: Divorce Final, Wedding Watch On!

March 1, 1939 – The Miami News

That forthcoming marriage date for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, first itemed here weeks ago, will come off on schedule – they spent the last fortnight with interior decorators getting their new home ready to move into on the wedding day.

March 2, 1939 – Spokane Chronicle

The mule which Carole Lombard presented Clark Gable as a gag gift on his birthday has been put to work pulling a plow over the star’s 14-acre tract at Encino…

March 2, 1939 – San Francisco Examiner

Carole Lombard, wearing a farmer’s straw hat and overalls, driving Clark Gable’s station wagon…

March 3, 1939 – Los Angeles Times

If anybody asks you today “What’s new?” you can tell them Clark Gable, who will marry Carole Lombard on St. Patrick’s Day, has purchased 12,000 chickens for his new ranch…

March 4, 1939 – Buffalo Evening News

Clark Gable Expects Freedom on Tuesday

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - By next Tuesday, Clark Gable may be free to marry blonde Carole Lombard, his almost constant companion at picture colony affairs for the past three years. 

Mrs. Maria Gable, 49-year-old wife of the actor, on Monday will complete the required 42 days of residence here and will be eligible to obtain a decree immediately.

There were indications, however, that she would not appear before Judge William E. Orr before Tuesday.

Mrs. Gable arrived here Jan. 22, rented the palatial new home of her attorney, Frank McNamee, and appeared little in public, although she was noticed occasionally with friends at a swanky gambling casino. Visitors from Hollywood, where she is one of the film sets most popular hostesses, were frequent. Her outside activities were restricted to several fishing expeditions to Lake Mead, behind Boulder dam, and a trip to the skin run on nearby Mt. Charleston.

She and the 38-year-old screen hero were married eight years ago in Santa Ana, Cal. They separated four years ago because of what she termed “temperament.” Under a property settlement effected two months before the separation, Mrs. Gable received $286,000 from her husband in three years. The settlement was taken to court in Los Angeles in January for clarification, the last preliminary to her journey here.

March 7, 1939 – Hartford Courant

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard have confirmed the chatter that they will have as quiet a wedding as possible under the circumstances – i.e. with the whole country alert to their plans. They want Gail Patrick and her husband, Bob Cobb, as witnesses, but this will be a last-second decision depending on last-second circumstances.

March 8, 1939 – San Francisco Examiner

Divorce Awarded to Mrs. Clark Gable

LAS VEGAS – Mrs. Maria F. Gable was granted a divorce today when she testified in a cheerful voice that her noted screen lover husband, Clark Gable, deserted her and refused to come back. 

The decree was handed down by Judge William E. Orr in a courtroom from which all but witnesses and press had been barred. The hearing last but 4 minutes.

CHARGES DESERTION

Smartly garbed in a simple black frock, short hip-length jacket, black straw hat and black shoes and gloves, Mrs. Gable gave her name, said she had lived in Nevada for six weeks and then told how she married Gable, then just getting started on his film career, in Santa Ana, Calif, on June 19, 1931.

Her attorney, Frank McNamee, Jr., asked her if there was any community property. She answered “no.” Then he asked if she charged desertion, and her answer was “yes.” 

“Were you deserted in October 1935, and did Mr. Gable disregard the marital bonds?”

“Yes.”

“Was this done willfully and without your consent and without any reason on your part?”

“Yes.”

SOUTH AMERICA TRIP:

Then she added:

“He said he was going to South America and that when he came back, he wanted to try it alone.” 

“Did he try it alone?” 

“Yes,” 

“Was this without your consent and without cause or reason on your part?”

“Yes,” she replied, with a tiny smile, and went on: “He said he wanted more freedom. He came to my house several times after that, but only to talk to me.” 

NEVER OFFERED:

“Did he ever offer to return to the martial state?” queried the attorney.

“No.”

“Again, was this without your consent?” 

“Yes.”

She then was shown a waiver and identified the signature as that of Gable.

Judge Orr asked her:

“The only reason he went away was because he wanted more freedom?” 

“Yes,” was the calm reply.

“The decree may be granted,” commented the judge and the case was over in rapid-fire Nevada style.

Gable, who settled approximately $286,000 on his wife since their estrangement, filed a written appearance and waiver by mail yesterday.

March 8, 1939 – Evening World

Steps out of Gable’s Life

March 8, 1939 – Daily News

Gable Divorced: Carole Admits She’ll Wed Him

Las Vegas, Nev., March 7 – Clark Gable, whose large ears could not prevent his becoming Hollywood’s All-American heartthrob was free tonight, as a result of a divorce his second wife obtained here, to marry blonde Carole Lombard, his partner in the film colony’s most famous “Unmarried Husbands and Wives” romance. 

In Hollywood, comedienne Carole nonchalantly admitted their intention to climax with a wedding ceremony their long and close friendship – one of several such Hollywood romances recently publicized by a fan magazine under the attention-inspiring title of “Unmarried Husbands and Wives.”

But apparently there will be no hurry.

“We have made no plans,” she remarked, “but when Clark gets a few days off and I am not busy, perhaps we will sneak away and have the ceremony performed.” 

Gable busy in Hollywood on the set of “Gone with the Wind,” smiled but said, “We have made no plans for the time or place.” 

The way to wed was cleared this afternoon when Mrs. Maria (Rhea) Gable, 48-year-old second wife of the 38-year-old film hero, received a divorce after a five-minute private hearing before judge William E. Orr. 

Property settlements and other preliminaries to the divorce, for which Gable paid Rhea $286,000 – plus income tax – were arranged before Mrs. Gable came here six weeks ago.

Difference in their ages was blamed for the breakup of the Gable marriage. Mrs. Gable, a Texas oil heiress, was the mother of two children when he married her at Santa Ana, Cal., on June 19, 1931. At today’s hearing she charged her deserted her in October 1935.

“He said he was going to South America,” Mrs. Gable, dressed in black with pink trimming, testified about the desertion. “When he came back, he said he wanted to try it alone. He said he wanted more freedom.” 

“After this, he came to the house several times to talk to me but never offered to return to the marital state.

“I came here on Jan. 20, 1939, and have been here ever since.”

Mrs. Gable, a cheerful witness, said she plans to leave for New York tomorrow to visit her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Wood. She will return to Beverly Hills in about a month, she said, and make her home there.

It was about the time of Gable’s desertion of his wife that he met Miss Lombard at an “all white” party at which she appeared in a red dress. They have been constant companions during the last four years. 

Gable’s first wife, whom he married in 1924, was the former Josephine Dillon. They were divorced after four years.

March 8, 1939 – The Knoxville News Sentinel

Scarlett O’Hara All That’s Between Gable and Carole

By Frederick C. Othman

Clark Gable knelt at the feet of a red-haired Englishwoman today, fingered a pair of sweeping sideburns, said “Scarlett, honey, ah love yuh,” and wondered how long it would be before he could marry blonde Carole Lombard.

It may be tomorrow. It may be next week, or next month. It all depends on the on-again, off-again progress of the movie “Gone with the Wind.” He was at the studio early today acting the romantic part of Rhett Butler, romantically but obviously a little impatiently. Not far away, in her home, Miss Lombard was downright impatient, and she said so. 

“When Clark gets a few days off and I am not busy perhaps we will sneak away and have the ceremony performed,” she said upon hearing that his second wife, Mrs. Rhea Gable, had been granted a final divorce decree in Las Vegas, Nev.

Gable Is Silent

But Gable, No. 1 Hollywood leading man, only grunted “no comment” and turned again to hold the hand of Miss Vivien Leigh, English actress who has the part of Scarlett O’Hara, in the movie “epic” of the Civil War.

Today Gable’s ranch house in the San Fernando Valley was being dolled up to grant the very whim of even the most discriminating bride. Her close friends in the movie colony expected Miss Lombard’s blonde beauty to grace it very soon.

Mrs. Gable No 2, who is 48 and 10 years his senior, obtained her decree in one of Nevada’s famous five-minute court sessions before judge William Orr. She said he had deserted her. The clerk handed her a decree, brightly bordered with red ribbon, and she walked out sans husband.

Get Big Salaries

A few hours later she was at the roulette table of the swank Las Vegas Apache Casino playing, as usual, heavily. She said she probably would return her today, then later visit friends in New York. She had no further matrimonial plans, she said.

When they say “I do,” Gable and Miss Lombard will become one of the biggest-salaried families in the world. She gets $450,0000 a year, most of which she says she is glad to return to the government in income taxes. He earns about the same, so his $35000 exemption as a married man won’t be much help.

Mrs. Lombard, who is 29, has been married once before, to William Powell. She divorced him in 1929.

The divorced Mrs. Gable was the actor’s second wife. 

March 8, 1939 – San Pedro News

Wedding to Carole Lombard Near, Admits Clark Gable

Clark Gable, whose one-mule ranch lacks a woman’s refining influence, let the world guess today on how soon he’ll bring home Carole Lombard as Mrs. Clark Gable No. 3. 

It may even be this weekend, but Clark wasn’t saying, as he received the news that his second wife, Marie, had given him his freedom by a four-minute divorce trial yesterday at Las Vegas, Nev.

fixing UP THE chicken coops and pitching hay for the mule “Bessie,” which Carole gave him as a birthday present last month, the he-man film hero admitted his nuptials were near but he hasn’t made plans “for the time or place.” 

Gable was supposed to have been paying court to Vivien Leigh in the ruffled shirt and long sideburns of a southern dandy, but his studio call for “Gone with the Wind” was cancelled because the script, after more than two years of preparation, still needed tinkering.

Today, however, he was to report on the set to resume his Rhett Butler role opposite Miss Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara with a new director, Victor Fleming replacing George Cukor. 

It may be as long as three months before the oft-delayed and still sporadic “Wind” is completed and few friends think Gable will wait until then for another leap into matrimony. 

Miss Lombard is not exactly pining in inactivity, either. She must pose for portraits and poster art this week before starting a new picture.

Amateur Cupids speculated that the pair probably would slip off to Yuma, Ariz., or a Nevada point in a quick elopement and delay a honeymoon until their movie assignments are out of the way.

March 8, 1939 – Fresno Bee

The vigilant movie reporters who are shadowing Clark Gable and Carole Lombard waiting for them to marry following Ria Gable’s divorce, granted yesterday, can relax. Right from headquarters I am told there will be no marriage until the house in the valley is completed. Right now it is in a state of complete reconstruction. Clark is working on Gone with the Wind, and Carole starts Memory of Love at RKO April 1st – so, unless there is an elopement, which I doubt, the marriage won’t take place for some weeks.

March 9, 1939 – The Holyoke Daily Transcript

Pictured together as they watched a Los Angeles, Calif., boxing match are motion picture stars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Clark and Carole are expected to be married soon, now that Mrs. Gable has secured her divorce.

March 9, 1939 – Los Angeles Times

Ranch Chores Occupy Gable

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, free to marry since Mrs. Ria Gable obtained her final divorce papers at Las Vegas last Tuesday, spent yesterday gardening – but a considerable distance apart.

The husky film star went in for agriculture in a big way.

Miss Lombard, on the other hand, contented herself with planting petunias on the grounds of her spacious Bel-Air estate. 

At his Encino ranch, Gable sat at the wheel of a tractor and indulged in a bit of spring plowing around his citrus fruit specimen trees. He tapered off toward evening with a spot of chicken coop patching and painting.

Yet as Mrs. Gable returned to reoccupy her home in Beverly Hills, which Actress Ina Claire had leased during her sojourn in Nevada, not a hint came from the actor or his comedienne-friend regarding their future matrimonial plans.

It was the belief along Hollywood’s gossip row that Gable and Miss Lombard probably would stroll quietly into the Los Angeles marriage license bureau at closing time some afternoon and apply for permission to wed – just like ordinary folks. 

March 9, 1939 – Lansing Star

Clark and Carole Keep Far Apart

While all Hollywood watched with closer than close interest, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stayed quite far from each other today.

Gable, free to marry the beauteous Miss Lombard as a result of the divorce obtained Tuesday in Nevada by Mrs. Maria Gable, was doing a great deal of agricultural work at his new San Fernando valley ranch.

Miss Lombard was conferring with her mother Mrs. Elizabeth K. Peters, who is contesting the will of an aunt by marriage, Mrs. Nancy McMahon Cheney, disposing of a share in a $1,274,000 estate.

And neither Gable nor Lombard would say a word about getting married, although everybody in Hollywood has predicted it would take place almost any time.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Gable returned from Las Vegas where she divorced Gable on grounds of desertion, to her home in Beverly Hills and prepared for a trip to New York and Texas.

March 10, 1939 – Los Angeles Times

If, as and when the ceremony occurs, and there seems to be no question that it soon will, Wesley Ruggles will be a particularly interested guest at the wedding of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable. It was Ruggles who first introduced them in 1933 when they were signed to appear together in one of his pictures, “No Man of Her Own.” And almost the first scene they had together was a fond embrace…

March 12, 1939 – Great Falls Tribune

Clark and His Carole

Here is the latest picture of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, made as they attended the fights in Los Angeles. Divorce of Gable by his wife in Las Vegas, Nev., paved way for marriage of the screen actor and the blonde Carole. 

March 12, 1939 – San Francisco Examiner

If you want to see Carole Lombard these days, you’ll find her out on her 14-acre ranch in San Fernando, wearing overalls and planting seeds like everything.

March 12, 1939 – Evening Star

March 13, 1939 – Pittsburgh Press

Clark Gable need only walk across the street now for his laughs. Groucho Marx recently closed a deal whereby he has purchased an eight-acre estate directly across the street from Gable’s new ranch in Encino.

Gable purchased the Raoul Walsh property. Marx bought the Bleasdale property, with large home, orange grove, and facilities for keeping riding horses, and is moving in immediately.

March 15, 1939 – Kansas City Star

Clark Gable is so excited about getting his new home in the valley ready for himself and Carole Lombard, he refuses to come to the studio for polka dancing lessons. Instead, the dancing instructor goes out to the Gable mansion and tries to teach him to tread the light fantastic with music supplied by tractors and plows. 

March 16, 1939 – Los Angeles Times

Tom Douglas and Rex Evans, former actors, have been decorating like mad – Clark Gable’s new house, which will be finished tomorrow. While the wires are burning up due to the effort to find out the wedding date of Clark and Carole, Clark, when he gets a couple of hours off, doesn’t bother about anything except tilling his soil. No King and Queen stuff for either him or la Lombard. They’ll break the news to all the papers at the same time.

March 16, 1939 – The Call Leader

Speaking of GWTW, it certainly will wreak havoc with any plans Carole Lombard and Clark Gable might have for a real honeymoon. Even before the recent delays, MGM figured that Clark would be busy on the picture for five months.

March 21, 1939 – Times Tribune

Carole Lombard has hired 24 gardeners to complete a rush job on Clark Gable’s Encino estate. Carole’s mother, Mrs. Peters, has put on record her desire for a church wedding, or a ceremony in a private house performed by a preacher. Well, we shall all know soon what Clark and Carole intend doing.

March 22, 1939 – Fort Worth Star Telegram

Associated Press

Hollywood - Carole Lombard was found directing a crew of workmen remodeling a 14-room house at Encino near here Tuesday.

“I don’t know – we don’t know yet,” she replied to a query as to when and where she and Clark Gable would be married.

“How did you find this place?” she asked in turn. “I asked those fellows at the studio to keep it quiet.”

This “honeymoon cottage,” now owned by Gable, formerly belonged to Director Raoul Walsh and is situated on an orchard-studded estate. It has detached servants’ quarters, stables, a rumpus room, and bar, but no swimming pool.

Gable was divorced by his second wife, Rea, in Las Vegas last March 7 and reports have been current that he and Miss Lombard would marry soon. 

“As soon as I know, everybody will know,” Miss Lombard promised.

March 22, 1939 – Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph

You don’t think, do you, there was anything personal in the gift Carole Lombard sent me yesterday – a lemon the size of a grapefruit she swears she picked off a tree on Clark Gable’s ranch…

March 23, 1939 – The Winnipeg Tribune

For the first time in his career, Clark Gable is shying from newspaper visitors. Those going on the set of “Gone with the Wind” are told that any conversations with Gable must omit queries concerning his approaching marriage to Carole Lombard. “He is getting very tired of it all,” explains the main in the front office, “and has become extremely sensitive.” 

March 23, 1939 – Daily News

Gable, in addition to playing the part of Rhett Butler, a task which is exhausting enough in itself, is bedeviled too by the newspaper men and fan magazine writers who want to know when he is going to wed Carole Lombard… Every writer out here is hopeful of an exclusive story, but if Gable is as smart as I figure him to be, he won’t play favorites on this one… He had better call in all of the crowd at the same time and announce the wedding date, because I don’t know of any performer who has received such nice treatment from all of the press as the big Ohioan… When I was leaving him yesterday, he said: “You’re the only writer who hasn’t asked me the date,” and if he wants to know why, the above nine lines are the reason.

March 25, 1939 – Hartford Courant

A happy-looking “six-some” at the Beverly Brown Derby – Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Gail Patrick and husband Bob Cobb. Facing them were a radiant couple – Hedy Lamarr and Gene Markey, both wearing trousers.

March 25, 1939 – The Winnipeg Tribune

March 28, 1939 – Philadelphia Inquirer

(Louella Parsons)

It is surprising the way gossip here spreads. A rumor started that Carole Lombard and Clark Gable had quarreled. It was announced over the radio and all the way from New York came a query to this desk. The whole thing is ridiculous. 

Yesterday Clark entertained Carole, her mother, Mrs. Bess Peters, and her brother Freddie, who has been in New York, at the ranch in the Valley, where the newlyweds will make their home. 

Just because they didn’t marry the moment Clark was divorced from Mrs. Ria Gable is no sign there is trouble or that there will not be a marriage. These two have planned their whole future together and it is absurd to think there is any difficulty. 

March 29, 1939 – Democrat and Chronicle

Hollywood (INS) - Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are not going to be rushed into marriage, friends of the stars say. 

Gable, whose wife divorced him, has been free for some two weeks to take the bride of his choice, but neither he nor Miss Lombard has time for the kind of wedding that is to their fancy.

There is no telling what the stars may decide to do. But they have in mind something in the way of an old-fashioned wedding, and not one in the Hollywood manner, with an airplane trip to another state and newspaper reporters on the trail. An elopement, it’s called.

Gable is busy with “Gone with the Wind.” He is before the camera almost every day, and will be until around the first of July. Miss Lombard is almost equally active at her studio, and is available only for a weekend wedding sans honeymoon. And a weekend wedding is not listed as the preference of either.

[thinktosee]

OF KINGS AND DICTATORS

“One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an Ass for a Lion.” (1)

-       American Revolutionist, Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Once upon a time, it was claimed “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” (2) That statement uniquely qualifies the unmeasurable reach of British rule and imperialism, especially during the 18th through to the first half of the 20th centuries. While judging the historical record of Western Colonialism, we tend to discard, perhaps through ignorance or bias, the history of Eastern Colonialism. Slavery, a disgusting and dehumanizing product of colonialism existed long before western colonialism – in ancient Greece (3), Rome (4), Israel and Iraq (5), China (6), Africa (7,8), America (9), and India. (10,11) Slavery is the 2nd most extreme presupposition of the inequality of people. The 1st is human sacrifice, a custom erected to placate the gods and emperors alike, and which was adhered, in many olden cultures. (12,13,14)

The ancient and other more recent human sacrifices, including the Holocaust (15), were enabled through the belief in one supreme authority – a godlike figure, so to speak. This went against our better judgement and nature – an equality among people which breeds mutual respect, aid and peace.

Following the decolonization process across the world, generally from the 1960s through 1970s, we witnessed the creation or perhaps, re-creation of local elites into kings and dictators – from Africa (Selassie, Amin, Boumediene, Mobuto), Central and South America (Batista, Noriega, Videla, Somoza), China (Mao), Koreas (Kim, Park), South-East Asia (Suharto, Marcos, Lee), the Middle-East, (Nasser, al Assad, Arafat) and so on. Some were ceremonially crowned with a good deal of pomp, the most visually colourful perhaps was Emperor Bokassa’s of the Central African Republic (16), while others preferred the imperial accoutrements of palatial homes and a well-equipped personal and mercenary guard force numbering in the thousands – to keep the people enamoured and of course, completely subdued. 

Here’s Thomas Paine once more :

“Most wise men in their private sentiments have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils which when once established is not easily removed: many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.” (1)

Other matters

In memorium

Jeff Beck, that most energetic and talented musician/guitarist passed away on Jan. 10, 2023. He was 78 years.

I first came to know of Mr. Beck’s musical talent whilst a low teen in the early 1970s. Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Terry Kath and of course, Jeff Beck were our heroes and inspiration. They kept many of us going through our teenage angst.

Mr. Beck began his career in the 1960s, initially in one of the most iconic rock bands, The Yardbirds. He had a very long and certainly illustrious career, receiving numerous accolades along the way, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He shall be missed and always remembered.

Herewith a link to a performance of Isolation by Jeff Beck and the talented actor and musician, Johnny Depp :

Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp - Isolation [Official Music Video] - YouTube

Sources/References

1. 1776: Paine, Common Sense (Pamphlet) | Online Library of Liberty (libertyfund.org)

2. Will the sun ever set on the British empire? | Life and style | The Guardian

3. The Role of Slavery in Ancient Greece (greekreporter.com)

4. Confronting Slavery in the Classical World | Emory | Michael C. Carlos Museum

5. Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon | Reuters

6. Slavery in the United States and China: A Comparative Study of the Old South and the Han Dynasty (wm.edu)

M.A. Thesis by Yufeng Wang, 1988

7. The Curious History of Slavery in Africa | Cornell Research

8. Slavery before the Trans-Atlantic Trade · African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (cofc.edu)

9. Economic Aspects of Indigenous American Slavery (latinamericanstudies.org)

10. Africans in India: From slaves to reformers and rulers - BBC News

11. History quiz: How much do you know about the history of slavery in India? | Research News,The Indian Express

12. Did the Ancient Greeks Engage in Human Sacrifice? | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

13. Mysterious carvings and evidence of human sacrifice uncovered in Shimao (nationalgeographic.com)

14. Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites (Chapter 1) (nps.gov)

15. Learn about the Holocaust — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org)

16. Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa , seated on his tasteless golden throne for his coronation, 1977 - Rare Historical Photos

[fergeleo]

Jan Gossaert [Jean Gossart] (1508-1532) - The Adoration of the Kings (1510-1515). Oil on oak, dimensions: 179.8 cm x 163.2 cm. The National Gallery of Washington.

This large altarpiece is crammed with peasants, animals, angels and richly dressed kings and courtiers, come to worship the infant Christ, who sits on his mother’s lap in a palatial but ruined building.

Jean Gossart has signed the painting on the hat of Balthasar, the king on the left, and on the silver collar of his attendant. Technical analysis has revealed the skill, time and effort which the artist put into this picture. There are virtuoso passages of detail, especially in the foreground: the hairs sprouting from Caspar’s cheek and the decoration of his hat; the fringes of Balthasar’s stole.

[dare-g]

Wolf’s Hole (1987)

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Jan van der Heyden (Dutch, 1637-1712) A palatial garden with figures emerging from a palace, the roof of the Huis Ten Bosch visible in the distance, c.1670

[classic-art-favourites]

Neptune and Amphitrite by Jan Goassaert, 1516.

[briantravels60]

Day 6 – Golegã to Tolmar – 30 km

I got an early start once again to avoid the heat. The morning was wonderfully cloudy and cool but when the sun came out the temperature immediately jumped to 28 or so.

The walk was through farm fields, nicely punctuated, at about the midpoint, with a walk through a hilly eucalyptus forest, providing much needed shade. There were a few steep climbs but still quite reasonable. The highest point was only about 140 m elevation.

I discovered Quinta da Cardiga, an abandoned palatial farm, and wandered around it for an a half hour or so. It's history dates back to the 1100s and the Knights Templar. Fascinating castle with expansive barns and homes surrounding it.

The first café, and stop for food, was at Asseiceira, 19 km from Golegã. Fortunately the host at my hostel had provided an ample “to go” breakfast. This was a good spot to stop for lunch and time to dry my feet. The café only offered sandwiches for lunch but my sandwich was the best sandwich that I have had on the Camino. My only mistake was having a beer. It turned out that it was a Free beer (you pay for it but it has no alcohol). Dirk, from Belgium, explained that the beer was like a bra on the clothes line. The best thing was out of it. (I’m just repeating him).

The nicest part of the day was arriving in Tolmar and having my wife, Jan, meet me as I came into town. She is travelling in Portugal and will meet me periodically.

I stayed at Casa da Tia Guida last night. It was a beautiful old home that has been in the family for 3 generations. It had a pool, hand laundry, private bathroom, horse stables, and a nice courtyard to relax and play with 3 friendly dogs.

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Pieter Hardimé - Still life with a tulip, roses, carnations, morning glory and other flowers in a glass vase on a stone ledge - 

oil on canvas, Height: 46 cm (18.1 in); Width: 61 cm (24 in)

Pieter Hardimé (25 November 1677, Antwerp - September 1748, The Hague) was a Flemish painter known for his paintings of flowers. He trained in Antwerp and later moved to the Dutch Republic where he worked in The Hague. He was active as a decorative painter of flowers for wall and ceiling decorations, often in collaboration with Mattheus Terwesten.

Hardimé was born in Antwerp as the son of Simon, a laborer originally from the French-speaking part of the Southern Netherlands, and a Flemish mother. He trained with his older brother Simon Hardimé who was a flower painter. Simon was himself a pupil of Jan Baptist de Crépu, a flower and fruit painter active in Antwerp. De Crépu was originally an officer in the Spanish service who had only become a painter later in life when he settled in Antwerp where he was celebrated as a flower painter.

Pieter Hardimé never registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Instead he moved in 1697 to The Hague where he remained active for the rest of his life. By moving to the Dutch Republic Pieter followed in the footsteps of many of his fellow Antwerp artists who left their home country which was affected by frequent attacks and invasions by French troops.

His brother Simon joined him in The Hague from 1697, allegedly to escape his creditors in Antwerp. Simon later moved to Breda where he received a commission to paint a chimney piece for the palace of William III of England. Pieter joined in 1700 the Confrerie Pictura, a more or less academic society of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague. He received commissions from Baron van Smettau, the ambassador of the Prussian King Frederick I of Prussia. He painted many flower pieces for Huis Honselaarsdijk, the Prussian King's country house in the Dutch Republic. These works were so appreciated by the king that they were later shipped to his palace in Prussia. He had other prominent patrons including the mayor of Rotterdam Willem van Hogendorp and his brother the treasurer for whom he made decorative paintings for their residences.

Hardimé married in 1707 Adriana Lens, sister of at prelate at the St. Bernard's Abbey in Hemiksem near Antwerp. He also received commissions from the Abbey for four large flower paintings representing the four seasons. After the Flemish painter Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger left The Hague, Hardimé became the favourite collaborator of the decorative painter Mattheus Terwesten. The artists often worked together on decorations of residences in The Hague. The count of Wassenaar was one of his patrons and commissioned him to make decorative paintings in his palatial home in Voorhout. After the death of his first wife with whom he had three children, he contracted a second marriage with a Miss Bruinestein, with whom he had no children. He is said to have become melancholic towards the end of his career as a result of a drop in demand for his fruit and flower pieces and decorative paintings.

He died in The Hague where his death was recorded on in September 1748.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: BEFORE THE DESIRE TO EAT by R. Stempel

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R. Stempel is a genderqueer Ukrainian-Jewish poet and PhD candidate in English at SUNY-Binghamton University. They are the author of the chapbook Interiors, winner of the 2021 Wallace Award from Foundlings Press, and their work has appeared in Porter House Review, Hypertext Magazine, Penn Review, and elsewhere. They currently live in New York with their rabbit, Diego.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BEFORE THE DESIRE TO EAT by R. Stempel

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When food is rich, it is saturated—in butter or in sugar, but also in nutrients. R. Stempel’s Before the Desire to Eat is rich in all of these ways: lush with an edge, charged with verdant growth, flourishing “under a petri dish sky”. Snort fabric softener with Stempel & get high on bananas that taste like nail polish as they delight in alliteration and repetition, in the exchange between domesticity, microbiology, and the body. “Rot won’t shatter,” Stempel writes, “rot / does shield.” These poems feel good in the mouth.

–S. Brook Corfman, author of My Daily Actions, or The Meteorites (Fordham University Press, 2020) and Luxury, Blue Lace (Autumn House, 2019)

Arguably, you will fall in love with these poems, beauties all, as their author declares

Arguably I’m in love

with all my friends. It feels sneaky

when I, arms widened, perform

palatial, baiting

my beauties under guise

of something less carnal.

In this farm-to-table recipe book for dismantling the patriarchy and the matriarchy, R. Stempel is an impeccable guide to what is edible, what is permissible and what is impermissibly alluring.

Early on we learn “there are too many bird metaphors.” Stempel’s complex verse makes us believe and also take with a grain of salt, plus vinegar and some other condiments all the voices in BEFORE THE DESIRE TO EAT. Emily Dickinson’s Angle-Worm-eating Bird would feel right at home coming down the Walk of this book. It’s got raw fellows, convenient Dew, Velvet Heads, cautious Crumb and plenty of eros.

–Judith Baumel, author of The Weight of Numbers (Wesleyan Poetry Series, 1988), Now (University of Miami Press, 1996), The Kangaroo Girl (GenPop Books, 2011), and Passeggiate (Arrowsmith Press, 2019)

These poems have mukbang energy: they’re gross, lusty, indulgent, and hard to unsee. And like those videos, Stempel’s poems are a new kind of art. In their crooked clarity, a pomegranate has a “crowned nipple-stem” concealing a “cellulose jungle-gym” and bananas taste like nail polish. Elsewhere on the menu: bone broth, gummy worms, kombucha, vinegar, pork shoulder, gefilte fish, black grapes, a six-hour goulash, and—why not—a talking pig caked in flour. Stempel’s poems feel mid-theft, as if the reader were walking in on the poet with one hand in the cookie jar. It’s no accident: these poems announce themselves as “neither fit nor proper”—they take place inside that moment before the desire to eat when everything is both edible and indelible.

–Jan-Henry Gray, author of Documents (Winner of the BOA Editions’ 2018 A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize) and the chapbook, Selected Emails (speCt! Books)

Please share/please repost [PROMO] #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

[vyctoyr]

Under the buzzing ventilator I kneel, In front of A tawny, bodhisattva gisant: riveting fusion Overlooking hearses three hundred and thirteen Carrying only one catafalque, procuring And luring, into the swiveling snare, for which The perfidious Saṃsāra would tumble and fall A den of lanky ḍākinīs, perching haughty, adorned, sans aperçu With obsidian, cornelian, and lapis lazuli

Such radiance extends from the loka of vandalizing pretas To that abetting parallel cosmos inhabited, or at least claimed, by a shoal of stupendous, irredentist octopodes parasites Each lodges, with aplomb as well as with eight hulking arms, onto the severed half of one excommunicated skull Galvanized by blood infused Byzantine wine While feasting, nibbling gingerly, on what remains Of the bone-relic of Gautama Buddha’s carpal ensemble, mammoth vigor cut into, bespeaks a surgical precision Let not their octodexterity be forgotten, the most marvelously veiled, beatifying mudrā Perfect fait accompli

Suddenly I realize the door behind me was left ajar Agape and frighted I saunter to my feeble feet:  To defend, or try to defend, like a blood-soaked wrathful Asura My soul’s final stronghold against its end: it puts up the last fight That is destined to fail, trampled in stampedes Of assault launched by the transfiguring garudas and shapeshifting makaras Along side so many iridescent major and minor deities, and their equally florescent vahanas, who incessantly intimidate and browbeat The skull starts to squeak, I hear the sound akin to a grossly out-of-tune viola da gamba emanating the most grotesquely heart-etching harmonics “Even the most enduring calcium succumbs to this form of superior pressure and its multiplicity!” Exclaims, in tears, blooming, scolding, bulging plops, the senile teuthologist

Suddenly, again, I see that death is immanent, vanquished Not just a tacky, inimical trompe-l’œil It is only for the weak Bardo Thödol must be preached tediously As with each repeat, we come one inch closer to the final at-one-ment But why does it pain so much? Maybe I’m just not the chosen one to obtain the precious Saṃbhogakāya Or else how would you explain the innate human proclivity to slip through the crack into the hot larva of all kinds of colorful karmic misery I could feel the suckling, slimy snakes constricting harder, quite smoothly, pulverizing my every vertebra, clavicle, tibia and fibula, while jets of pulped flesh, squishing, come bursting out of my skin, pretty much a game of giggling undines Followed only by the putrid gravy of organs and neurons, oozing, in a poised manner, from the deflated, disfigured mannequin, against the gurgling dirge of seeping body fluids: the aroma of which tastes like a mélange of pancreas, thyroid and kidney, probably also spleen The contour and rhythm of which remind me of that misanthropic leper, from time immemorial, and His Saint Francis of Assisi

“Bury me with my friend, the Hellenic harpy,” I cry through the eternal cathedral He who flaps his wings, mighty, muscular wings like a Zeret bird, a plundering gargoyle Humming a little ditty, oh Amalía, He takes me to the vaulting sky For I shall forever reside in the palatial Gesamtkunstwerk of Akhnaten and Nefertiti Where, stirring up two-hundred-and-twenty-two years of ashes, I unearth A lackey box full of turquoise, sissonning ushabtis

“Eu atendendo o meu amigo Eu atendendo o meu amigo” Be not afraid my friend, be not afraid; instead Be gentle Be gentle, discover, intern and exhume Be gentle yet still stalwart and devoted: “Ni shagu nazad!” Be gentle till samādhi Be gentle for you

Jan 22, 2021 Chicago

[bauzeitgeist]

Błękitny Wieżowiec (the Blue Skyscraper), Warsaw. This massive, mirrored tower is on a prominent intersection called Plac Bankowy (Bank Place), and on the other side of its bulky, stepped-pyramid base is the single-block long Tłomackie (to the left of the building in the second photo). It was this little street, once a large formal square, that was the address of the site’s previous structure, the magnificently palatial Great Synagogue of Warsaw, one of the largest and grandest Jewish temples in the world. As a final act of annihilation at the conclusion of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, the SS dynamited the building. I saw this tower earlier in the day, the MetLife sign in the distance, and as I was researching the sites and contours of the Ghetto, I was haunted to discover this history, even more so when later I passed by this reflective office building which seems to have no reference to, or acknowledgment of, its sacred predecessor. And I was particularly awed to learn that I just happened to be walking around this glossy, oblivious commercial successor on the 76th anniversary of the spring morning that the Nazis detonated the charges. It seemed to be an almost Sebaldian coincidence. 

Jerzy Czyż, Andrzej Skopiński, Jan Furman, Lech Robaczyński, Marzena Leszczyńska, architects, 1976, 1989-91. Photos May 2019 Bauzeitgeist.