Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Quentin Crisp... How to Have a Life-Style...
a few scans and excerpt from a favourite book and treasured memories...
° Quentin Crisp °
(25 December 1908 – 21 November 1999), born Denis Charles Pratt, was an English writer and raconteur
... I am not hiding in the shadow of Mr Socrates and merely reiterating that the purpose of education is self-knowledge. This is but 'O' level stuff; at 'A' level, the stylist's level, we must learn self-projection.
....
What we need is not massive grants for the visual arts but encouragement to learn singing, dancing and a whole syllabus of self-glorifying techniques. Painting is only a rebus of self-expression. Why not learn expression itself?
...
We do not need the perfectly designed chair; we want a capacity for relaxing even on a bed of nails. We ought not to waste time constructing a 'with-it' telephone kiosk; we should rather cultivate such perfect diction that we can communicate against all odds. We shall find we already have a golden city when we have all become divine beings.
...
All we need to do is to esteem the freedom to reject as highly as the licence to accept; to reform ourselves instead of other people; to be aware of the quality of our experience instead of its quantity; to live for living's sake - with style...
" I have always lived my life in the profession of being."
° Quentin Crisp °
(25 December 1908 – 21 November 1999), born Denis Charles Pratt, was an English writer and raconteur
... I am not hiding in the shadow of Mr Socrates and merely reiterating that the purpose of education is self-knowledge. This is but 'O' level stuff; at 'A' level, the stylist's level, we must learn self-projection.
....
What we need is not massive grants for the visual arts but encouragement to learn singing, dancing and a whole syllabus of self-glorifying techniques. Painting is only a rebus of self-expression. Why not learn expression itself?
...
We do not need the perfectly designed chair; we want a capacity for relaxing even on a bed of nails. We ought not to waste time constructing a 'with-it' telephone kiosk; we should rather cultivate such perfect diction that we can communicate against all odds. We shall find we already have a golden city when we have all become divine beings.
...
All we need to do is to esteem the freedom to reject as highly as the licence to accept; to reform ourselves instead of other people; to be aware of the quality of our experience instead of its quantity; to live for living's sake - with style...
" I have always lived my life in the profession of being."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Austin Osman Spare... Self Portrait....
¥ Austin Osman Spare ¥
'Self as Hitler'
In 1936 an official at the German Embassy in London bought a self-portrait by Spare because it bore a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer saw it and agreed and proceeded to invite Spare to Berlin to paint his portrait. Spare refused, replying
"Only from negations can I wholesomely conceive you. For I know of no courage sufficient to stomach your aspirations and ultimates. If you are superman, let me be for ever animal".
'Self as Hitler'
In 1936 an official at the German Embassy in London bought a self-portrait by Spare because it bore a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer saw it and agreed and proceeded to invite Spare to Berlin to paint his portrait. Spare refused, replying
"Only from negations can I wholesomely conceive you. For I know of no courage sufficient to stomach your aspirations and ultimates. If you are superman, let me be for ever animal".
Friday, November 20, 2009
Ebenezer Sibly..book plates
‡ Ebenezer Sibly ‡
Ebenezer Sibly (1751-1799) was an English physician, astrologer and prolific writer on the occult
Ebenezer Sibly (1751-1799) was an English physician, astrologer and prolific writer on the occult
A View of Man in his Primeval State as invested With power by his Creator to rule Govern gross Elements
A View of Man in his Primeval State as invested With power by his Creator to rule & Govern gross Elements
The Lapsed State of Man when contaminated by Lucifer, under the Dominion of Sidereal Elementary Influx
The Lapsed State of Man when contaminated by Lucifer, under the Dominion of Sidereal Elementary Influx
"We are all truly influenced by the stars. Indeed how can anyone seriously believe that they were
created only to twinkle in the night?"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Devour the fire...Harry Crosby 2 Poems... illustration Alastair...
± RED SKELETONS, 1927 ±
TEMPLE DE LA DOULEUR
My soul has suffered breaking on the wheel,
Flogging with lead, and felt the twinging ache
Of barbéd hooks and jagged points of steel,
Peine forte et dure, slow burning at the stake,
Blinding and branding, stripping on the rack,
The canque and kourbash and the torquéd screw,
The boot and branks, red scourging on the back,
The gallows and the gibbet. All for you.
Flogging with lead, and felt the twinging ache
Of barbéd hooks and jagged points of steel,
Peine forte et dure, slow burning at the stake,
Blinding and branding, stripping on the rack,
The canque and kourbash and the torquéd screw,
The boot and branks, red scourging on the back,
The gallows and the gibbet. All for you.
These tortures are as nothing to the pain
That I have suffered when you gaze at me
With cold disdainful eyes. You do not deign
To smile or talk or even set me free-
Yet once you let me hold your perfumed hand
And danced with me a stately saraband.
That I have suffered when you gaze at me
With cold disdainful eyes. You do not deign
To smile or talk or even set me free-
Yet once you let me hold your perfumed hand
And danced with me a stately saraband.
SALOME
Proud panoply of fans and frankincense,
Gold blare of trumpets, flowered robes of state,
Unnumbered symbols of magnificence,
To lead Salome through the palace gate,
Where loud the prophet of the Lord blasphemes
The red abominations of her race
And chides her for her flesh-entangled dreams
and turns his back upon her painted face.
Gold blare of trumpets, flowered robes of state,
Unnumbered symbols of magnificence,
To lead Salome through the palace gate,
Where loud the prophet of the Lord blasphemes
The red abominations of her race
And chides her for her flesh-entangled dreams
and turns his back upon her painted face.
Thus do we turn from some red-shadowed lust
That through the broken forests of the brain
Weaves silently with tentacles out-thrust,
Groping in darkness, but for one in vain,
For like a sliding sun the soul has fled
Leaving a princess and a vultured head.
That through the broken forests of the brain
Weaves silently with tentacles out-thrust,
Groping in darkness, but for one in vain,
For like a sliding sun the soul has fled
Leaving a princess and a vultured head.
¤ SUN-TESTAMENT ¤
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