View allAll Photos Tagged Grotesque
Before jumping into a discussion of the architecture seen here, it's worth pointing out the old bilingual street signs in the lower right of the photo.
Some people in the US believe incorrectly that we are or should be a homogenous society, and so become quite distressed when that idea is challenged. Language is so fundamental to identity that some Americans have limited tolerance for languages other than English in the public sphere. That's not unique to the US; consider Quebec's protracted fight to keep its French signage free from contamination by the English language.
In any case, the name on the top gives the street's name in Finnish:
A L E K S A N T E R I N K A T U.
Below that , the name appears in Swedish:
A L E X A N D E R S G A T A N
One of the interesting things about this phenomenon is that "From the late 13th century, Finland gradually became an integral part of Sweden through the crusades and the Swedish part-colonisation of coastal Finland, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status." That ended formally in long-ago 1808, when Finland became a Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire.
Here we are, 210 years later, yet Sweden still occupies part of Finland, at least linguistically.
In contrast, some Americans are terribly put out that there are Latinos in the so-called American Southwest. I say "so-called," because another name for this vast area, other than Aztlán, is Northern Mexico. That's what those sun-filled lands were until 170 years ago.
Thus,some linguistic forbearance is in order in the Southwest, at the very least. However, intolerance of "racial," ethnic, and linguistic differences led the xenophobes in the Arizona legislature to ban a Mexican-American studies program in public schools, if you can imagine such a thing.
Fortunately, a federal judge couldn't, recognized it for the grotesquerie it was, and in 2017 ruled that:
"[T[he state violated the constitutional rights of Mexican American students by eliminating a successful Mexican American studies program, saying officials 'were motivated by racial animus' and were pushing 'discriminatory ends in order to make political gains.' "
www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/08/23/ar...
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Getting back to this photo, the botanical motifs on either side of our grotesque tell us the building's design is influenced by a new trend in Finnish architecture, the National Romantic style.
There are touches of Jugenstil (Art Nouveau) but the style also "expressed progressive social and political ideals, through reformed domestic architecture. Designers turned to early medieval architecture and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of a people."
"The style can be seen as a reaction to industrialism and an expression of the same 'Dream of the North' nationalism that gave impetus to renewed interest in the eddas and sagas."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Romantic_style
It's sheer luck that lets me say this is the "facade of the Pohjola Insurance Building, Helsinki by Gesellius, Lindgren, and Saarinen, [1901]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Finland#Late_Grand_...
At a display of model grotesques about the Parliament buildings refurbishing, at the oddly named Capital Information Kiosk across from Parliament Hill; Ottawa, Ontario.
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The Minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the mother church for the Diocese of York and the Province of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title "Minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.. Services in the Minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.
The Minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic Quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet (16 m) high. The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as 'The Heart of Yorkshire'.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster#Burials
For information about the windows see: yorkminster.org/geisha/assets/files/fact-sheet-the-princi...
La dérision de Job (détail), tapisserie laine et soie, France, ca 1550, Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris.
Promos for an upcoming local 'grotesque burlesque' play. Strobist: flash bouncing off wall behind, 1/4 power. Flash into umbrella, 1/4, camera left.
please click to see large, on black
All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline, it's like being ambushed by a grotesque.
Tom Stoppard, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead"
Sechseckige barocke Holztaufe von 1634, in den Profilen Fratzen im Knorpelstil (Manierismus). Eine Statuette Johannes des Täufers krönt den Taufdeckel, der außerdem mit musizierenden Putten geschmückt ist.
Hexagonal Baroque wooden baptismal font from 1634, in the profiles grotesque faces in cartilage Baroque style (mannerism). A statuette of John the Baptist crowns the baptismal font's cover, which is decorated with putti musicians sitting on the edges.
Die St.-Marien-Kirche ist ein kreuzrippengewölbter, dreischiffiger, gotischer Backsteinhallenbau, der Turm und Westteil des Langhauses ist aus der 2.H. des 13. Jh. Der 68m hohe Turm erhielt 1704 eine barocke Haube.
St. Mary's Church is a cross-ribbed, three-nave, Gothic brick hall building, the tower and western part of the nave is from the 2nd half of the 13th century. The 68m high tower received a Baroque hood in 1704.
Wittstock/Dosse, entstanden aus einer slawischen Siedlung, wurde erstmals in einem Dokument von 946 erwähnt. Bis heute wird die 95 km nordöstlich von Berlin gelegene Stadt von einer vollständig erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Stadtmauer umschlossen. Nach der Eingemeindung mehrerer Gemeinden im Umland gehört Wittstock zu den flächenmäßig größten Städten Deutschlands und hat etwas mehr als 14.000 Einwohner.
Wittstock/Dosse, which originated from a Slavic settlement, was first mentioned in a document from 946. To this day, the town, 95 km northeast of Berlin, is surrounded by a completely preserved medieval town wall. As a result of the incorporation of several villages in its surroundings, Wittstock ranks among the largest cities in Germany in terms of its area and has slightly over 14,000 inhabitants.
In architecture, a chimera or grotesque is a fantastic or mythical figure used for decorative purposes. Chimerae are often described as gargoyles, although the term gargoyle technically refers to figures carved specifically as terminations to spouts which convey water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term babewyn was used to refer to both gargoyles and chimerae. This word is derived from the Italian word babuino, which means "baboon".
In the 1980s, while the towers were under construction, the Cathedral held a decorative sculpture competition for children. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader, with his drawing of Darth Vader. It was sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter and carved by Patrick J. Plunkett.
A flute-player to left with puffed-out cheeks, wearing a beaded fillet and himation; in front of him, two grotesque nude figures to left, dancing, the first slightly bearded, holding up a tympanon (?), the other beardless, with a wreath in his hand.
Black-figured skyphos;
Attributed to “The Mystes Painter”;
Made in Boeotia
From Thebes, Boeotia
Around 450-420 BC.
London, The British Museum
© Graeme Webb 2010. All rights reserved.
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One the many Grotesques to be found in the Chapter House of York Minster. There are hundreds of them in the building, some humorous, such as this one, some of animals, mythological creatures, and some have their roots in Paganism, for instance, several carvings of the Green Man.
All of them are little more than a few inches in size, and every one is different. New ones are being made for another part of the Minster, which are about 50cm in height and show the skill of the craftsmen who carve them. I'm intrigued to know where they are going to put the one of the man who is mooning.
Beeby was once a larger settlement but today has dwindled to only a handful of houses, it comes as no surprise then to find the church had become redundant, but has happily been vested in the Churches Conservation Trust who continue to maintain it.
The most striking aspect of this attractive ironstone church is its handsome late medieval west tower, distinctively crowned with the 'sawn off' stump of an intended spire (which it seems was never finished). The remainder of the building is mostly of 14th century date with later adjustments (such as the addition of a clerestorey), though the chancel is an early 19th century rebuild in brick, and seems a little undersized for this otherwise fairly grand building.
Within there is the slight sense of sparseness associated with retired churches but plenty of interest to enjoy. The woodwork is a surprising mix, with late Georgian box pews on the south side of the nave and and an extremely 14th century wooden rood screen, partially restored but retaining its fine tracery forms (of which a further section can be seen in the south aisle). There is a rather charming font (13th century with a later bowl and cover) and a profusion of quirky carvings added as part of a major restoration in the early 19th century.
Beeby church is happily generally kept open for visitors during the day, one of the admirable aims of the Trust who preserve our heritage and keep it accessible for all to enjoy.
Memorial Day weekend visit to Richmond, Virginia.
Seen at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design.
St Nicholas, Hintlesham, Suffolk
This grand church stands on the busy Ipswich to Sudbury road in Hintlesham village, near to where the road goes through a series of gut-wrenching 90 degree turns to circumnavigate the pile of Hintlesham Hall, and incidentally, to reveal the old field pattern by running along what were the sides and ends of the medieval strips. Hintlesham Hall was once the home of the Timperley family, but is now one of the county's most famous and expensive hotels.
I first went inside this church on a day in early April about twenty years ago. On that bright spring morning, the churchyard was full of greenness, and a richness I has not previously seen that year. On the south side of the church, ivy clustered enthusiastically over ancient graves, the grass was dark and luscious, the trees were coming into leaf, and in the air was a fecundity of which sex guru and one time resident of this parish, Henry Havelock Ellis, would doubtless have approved.
In more recent years the ivy had been cleared from the graves, and indeed everything about the church and its graveyard speaks of love and care. And, as is often the way with such places, the church is open every day.
A modern porch hides the flint chequers of a typical Decorated south wall; and this is a typical Decorated church, and therefore not typical at all for Suffolk. The door opens into a rather dim, even mysterious interior, which is refreshingly unsanitised. It feels old. The benches make the nave feel rather crowded, but you step beneath the medieval rood beam into a wide chancel which has been cleared of all clutter. On the north side of the chancel is a rather remarkable object, a large table-top memorial now turned on end and bolted to the wall. It remembers Captayne John Timperley, son of Nicholas Timperley of Hintlesham Hall, for whose pyous memorie his loving wife caused this memoriall too too little to expresse either his deserte or her affection. It is, the inscription concludes, a silent and sadd epitaph writt in teares. Captayne John stands in full armour, his helmet and musket decorating the panelling of his portrait.
Opposite to John Timperley, his father and grandfather are remembered with their wives and children on a rather battered alabaster memorial. The Timperleys were recusant Catholics, and seem to have reached some accomodation with the authorities that didn't involve them being hung, drawn or quartered, although they did lose all their property in the end. Unlike the Kytsons at Hengrave, of course, who seem to have had the power to negotiate themselves out of even this position. Curiously, the church guidebook, dated 2000, refers to the Timperleys as papists! Perhaps the writer didn't realise that this is a term of abuse.
There are some huge grotesque corbels in the chancel, and the squint in the north wall shows that the vestry was once a chapel, possibly a chantry to the Timperleys. It would have been converted to secular use in the 1540s. The stairway to the roodloft in the south wall is one of the best preserved in Suffolk, and its Tudor brick outline is lovely. It is interesting to see how far back the upper exit is set from the chancel arch. It must have been a big one, clearly intended for regular liturgical use. The Tudor brick shows that this stairway is late, and suggests the importance of the roodloft on the eve of the Reformation.
An image niche in the north aisle would have accompanied an altar against the screen. It now contains a modern image of St Nicholas, perhaps not completely different to the use it would have been put to five hundred years ago. Also in the south aisle, the churchwarden's initials and date are inscribed on a roof beam, WV 1759. He is probably the William Vesey in the graveyard. The font is typically East Anglian; in good condition, and set rather gloomily under the organ gallery. There is a scrap of a surviving St Christopher wall painting to the north of it. Elsewhere, paintings, memorabilia and pictures are all nice little touches. Generally, this feels like a building which is really used - I kept expecting other people to pop in.
I wandered back outside, and around to the east side of the graveyard, where there are some very fine imposing 19th and early 20th century headstones, and then to secluded north side of the graveyard, where the gravespace was extended in the 1920s, apparently a gift of land from the adjacent pub. It is good that Hintlesham people can still be buried in their own village.
This has been a joint parish with Chattisham for about 350 years, and the churches stand about a mile apart from each other, separated by a valley of meadows and woods. The Victorian school building is still in use for its original purpose, still using the names of both villages; it is one of the smallest in Suffolk. There is also a modern Community Hall, again bearing the names of both villages. This busy place has a half-decent pub, and when I came here in 2001 it still had a petrol station, a rare thing in the outback then - and rarer now, for it has since closed.
Of course, this isn't really the outback. A brisk stroll eastwards will bring you, in thirty minutes or so, to the edge of Ipswich, and the Chantry housing estate, Suffolk's largest. Nowadays, the Timperleys would find the name of that estate rather ironic, I think.