View allAll Photos Tagged Solidity
The Tibetan healing fund and the Drepung Monestary asked for our help and 12 universities printmaking students responded by creating pages of a colouring book which were auctioned off to fund educational material for the children of Tibet as well as include a gift of copies of the colouring book designed to spread awareness of our cultures.
In Buddhism, the golden turtle resembles the untarnished being whom can roam out of the seas of samsara to the solidity of nirvana as a tortoise may on earth and water. On top of the golden turtle rests Mt. Sumeru and on the peak of the mountain which sits in the center of all the universe is the golden temple of Indra the interconnected. Beyond which one finds the sky, time, and Lord Yama the king of the dead. The heavens that follow are that of contented commitment and the future Buddha is born.
Tibetan cosmology reads “At the beginning of the present age or kalpa, while the future universe was still immense chaos, Manjushri caused a giant golden turtle to arise from his own mind, and this turtle emerged from the waters of the primordial ocean. Seeing in a dream that the universe in formation required a stable base, Manjushri pierced the flank of the turtle with a golden arrow. The injured animal turned on its back and sank into the ocean, giving forth blood and excrement, from which there arose the constituent elements of the universe. The created world thenceforth rested on the flat belly of the turtle, upon which Manjushri wrote all the secrets of the times to come in the form of sacred hieroglyphic signs.”
Blythe size stand made of painted acrylic resin.
Inspired by the mexican Día de Muertos' skulls, this stand shows a big eyed and toothy one which has conveniently lost its jaw in order to fit on the shelf ;)
Because of the nature of the material used, it has a nice strong and compact presence and a stone-like solidity.
A view of the architecture outside my old office door.
This is a view of the architecture just outside where I used to work in Chicagoland (Illinois). I loved the texture of the stucco, the rigidity of the lines, the square cut-outs that gave a sense of depth and solidity, and the mere fact that the tan, tactile design unfailingly reminded me of home, Albuquerque, where adobe and stucco were the most commonplace building styles. It is unusual to see echoes of the great Southwest anywhere north of New Mexico or Colorado, and I always enjoyed my daily passage through this windowed portal, savoring the nostalgia of my youth.
(2005-08-03-portal-2154-new)
If there's one place in London that merits an Art Deco Fair, it's Eltham Palace,
with its Art Deco entrance hall, created by the textile magnates the Courtaulds in 1936. The much-loved weekend fair is held twice a year - once in the summer and a second time in September - giving visitors the chance to buy original 1930s objects, from furniture and collectables to hats, handbags and jewellery. Browse the original 1930s objects, from jewellery to furniture while you take in the magnificent Art Deco surroundings of the Palace. Ticket price includes entry to Eltham Palace and gardens and you can see the house by guided tour.
About Eltham Palace
Restored by English Heritage, this fantastic house boasts Britain's finest Art Deco interior and offers visitors the chance to indulge in the opulence of 1930s Britain whilst at the same time experiencing the solidity and symbolism of medieval London. Eltham Palace began to evolve during the 15th century when Edward IV commissioned the Great Hall, which survives today as a testament to the craftsmanship of the period. More about Eltham Palace
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
Story behind the Picture
The grand three flight stairway approaches the church doorway and two others behind the edifice- one along the space leading to the cemetery below and from the stairway that approaches the eastern side, a sweeping view of the plain and the town of Santa Maria is beheld. A narrow roadway leads up to the church door and used only by some very special church goers in their stylist vehicles.
A cemetery abandoned and evergreen with brush and weeds lies at the foot of the hill and connected with the church by an old and worn-out but impressive stairway now unused and all in ruins. It is perhaps the limitation of the space on top of the hill that brought about the constricted layout and construction of the Santa Maria Church.
The one-nave church, heavily reinforced by massive buttresses from the exterior is severely plain and the low side, its solidity is relieved only by the lateral buttresses, somehow break up the walls into regular sequence of alternating masses, creating a simple rhythmic movement.
A pair of massive rectangular priors flank the entrance dividing the façade into three well-defined planes. The heavy symmetry of the composition is reinforced by the circular buttresses on both sides of the façade….. The stark simplicity of the structure; heavy volumes; the few openings; the sharp lines- moldings at the base and at the cornices of the buttresses invest the architecture with grim monumentality while the heavy cemetery of the church comes to reflect of its vitality.
My two Cents
The last shot of the series. Really happy the rain stopped for a moment, like somebody wanted me to have the opportunity to tell the world about the church, because soon as we stepped in the tricycle, it started raining again. On our way home we had a flat tire and had to have it vulcanized. Great day ..
As always…
Your personal and constructive Comments and Critics are always welcome and well appreciated. Thanks for dropping by and showing some love.
Up Next: Happy Birthday!!
In a virtually black and white world, the shapes and textures of winter stand out like objects in some surreal amusement park, but all represent the forces of nature...gravity, liquidity, temperature, solidity combine
PAGEANT 23 (WESTERLY)
Sailboat Specifications
Hull Type: Twin Keel
Rigging Type: Masthead Sloop
LOA: 23.00 ft / 7.01 m
LWL: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
Beam: 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
S.A. (reported): 236.00 ft2 / 21.93 m2
Draft (max): 2.83 ft / 0.86 m
Displacement: 4,300 lb / 1,950 kg
Ballast: 2,094 lb / 950 kg
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Construction: GRP
First Built: 1970
Last Built: 1979
# Built: 551
Designer: Laurent Giles
Builder: Westerly Yacht Construction Ltd (UK)
Builder: Westerly Marine, Hampshire
The Pageant is one of the smaller of the Westerly range designed by Laurent Giles and produced in volume in the 1970s. She offers an excellent small cruiser, with remarkable room below for her length, and has the typical Westerly virtues of strength and solidity.
The Pageant was designed for Westerly by Laurent Giles in 1969, as a replacement for the earlier Nomad. Production ran from 1970 to 1979, the yacht shown in the photographs here being one of the last of the 550 or so built. A very few (reportedly just six) fin-keel versions were also produced in 1976, these being called Westerly Kendals. As with all other Westerly Marine yachts the Pageant was very strongly built to Lloyds specifications, which meant that the building processes were rigorously monitored and all materials had to be approved by Lloyds in order that a hull certificate could be issued.
Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.)
Make: Volvo Penta
Model: MD1B
Type: Diesel
HP: 10
Fuel: 10 gals / 38 L
Sailboat Calculations
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Comfort Ratio: 20.61
Capsize Screening Formula: 1.97
Accommodations
Water: 15 gals / 57 L
Headroom1.75m
Cabins 2
Berths 5/6
Part of the complete sequence of seven early 14th century windows preserving most of their original glass in the choir clerestorey.
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
by WOHA.
Adaptive re-use of a row of shophouses where only the front is conserved.
A dialogue of contrast between the old & new is created- the solidity of the conserved traditional shophouse and the lightness of the rear extension which suggests lightness & transparency.
also on (Shorts & Snippers)
Bauhaus Museum Weimar, Germany
German architect Heike Hanada designed a minimalist concrete museum to celebrate the Bauhaus in Weimar, where the design school was founded 100 years ago. The building is dedicated to the design school creates a physical cultural presence for the Bauhaus in the German city where it was based between 1919 and 1925. Located near the Nazi-era Gauforum square and the Neue Museum Weimar, the Bauhaus Museum is a simple five-storey concrete box broken only with its entrance and a couple of windows. The enclosing shell of light-grey concrete lends the cube stability and dynamic solidity. Equally spaced horizontal grooves run around the facades of the museum, with the words "bauhaus museum" repeated in a band near the top of the building. Hanada designed the museum to be a public building for the city and has attempted to clearly connect it to the neighbouring park. With elements such as plinths, fasciae, portals, stairways and a terrace to the park, the architecture incorporates classical themes that underscore its public character.
The museum contains 2,000 m2 of exhibition space, which will be used to display around 1,000 items from the Weimar Bauhaus collection. A shop and entrance hall is located on the ground floor, with a cafe and toilets below, and three floors dedicated to telling the story of the Bauhaus above. Each of the galleries overlooks double-height spaces and are accessed from a long ceremonial staircase that stretches the height of the building. The visitors ascend a succession of interchanging open spaces and staircases until they finally arrive at the top floor where they are presented with an unobstructed view of the park. The cascading staircases are encased by ceiling-high walls and function as free-standing, enclosed bodies in the interior space. The collection is arranged to inform visitors about the history of the design school, with the gallery on the first floor dedicated to its origins in Weimar and the Bauhaus manifesto that Walter Gropius wrote in 1919. The second floor has exhibits that show how these ideas were implemented, with galleries dedicated to each of the Bauhaus directors – Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Mies van der Rohe – at the top of the building.
The museum in Weimar has opened to coincide with the centenary of the Bauhaus, which was established in the city in 1919. The school was forced to relocate from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, where Gropius designed a new school building for the institution. Following a short time based in Berlin the school closed for good in 1933. Although only open for just over a decade, the Bauhaus is the most influential art and design school in history. The ideas and people associated with the school had an incredible impact on design and architecture, and to mark its centenary we created a series exploring its key works and figures.
The largest and most magnificent of the chantry chapels is that erected on the north side of the sanctuary in 1430 by Isabella le Despenser (d.1439) in honour of her first husband Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester (d.1422). She then married a second Richard Beauchamp (later buuired in his famous chapel in Warwick) and thus became Countess of Warwick. The splendid fan-vaulted chantry is thus known either as the Warwick or Beauchamp chapel and is a gloriously ornate piece of Perpendicular architecture.
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
Historical marker for the 1883 Fayette County Jail in La Grange, Texas. The plaque reads:
When the Congress of the Republic of Texas established Fayette County in 1837, La Grange became its seat of Government. A County Jail was built in 1838 and used for ten years before it was sold. In 1853, the County purchased two lots in Block 33 for a new Jail. Architect William Lewis and local Stonemason Heinrich Kreische were hired to design and build the two-story structure. The Jail was remodeled in 1879 and then destroyed by an arsonist on April 28, 1880. Fayette County approved the construction of a new County Jail, completed in 1883 in the same location.
Noted Architects James Wahrenberger and John Andrewartha designed the stone Jail. Rock was hauled from Buckner’s Creek for the outer walls and Muldoon Sandstone was used for much of the building. The T-shaped structure features Victorian Gothic architectural style elements and expresses a feeling of solidity with rustic Sandstone emphasized with polished stone. The two-story Jail featured 16 cells, as well as living quarters and an office for the Sheriff and his family who cared for the prisoners. In May 1884, a substantial and ornamental six-foot iron fence was erected surrounding the jail, a significant historical feature of the historic grounds.
The 1883 Fayette County Jail served it original function until August 1985 when the new Fayette County Justice Center opened. The building was remodeled in the 1990s with many of the original elements intact. Since then, the building has served many functions benefiting the La Grange community. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2017
Albi Cathedral is one of the most unique, awe-inspiring churches ever concieved, quite simply one of the wonders of the medieval world.
Although contemporary with the great gothic cathedrals of Northern France, this largely 13th century structure is radically different, being constructed almost entirely of brick and built like a mighty fortress; mostly unadorned walls rise uninterrupted from the ground like sheer cliff-faces of brick. The simplicity of the design gives it an almost modern appearance, and it's massive scale exudes a quite overpowering presence.
The cathedral's powerful fortified appearance is largely down to two factors, the form of the building is consistent with local forms of gothic churches in southern France and northern Spain, whilst thr fortified solidity can be associated with the supression of the Cathars in this area during the Albigensian Crusades, the building serving as a lesson in strength and permanence as a warning to any rebellious locals.
The plain exterior was relieved in the more stable climate of the 16th century by the huge flamboyant porch on the south side of the nave, more like an enormous spikey canopy open on three sides. It remains the main entrance to the cathedral, the base of the enormous tower being so massively constructed as to leave no room for a traditional west entrance.
On entering this vast edifice one's senses are overwhelmed yet again, this time by the profusion of decoration in the cavernous interior. The walls and ceilings are entirely covered by frescoes dating from the early 16th century, mostly in Renaissance style, much of it colourful geometric patterns. The most memorable sections are the earliest frescoes at the west end from an enormous Last Judgement; the central section was sadly removed in the 18th century but the extensive and graphic depiction of the torments of Hell remains.
In addition this cathedral is rare in preserving it's 'jube' or choir screen), a late medieval masterpiece of decoration and sculpture which extends into a lavishly sculpted choir enclosure adorned with a riot of angels and saints.
All in all this unforgettable cathedral is a monument that defies description alone and bombards the senses!
The Ice-Water Wall simultaneously suggests and reinterprets the geology. The individual pieces of Alcove bluestone (technically a thick veneer), retain their natural shape, color, and surface irregularity. Recessed black mortar helps establish solidity.
31jl09 261
Khafre rigidly sits in his royal throne, gazing off into the distance. The pharaoh wears a linen nemes headdress, which cover most of his forehead and folds over his broad shoulders. This royal headdress depicts the uraeus, or cobra emblem, on the front along with the royal false beard attached at the end of his chiseled chin, all symbols which exemplify his royalty and divinity. Khafre wears a kilt covering his waist, revealing his idealized upper body and muscle definition. This depiction is not a portrait, but a symbol of Khafre’s power through using the artistic conventions of Egypt—a flawless body, perfectly un-aged face, and ideal body proportions. The Egyptian idealized portraiture is not meant to record individualized features, but instead proclaim the divine nature of Egyptian kingship. Two stylized lions’ bodies form the throne Khafre sits on, creating a sturdy base. Lotus plants (symbolic of Upper Egypt) and papyrus plants (symbolic of Lower Egypt) grow between the legs of the throne, referring to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt which ended the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. Horus, the god of Lower Egypt depicted as a falcon, protects the backside of Khafre’s head with his wings, another reference to the united Egypt.
The symmetrical pharaoh shows no movement or change, suppressing all motion and time to create an eternal stillness; his strong build and permanent stance demonstrate no notion of time—Khafre is timeless, and his power will exist even in the afterlife. The pharaoh has an emotionless and ageless face, alluding to his non-chaotic, controlled empire and powerful leadership; the pharaoh has control over his domain. The statue is based upon compactness and solidity with few projecting parts; Khafre’s block-like body is attached to the throne to last for eternity, creating one single structure. His arms rest on his thighs, directly facing the viewer in a rigid, frontal pose. The bilaterally symmetric statue, symbolizing order and control in the pharaoh, is the same on either side of the vertical axis of the statue, only differing in Khafre’s clenched right fist. The tight profile and block-like aspect represent Khafre as a permanent being and part of the stone to keep his ka safe (because the ka will have the statue as a permanent body to return to each night to resuscitate itself. Khafre will always exist, on earth and in the afterlife. The pharaoh’s sculpture can be described as absolutely frontal, utterly immobile, and perfectly calm: the characteristics of Egyptian block statue.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that human existence consisted of five different aspects (called Kheperu) which would disperse after physical death unless certain after-death provisions were made to keep them together. These five aspects were:
1) The SHEUT, your shadow, (your interconnectedness to everything else in the cosmos, whether you are aware of it or not).
2) The KA (your particular life-force, vital essence, or spirit, which Heket breathes into your body at birth).
3) The BA Your natural personality, as expressed in your actions, speech, appearance, etc., which is the way others experience you.
4) The REN which is your name (your socially-dependent sense of identity and existence).
5) The IB, which is your own conscious mind (emotion, intellect, and will), centered on the physical organ of the heart.
Albi Cathedral is one of the most unique, awe-inspiring churches ever concieved, quite simply one of the wonders of the medieval world.
Although contemporary with the great gothic cathedrals of Northern France, this largely 13th century structure is radically different, being constructed almost entirely of brick and built like a mighty fortress; mostly unadorned walls rise uninterrupted from the ground like sheer cliff-faces of brick. The simplicity of the design gives it an almost modern appearance, and it's massive scale exudes a quite overpowering presence.
The cathedral's powerful fortified appearance is largely down to two factors, the form of the building is consistent with local forms of gothic churches in southern France and northern Spain, whilst thr fortified solidity can be associated with the supression of the Cathars in this area during the Albigensian Crusades, the building serving as a lesson in strength and permanence as a warning to any rebellious locals.
The plain exterior was relieved in the more stable climate of the 16th century by the huge flamboyant porch on the south side of the nave, more like an enormous spikey canopy open on three sides. It remains the main entrance to the cathedral, the base of the enormous tower being so massively constructed as to leave no room for a traditional west entrance.
On entering this vast edifice one's senses are overwhelmed yet again, this time by the profusion of decoration in the cavernous interior. The walls and ceilings are entirely covered by frescoes dating from the early 16th century, mostly in Renaissance style, much of it colourful geometric patterns. The most memorable sections are the earliest frescoes at the west end from an enormous Last Judgement; the central section was sadly removed in the 18th century but the extensive and graphic depiction of the torments of Hell remains.
In addition this cathedral is rare in preserving it's 'jube' or choir screen), a late medieval masterpiece of decoration and sculpture which extends into a lavishly sculpted choir enclosure adorned with a riot of angels and saints.
All in all this unforgettable cathedral is a monument that defies description alone and bombards the senses!
Albi Cathedral is one of the most unique, awe-inspiring churches ever concieved, quite simply one of the wonders of the medieval world.
Although contemporary with the great gothic cathedrals of Northern France, this largely 13th century structure is radically different, being constructed almost entirely of brick and built like a mighty fortress; mostly unadorned walls rise uninterrupted from the ground like sheer cliff-faces of brick. The simplicity of the design gives it an almost modern appearance, and it's massive scale exudes a quite overpowering presence.
The cathedral's powerful fortified appearance is largely down to two factors, the form of the building is consistent with local forms of gothic churches in southern France and northern Spain, whilst thr fortified solidity can be associated with the supression of the Cathars in this area during the Albigensian Crusades, the building serving as a lesson in strength and permanence as a warning to any rebellious locals.
The plain exterior was relieved in the more stable climate of the 16th century by the huge flamboyant porch on the south side of the nave, more like an enormous spikey canopy open on three sides. It remains the main entrance to the cathedral, the base of the enormous tower being so massively constructed as to leave no room for a traditional west entrance.
On entering this vast edifice one's senses are overwhelmed yet again, this time by the profusion of decoration in the cavernous interior. The walls and ceilings are entirely covered by frescoes dating from the early 16th century, mostly in Renaissance style, much of it colourful geometric patterns. The most memorable sections are the earliest frescoes at the west end from an enormous Last Judgement; the central section was sadly removed in the 18th century but the extensive and graphic depiction of the torments of Hell remains.
In addition this cathedral is rare in preserving it's 'jube' or choir screen), a late medieval masterpiece of decoration and sculpture which extends into a lavishly sculpted choir enclosure adorned with a riot of angels and saints.
All in all this unforgettable cathedral is a monument that defies description alone and bombards the senses!
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale published by Ernest Le Deley of Paris.
The Pont Transbordeur can be clearly seen crossing the Seine.
Transbordeur Bridges
A transbordeur bridge has two tall metal pylons with a horizontal travel way fixed high above the river. A gondola (or platform) is suspended from a shuttle, usually powered by electricity, that runs along the travel way.
The gondola provides transport across the river, while the bridge itself still allows large ship traffic, such as sailing ships, to pass up and down the river. At least twenty-two transbordeur bridges have been built around the world, seven being in France (Bordeaux, Brest, Marseille, Nantes, Rochefort, Rouen, and a miniature one at Montceau-les-Mines). Five were also built in the UK.
Transbordeur bridges have their origin in the need to cross rivers used as maritime highways by sea-going sailing ships, particularly in port towns where providing the long approach ramp required for a very high road deck was impractical. The transbordeur bridge provided an elegant and efficient solution to this problem.
Ferdinand Arnodin
The transbordeur bridge design is generally regarded as being invented by Ferdinand Arnodin, a French industrial engineer who had previously specialised in cable-suspended bridges. He designed about 25 such bridges, inventing their spirally-wound double torsion steel wire ropes, as well as several other improvements to bridge safety and solidity.
The first of this new generation of suspension bridges built by Arnodin was the Pont de Saint Ilpize, Haut-Loire, completed in 1879. It still exists, having been repaired in 2004.
Arnodin was responsible for nine of the eighteen known transbordeur bridges to be built at the end of the 19th. century and early part of the 20th. century.
The Destruction of the Rouen Transbordeur
The Rouen Transbordeur was built in 1899. It had a span of 140 m and a pylon height of 70 m. It was destroyed on the 9th. June 1940 by French troops in order to slow the German advance.
Rouen
Rouen is a city on the River Seine in northern France, and is relatively close to the English Channel. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population of the metropolitan area is 702,945 (2018). People from Rouen are known as Rouennais.
“Upon approaching Rouen one is sure to be struck
by the insolent daring of its situation. Lying on a
sloping plain beside the river, it seems to disdain the
well-nigh impregnable site afforded by the steep cliffs
which rise just to the northeast.
The history of the city bears out the audacity of its
location. Through all the centuries, its inhabitants
concerned themselves so continuously in conquering
other peoples that little time was left in which to
consider the security of their own homes.”
-- Charles Hitchcock Sherrill, Stained Glass Tours in France (1908).
Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th. to the 15th. centuries.
From the 13th. century onwards, the city experienced a remarkable economic boom, thanks in particular to the development of textile factories and river trade. Claimed by both the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War, it was in Rouen that Joan of Arc was tried and burned alive.
Severely damaged by a wave of bombing in 1944, Rouen nevertheless regained its economic dynamism in the post-war period thanks to its industrial sites and busy seaport, which is the fifth largest in France.
Endowed with a prestige established during the medieval era, and with a long architectural heritage in its historical monuments, Rouen is an important cultural capital. Several renowned establishments are located here, such as the Museum of Fine Arts, the Secq des Tournelles Museum, and Rouen Cathedral.
“Perhaps the most characteristic feature of Rouen
when viewed from a distance is the great number
of its spires that shoot up above the housetops,
earning for it the sobriquet of the City of Churches.”
-- Charles Hitchcock Sherrill, Stained Glass Tours in France (1908).
Sadly not all of those churches are still there because of the ravages of war.
Seat of an archdiocese, Rouen also hosts a court of appeal and a university. Every four to six years, Rouen becomes the showcase for a large gathering of sailing ships called "L'Armada"; this event makes the city an occasional capital of the maritime world.
Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral was commenced in the 12th. Century on the site of an earlier structure. It has a Roman crypt.
The Butter Tower dates from the 16th. century. The name of the Tour de Beurre comes from the fact that butter was banned during Lent, and those who wished to carry on eating it had to donate 6 Deniers Tournois towards the building of the tower. Practically everyone in Rouen must have carried on eating butter in order to fund a tower like that!
The Victorian cast-iron Lantern Tower in the centre of the building made the cathedral the tallest building in the world from 1876 until 1880, when it was overtaken by Cologne Cathedral.
The Lantern Tower was designed by the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine who proposed the use of cast iron, a modern material for the time, because it was less combustible than wood, and lighter than stone. The Lantern Tower took 50 years to construct. The 151 metre height of the spire still makes Rouen Cathedral the tallest cathedral in France.
The presence of a lantern tower at the crossing of the transept is a frequent feature in churches in Normandy (St. Ouen in Rouen, and Bayeux) and in England (Gloucester, Salisbury, and Winchester).
The lantern is in a bulge in the ironwork near the top of the spire, which is surmounted by a weathercock.
The Cathedral holds the heart of Richard the Lionheart. His bowels were buried within the church of the Château de Châlus-Chabrol in the Limousin. The cathedral seems to have got the better end of that particular deal!
Claude Monet painted a series of studies of the cathedral's façade 1894. Roy Lichtenstein also made a series of pictures of the front of the building.
The Cathedral has had to put up with a lot of wilful destruction during its lifetime:
- The Calvinists damaged much of what they could easily reach during the religious wars of the 16th. Century - the furniture, tombs, stained glass and statuary.
- The French State nationalised the building in the 18th. Century, and sold some of its furniture and statues to make money. The chapel fences were melted down to make guns.
- In WW2 the Cathedral was first bombed in 1944, taking 7 bombs. The bombs narrowly missed destroying a key pillar of the Lantern Tower, but damaged most of the south aisle, and destroyed two medieval rose windows. One of the bombs was fortunately a dud and failed to explode.
- As a consequence of a subsequent WW II bombing, the north tower, on the left of the façade, was entirely burned. During the fire the stonework calcified and the bells melted, leaving molten metal on the floor. The cathedral is still being restored after the extensive damage incurred during World War II.
Also, during the violent storm of December 1999, a copper-clad wooden turret weighing 26 tons fell into the Cathedral and damaged the choir and the stalls. The three other turrets were removed for maintenance and safety purposes before being replaced in 2012.
The Execution of Jeanne d'Arc
Jeanne d'Arc was executed not far from the Cathedral in the Vieux-Marché on Wednesday the 30th. May 1431.
The famous depiction of 19 year old Joan of Arc's execution showing her on top of a pile of wood and straw is wrong.
The site for her execution comprised a stake at the centre of a large ring of wood, with a gap left for Joan to be led to the stake. Once she was tied to the stake and the gap closed, she was hidden from sight.
One authority has suggested that her body would have burnt in the following sequence: calves, thighs and hands, torso and forearms, breasts, upper chest and face.
However in all likelihood she would have died from heatstroke, loss of blood plasma and carbon dioxide poisoning before the fire attacked the upper parts of her body.
After Jeanne had expired, the English exposed her charred body so that no-one could claim that she had escaped alive, then burned her body twice more to reduce it to ashes in order to prevent the collection of relics.
They then cast her remains into the Seine.
A modern church now stands on the site of her execution.
Built 1875 on land donated by George Thompson, Methodist after Union 1900, renovated 1905, closed 1977. Building also used as school, school extension built 1935, school closed 1952.
“A tea meeting took place in the Bible Christian Chapel here on Monday afternoon, September 25, given by the bachelors in the neighborhood in connection with the Band of Hope for the purpose of raising funds for the annual picnic to come off at Christmas, and was a decided success. The chapel was decorated with evergreens . . . Our guests came from Balaklava, Watchman's Plains, and Dalkey, some considerable distance.” [Chronicle & Weekly Mail 7 Oct 1876]
“District Councils. . . Balaklava . . . Letter from teacher, Erith, requested small grant towards school prizes; £1 10s. allowed.” [Observer 26 Oct 1878]
“Letter . . asking Council to use its influence in getting a shelter-shed erected at Erith Provisional School; referred to Board of Advice.” [Advertiser 15 Nov 1884]
“In addition to wheat growing Mr Thompson keeps the post office and store at Erith. . . Erith is a small place, and bears scarcely any pretensions to the title "township". There is one Methodist Church, which belongs to the Balaklava circuit. It is also utilised for use by the Government as a schoolroom.” [Kapunda Herald 1 Apr 1904]
“Mr. Harry Masters, treasurer of the Erith Methodist Church Trust, outlined the school's history. For nearly 60 years it had been a church and school, and 10 years ago Erith residents decided to erect a separate school room in time for the Jubilee. Most of the labor in carting and stone raising had been voluntary. . . Replying, Mr. Jeffries said that it was impossible for the Government to spend money on other people's land, but the department appreciated the trust's action in providing a new building. He gave the school a half holiday on Friday next.” [Advertiser 25 Apr 1935]
“Mr. Hosking said that the new room was a better one than would have been provided by the department, and its solidity of construction should ensure usefulness for many years.” [Chronicle 2 May 1935]
Artist: Leigh McCloskey
Phoenix Arise
3’ x 4’
Giclee on Canvas
TBA
Leigh considers his acting career to be his patron. His success as an actor has given him the opportunity to work as an artist unfettered by the demands and ever-changing tastes of the contemporary art world. His art reflects a quest for the heart of creativity and imaginative vision. Leigh considers the depth of his work the outgrowth of his years spent away from the world (while enjoying an acting career) exploring avenues of creative expression that owe no allegiance to contemporary fads or beliefs. Leigh considers himself more an explorer than artist, his art being the outcome of his active journey through the realms of creative vision. For Leigh his art is how he asks questions of a lasting nature and his means for living an examined life.
An artist must always strive towards what he does not know. On a certain level IDEA gives rise to a form or vessel within which to explore its creative potential. This form can be a sound, a symbol or a universe depending on the strength of the idea. This is the basis of my work as a painter and as a creator of forms. The creative force behind my art transcends any definition I apply to explain it. Art cannot be explained so as to compress it into obeying the intellect. It can only be draped with meaning for the sake of economy. If a painting is good it will not remain static or secure for long.
Any appearance of solidity or stability is a mental composition made up of an infinite number of bits of information. Without conscious work to try and continually push the parameters of thought and form awareness becomes congealed. Awareness is based upon ideas which in and of themselves possess a force or will to expand and grow. When this force is too quickly inhibited by the intellect or a prevailing belief system it dies leaving only a sense of the structure which the idea possessed, but not its living insight which would have continued to lead to new awareness.
Roof boss in St Margaret's chapel.
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
New glazing of a south chapel window installed in the late 1990s by Norgrove Studios while I was part of the team there (I wasn't directly involved with the making, but was on site to help with the installation).
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
Metropolitan - Foster and Partners
The site of the Metropolitan office development is at the northern edge of Pilsudski Square, one of Warsaw’s most important public spaces and home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and national ceremonial events. Formerly Victory Square, the large space was bordered by the seventeenth-century Saski Palace and the Baroque Brühl Palace, however both were destroyed during the war. The new building completes the missing edge of the square, providing a modern counterpart to neighbouring historic buildings, while sympathetically echoing their height, massing and materials.
The building extends to the perimeter of the site to establish an appropriate presence on the square, while an open public space, 50 metres wide at its heart, maintains pedestrian routes through the site. The drum-like space provides the social focus of the scheme and is lined with cafes and restaurants. At its centre is a dramatic water feature, surrounded by a ring of mature trees. The circular motif continues with a ring of light, cantilevered from the first floor of the building, which provides illumination for evening al fresco dining, and a gently glowing halo of light around the top of the building.
Above the ground level shops and restaurants there are five storeys of flexible office accommodation, grouped in three separate, yet connected buildings. Below, the underground parking level provides space for 400 cars. The glazed façades maximise daylight in the offices and take advantage of views over the square and surrounding historic buildings, while vertical granite fins balance this sense of transparency with the impression of solidity. Transforming the building’s appearance from solid to transparent according to the viewer’s perspective, the fins give the façade a rich texture appropriate to the significance of the Metropolitan’s setting.
www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/anish-kapoor-f45a2ea5-2...
For his latest exhibition, Anish Kapoor presents a new series of paintings, an element of his practice that has rarely been seen, exploring the intimate and ritualistic nature of his work. Created over the past year, the show provides a poetic view of the artist's recent preoccupations. While painting has always been an integral part of Kapoor’s practice, this radical new body of work is both spiritual and ecstatic, showing Kapoor working in more vivid and urgent form than ever. Alongside this exhibition, a solo show dedicated to Kapoor's paintings will run at Modern Art Oxford from 2 October 2021 - 13 February 2022, and both shows precede Kapoor’s major retrospective at Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia, opening April 2022 to coincide with the Venice Biennale.
Through painting, Kapoor delves into the deep inner world of our mind and body, from the physical exploration of the flesh and blood, to investigating psychological concepts as primal and nameless as origin and obliteration. Since the 1980s, Kapoor has been celebrated largely as a sculptor, yet painting, and its rawest composition, colour and form, have been a fundamental element of his practice-. The presentation will feature a selection of new and recent paintings, created between 2019 and 2021, the majority in the artist’s London-based studio during the pandemic. Like the artist’s wider oeuvre, these paintings are rooted in a drive to grasp the unknown, to awaken consciousness and experiment with the phenomenology of space.
Kapoor’s work has been characterized by an intense encounter with colour and matter – manifest either through refined, reflective surfaces such as metal or mirrors, or through the tactile, sensual quality of the blankets of impasto. The magnetism of the colour red is evident in these new paintings, manifesting the elemental force that flows through us all, yet now accompanied by a new palette of telluric greys and yellows, as if witnessing a surge from the depths of the earth. Some works appear volcanic, with an intense, fiery energy, while others are more primitive and abstract, with layers of dense pigment and resin forming a sculpted solidity. Many of the paintings have a visceral outpouring where a canvas within a canvas rotates and evolves in space, seeming to defy gravity, with brushstrokes cascading over the edges like a waterfall. In others we see distorted, polymorphic figures emerging from a deep, radiant void, with a ghostly aura.
Kapoor achieves a coherence of mind and body, of interior and exterior in two of the series of works, illustrating a mythic landscape with a turbulent, ominous atmosphere that differentiates land from sky, body from space. These whirling landscapes evoke the extraordinary, eerie Romanticism of JMW Turner, a worship of nature marked through an expressive, dramatic scene. Similar in disposition are two works where we imagine the moon rising over the peak – a symbolic narrative of a new cycle, of origins and menstruation.
The wall-based paintings recall some of Kapoor’s most ambitious, distinguished works, including Svayambhu (2007), My Red Homeland (2003) and Symphony for a Beloved Sun (2013). In these floor-based works we see a more ritualistic, visceral language, where Kapoor unashamedly delves into depicting the very blood and flesh from which we are all born. Artists from Leonardo di Vinci to Francis Bacon have been fascinated with the innards of the body, be it our anatomy or the surrealist beauty in violence. The work also stands in a powerful tradition of artists exploring the human body’s expression of divine matters, yet through the unique vision of Kapoor’s Eastern and Western influences, and ---– considering the year in which they were created --– taking on new meaning highlighting the fragility of the body and self.
clinical waste / institutionalisation
An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior.
Enoch Powell, when Minister for Health in the early 1960s, was a later opponent who was appalled by what he witnessed on his visits to the asylums, and his famous "water tower" speech in 1961 called for the closure of all NHS asylums and their replacement by wards in general hospitals:
"There they stand, isolated, majestic, imperious, brooded over by the gigantic water-tower and chimney combined, rising unmistakable and daunting out of the countryside - the asylums which our forefathers built with such immense solidity to express the notions of their day. Do not for a moment underestimate their powers of resistance to our assault. Let me describe some of the defences which we have to storm."
scandal after scandal followed, with many high profile public inquiries. These involved the exposure of abuses such as unscientific surgical techniques such as lobotomy and the widespread neglect and abuse of vulnerable patients in the USA and Europe. The growing anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s and 1970s led in Italy to the first successful legislative challenge to the authority of the mental institutions, culminating in their closure.
During the 1980 s and 1990s the hospital population started to fall rapidly, mainly because of the deaths of long-term inmates. Significant efforts were made to re-house large numbers of former residents in a variety of suitable or otherwise alternative accommodation. The first 1,000+ bed hospital to close was Darenth Park in Kent, swiftly followed by many more across the UK. The haste of these closures, driven by the Conservative governments led by Margaret Thatcher and John Major, led to considerable criticism in the press, as some individuals slipped through the net into homelessness or were discharged to poor quality private sector mini-institutions. The resistance of many institutions to change, predicted by Enoch Powell, has continued into the 21st century, and there are still several thousand people permanently resident in the dwindling asylums and long stay hospital replacement campuses scattered across the UK.
Yokohama Grand InterContinental Hotel * 4
remix
Pixels mistakenly taken as units of truth.
No pixels were harmed in the making of this work... only sharpened and cloned... 400% true !! 400% false ?? Possibly maybe, probably not...
In reality "solidity" does not exist.
The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time "solidified".
Doublethink doublethunk.
I really am obsessed with symmetry !!
Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire
St.Mary
A cruciform church of C12-C13, outside a preaching cross, with some remaining detail. of particular note is the nave with its fine capitals, which even though over restored, still have a shapely grandeur and solidity that makes them and the church worthy of special attention. The chancel is long with lancet windows, the whole feel of the place is grand and well proportioned.The monument is of John Seymour brother of Jane Seymour Queen of Henry VII. The heraldic glass was brought from Wolfhall by Georgina wife of the 5th Marquess of Ailesbury in 1905 from Wolf Hall at Burbage.
The chantry chapel to the north of the high altar (mirroring in design the Despenser chantry opposite) contains the grave of Robert Fitz-Hamon (d.1107), 2nd cousin to William the Conqueror and founder of the Abbey. He was originally buried in the Abbey's chapter house (lost since the Dissolution) but was reinterred here in a new chapel in the latter half of the 14th century. The interior of the chapel is generally innaccessible to the casual visitor, but its fan-vault can be glimpsed from the ambulatory.
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
Am Spreeuferweg neben dem Schlos Bellevue ist die obere Strebe des Ufergeländers in einen Baum eingewachsen.
Nature's contribution to the solidity of a railing along the Spree promenade
PAGEANT 23 (WESTERLY)
Sailboat Specifications
Hull Type: Twin Keel
Rigging Type: Masthead Sloop
LOA: 23.00 ft / 7.01 m
LWL: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
Beam: 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
S.A. (reported): 236.00 ft2 / 21.93 m2
Draft (max): 2.83 ft / 0.86 m
Displacement: 4,300 lb / 1,950 kg
Ballast: 2,094 lb / 950 kg
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Construction: GRP
First Built: 1970
Last Built: 1979
# Built: 551
Designer: Laurent Giles
Builder: Westerly Yacht Construction Ltd (UK)
Builder: Westerly Marine, Hampshire
The Pageant is one of the smaller of the Westerly range designed by Laurent Giles and produced in volume in the 1970s. She offers an excellent small cruiser, with remarkable room below for her length, and has the typical Westerly virtues of strength and solidity.
The Pageant was designed for Westerly by Laurent Giles in 1969, as a replacement for the earlier Nomad. Production ran from 1970 to 1979, the yacht shown in the photographs here being one of the last of the 550 or so built. A very few (reportedly just six) fin-keel versions were also produced in 1976, these being called Westerly Kendals. As with all other Westerly Marine yachts the Pageant was very strongly built to Lloyds specifications, which meant that the building processes were rigorously monitored and all materials had to be approved by Lloyds in order that a hull certificate could be issued.
Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.)
Make: Volvo Penta
Model: MD1B
Type: Diesel
HP: 10
Fuel: 10 gals / 38 L
Sailboat Calculations
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Comfort Ratio: 20.61
Capsize Screening Formula: 1.97
Accommodations
Water: 15 gals / 57 L
Headroom1.75m
Cabins 2
Berths 5/6
Creator: Kleihues, Josef Paul
Date: 1994-1996
Current location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Description of work: The form and the name of this structure derive from its triangular site, formed by the diagonal position of the former customs wall. The multi-use building has shops at the ground floor, offices on the floors above (expressed by the projecting glass curtain wall), and apartments on the top floor. The glazed facade faces Mauerstrasse, whereas those fronting Friedrichstrasse and Krausenstrasse are of travertine-faced concrete, lending a more monumental solidity. The tower-like curved corner adds to the sense of weightiness and uses a well-established modernist gesture to softens the building's acute angle at street level. (Neue Architektur, Berlin, 1990-2000, Jovis: 1998, p. 88)
Style of work: Contemporary
Culture: German
Materials/Techniques: glass
Source: Copyright Gary Catchen; Photographer: Gary Catchen (2005)
Resource type: image
File format: jpeg
Image size: 2250 x 1601 pixels
Permitted uses: This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted. For additional details see: alias.libraries.psu.edu/vius/copyright/publicrightsarch.htm
Collection: Worldwide Building and Landscape Pictures
Filename: WB2006-723 Triangle Office, Residential, and Commercial building.jpg
Record ID: WB2006-723
Sub collection: commercial buildings
The norman crypt of St Mary's is the oldest part of the present building and is remarkable for the solidity of the construction with it's massive pillars, propping up the chancel above as they have done for the best part of a millennium.
The city of Oaxaca, which is built on a grid pattern, is a good example of Spanish colonial town planning. The solidity and volume of the city's buildings show that they were adapted to the earthquake-prone region in which these architectural gems were constructed. UNESCO WHS description.
The young musician represented in this painting is actually a painter, Mario Minniti (1577-1640), who was first the apprentice of Caravaggio in Rome and who served as a model in several paintings of the master.
This is an early work by Caravaggio, who sought above all to convey the reality and solidity of the surrounding world. We can already see the elements of the artist's style which were to have such a widespread influence on other artists. The figure of a young boy dressed in a white shirt stands out clearly against the dark background. The sharp sidelighting and the falling shadows give the objects an almost tangible volume and weight. Caravaggio was interested in the uniqueness of the surrounding world, and there are markedly individual features not only in the youth's face but also in the objects which make up the still life: the damaged pear, the crack in the lute, the crumpled pages of the music. The melody written on those pages is that of a then fashionable song by Jacques Arcadelt, "You know that I love you". Love as the theme of this work is also indicated by other objects. For instance, the cracked lute was a metaphor for the love that fails, as in Tennyson's Idylls of the King: "It is the little rift within the lute, That by and by will make the music mute" (Merlin and Vivien).
Source: Hermitage
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lute_Player_(Caravaggio)?fbclid=IwAR0z5qGr-1GzUtY3mBRbmJEm1fII_Wz-b-yKyRRQXVmaRQzP82kcSobb8Hs
Roof boss in St Margaret's chapel.
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
It exudes civic pride and solidity, and yet it was the centre of much debate and controversy. It took several years to even choose a site, and it is sometimes known as "The Town Hall at the Wrong End of Town". The foundation stones were laid by King George V and Queen Mary in 1914. I think its position above the Mersey is excellent, but I am not a local so who am I to say?
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
Blythe size stand made of painted acrylic resin.
It shows a little bit of a cobbled street including a storm drain and it's inspired by cities like Rome or Lisbon.
Because of the nature of the material used, it has a nice strong and compact presence and a stone-like solidity.
Measures
Height: 7.5 inch / 19 cm.
Diameter: 4.7 inch / 12 cm.
Weight: 12 ounces / 350 g. aprox.
PAGEANT 23 (WESTERLY)
Sailboat Specifications
Hull Type: Twin Keel
Rigging Type: Masthead Sloop
LOA: 23.00 ft / 7.01 m
LWL: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
Beam: 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
S.A. (reported): 236.00 ft2 / 21.93 m2
Draft (max): 2.83 ft / 0.86 m
Displacement: 4,300 lb / 1,950 kg
Ballast: 2,094 lb / 950 kg
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Construction: GRP
First Built: 1970
Last Built: 1979
# Built: 551
Designer: Laurent Giles
Builder: Westerly Yacht Construction Ltd (UK)
Builder: Westerly Marine, Hampshire
The Pageant is one of the smaller of the Westerly range designed by Laurent Giles and produced in volume in the 1970s. She offers an excellent small cruiser, with remarkable room below for her length, and has the typical Westerly virtues of strength and solidity.
The Pageant was designed for Westerly by Laurent Giles in 1969, as a replacement for the earlier Nomad. Production ran from 1970 to 1979, the yacht shown in the photographs here being one of the last of the 550 or so built. A very few (reportedly just six) fin-keel versions were also produced in 1976, these being called Westerly Kendals. As with all other Westerly Marine yachts the Pageant was very strongly built to Lloyds specifications, which meant that the building processes were rigorously monitored and all materials had to be approved by Lloyds in order that a hull certificate could be issued.
Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.)
Make: Volvo Penta
Model: MD1B
Type: Diesel
HP: 10
Fuel: 10 gals / 38 L
Sailboat Calculations
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Comfort Ratio: 20.61
Capsize Screening Formula: 1.97
Accommodations
Water: 15 gals / 57 L
Headroom1.75m
Cabins 2
Berths 5/6
Stonehenge / Wiltshire, England
June 19, 2015
©Dale Haussner
Stonehenge Visitor Centre with "Building Blocks" display of Sarsen and Bluestone.
“…they have translated a vision into practical detail with quality and durability being key criteria. They are dynamic and responsive to client needs; ‘unstuffy’ and fun to work with and able to engage effectively with a variety of stakeholders.”
Loraine Knowles, Project Director
English Heritage
"In 2008, Denton Corker Marshall was selected by English Heritage, in an invited competition, to design a new Visitor Centre at Stonehenge to replace the existing unpopular facilities. The new centre is located at the western end of the world heritage site, on land adjacent to Airman’s Corner and approximately 2.1 km from the stones.
Key objectives in the brief were that the new facilities had to be highly sustainable, wholly reversible and of extremely low physical impact on the archaeologically sensitive site. In response to these brief requirements, the new building is conceived as a perforated undulating metal sheet, pinned in the ground by a series of fine metal columns, under which shelters a block of timber and a block of glass.
The metal roof undulates to reflect the rolling landforms of Salisbury Plain and the visual effect of the sheet overhanging the blocks on the ground gives a transitory and temporary sense to the centre. This approach also ensures the solidity and timelessness of the stones is not compromised or visually diminished by the new structure.
This is the second visitor centre scheme that Denton Corker Marshall has designed at Stonehenge for English Heritage. A previous proposal, which gained full Planning Approval, was abandoned at the end of 2007 after the government refused to fund the Highway Agency A303 road tunnel."
Client: English Heritage
Location: Wiltshire United Kingdom
Sector: Civic+Public
Gross Internal Area: 1,500m2 Indoor Visitor Centre Areas
Cost: £25 million
Status: Completed 2013
For more info, see:
www.dentoncorkermarshall.co.uk/project/stonehenge-visitor...
The attractive town of Tewkesbury has been dominated by its superb abbey church since the beginning of the 12th century, and we can be forever grateful to its townspeople for purchasing the monastic church in 1540 for £453 for use as their parish church, saving it from the fate that befell countless similar great churches across the land during the turmoil of the Dissolution. It reminds us both how lucky we are to still marvel at it today, yet also how great a loss to our heritage the period wrought when many more such buildings were so utterly plundered as to have gone without trace (the fate of the monastic buildings here and even the lady chapel of the church whose footings are laid out in the grass at the east end).
Tewkesbury Abbey is thus rightly celebrated as one of our greatest non-cathedral churches, and remarkably much of the original Norman church remains substantially intact, most apparently in the great central tower, a fine example of Romanesque architecture adorned with rows of blind-arcading. The west front is dominated by a massive Norman-arched recess (enclosing the somewhat later west window) and the nave and transepts remain largely as originally built, though this is less clear externally owing to the changes made to the windows, nearly all of which were enlarged in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style. This century also saw the complete rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church, of a form less common in England with radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse of the choir (the central lady chapel sadly missing since 1540).
The interior reveals far more of the Romanesque structure with mighty columns supporting the round Norman arches of the nave arcades giving the building a great sense of solidity. The space is further enlivened by the changes made during the 14th century by the stunning vault over the nave (adorned with a rewarding series of figurative bosses) which sits surprisingly well with the Norman work below. Beyond the apsidal choir beckons, and both this and the space below the tower are enriched with stunningly complex vaulted ceilings (replete with further bosses and gilded metal stars), all ablaze with colour and gilding.
There is much to enjoy in glass here, most remarkably a complete set of 14th century glazing in the clerestorey of the choir, seven windows filled with saints and prophets (and most memorably two groups of knights in the westernmost windows on each side). A few of the figures have fared less well over the centuries but on the whole this is a wonderfully rare and well preserved scheme. There is much glass from the 19th century too, with an extensive scheme in the nave of good quality work by Hardman's, and more recently a pair of rich windows by Tom Denny were added in one of the polygonal chapels around the east end.
Some of the most memorable features are the monuments with many medieval tombs of note, primarily the effigies and chantry chapels of members of the Despenser family around the choir (two of the chantries being miniature architectural gems in their own right with exquisite fan-vaulting). In one of the apsidal chapels is the unusual cenotaph to Abbot Wakeman with his grisly cadaver effigy, a late medieval reminder of earthly mortality.
Tewkesbury Abbey is not to be missed and is every bit as rewarding as many of our cathedrals (superior in fact to all but the best). It is normally kept open and welcoming to visitors on a daily basis. I have also had the privilege of working on this great building several times over the years (as part of the team at the studio I once worked for), and have left my mark in glass in a few discreet places.
PAGEANT 23 (WESTERLY)
Sailboat Specifications
Hull Type: Twin Keel
Rigging Type: Masthead Sloop
LOA: 23.00 ft / 7.01 m
LWL: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
Beam: 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
S.A. (reported): 236.00 ft2 / 21.93 m2
Draft (max): 2.83 ft / 0.86 m
Displacement: 4,300 lb / 1,950 kg
Ballast: 2,094 lb / 950 kg
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Construction: GRP
First Built: 1970
Last Built: 1979
# Built: 551
Designer: Laurent Giles
Builder: Westerly Yacht Construction Ltd (UK)
Builder: Westerly Marine, Hampshire
The Pageant is one of the smaller of the Westerly range designed by Laurent Giles and produced in volume in the 1970s. She offers an excellent small cruiser, with remarkable room below for her length, and has the typical Westerly virtues of strength and solidity.
The Pageant was designed for Westerly by Laurent Giles in 1969, as a replacement for the earlier Nomad. Production ran from 1970 to 1979, the yacht shown in the photographs here being one of the last of the 550 or so built. A very few (reportedly just six) fin-keel versions were also produced in 1976, these being called Westerly Kendals. As with all other Westerly Marine yachts the Pageant was very strongly built to Lloyds specifications, which meant that the building processes were rigorously monitored and all materials had to be approved by Lloyds in order that a hull certificate could be issued.
Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.)
Make: Volvo Penta
Model: MD1B
Type: Diesel
HP: 10
Fuel: 10 gals / 38 L
Sailboat Calculations
S.A./Disp.: 14.32
Bal./Disp.: 48.70
Disp./Len.: 279.87
Comfort Ratio: 20.61
Capsize Screening Formula: 1.97
Accommodations
Water: 15 gals / 57 L
Headroom1.75m
Cabins 2
Berths 5/6
joseph Kun, violin and bow maker, b Košice, Czechoslovakia, 13 Apr 1930, d Ottawa 8 Apr 1996, apprenticed in Košice under Vladimir Pribyl 1948-53 and practised violin and bow making part-time 1953-68 while teaching violin at the Czechoslovakian State Conservatory (he graduated as a violinist from the latter in 1956). He moved to Canada in 1968 and opened a shop in Ottawa. Kun won several international prizes for his instruments and bows.
A shoulder rest is a practical device, whose history spans more than 150 years. Prior to the invention of the Kun Shoulder Rest, however, players had struggled with limited or makeshift solutions to correct or avoid discomfort while supporting their violin or viola.
Introduced in 1972, the earliest Kun rest was handmade from metal in limited quantities. Still, this early Kun rest possessed two breakthrough characteristics: a new ergonomic shape for ease and comfort in playing, and simple mechanisms allowing the rest to be adjusted in three directions. And the Kun rest had been designed with sound quality in mind. The objective was minimal contact with the violin or viola, so that vibrations would not be absorbed.
I met Kun when a friend of mine took his violin to him to be reset and tuned and was intrigued by the solidity of his body and the large hands that crafted such delicate instruments. I returned to his studio and photographed him in the light he used to craft his instruments, coming through a window to an enclosed courtyard.