Worn by the ancients and soon adopted by glamorous celebrities. A must-have for pagan gods and the jet set, they are nonetheless a bargain for mere mortals.
One of many variations on a theme from Melissinos, the Poet Sandal Maker of Athens.
Part of my “Traditional Industries of Greece” vacation series.
All from the Joseph Cornell Papers, 1804-1986 . Part of my Archives of American Art vacation series.
Once an important source of wealth in the Greek islands. The sponge industry was centered in the Dodecanese island of Kalymnos. A variety of social and environmental mishaps led to the near collapse of Greek sponge fishing by the 1980s.
These and more via the totally committed people at divingheritage.com
(I decided to be very slightly lazy about preparing posts before I go on vacation, so this will be the first in a short series featuring traditional industries of Greece, which is where I am right now).
All from the Alexander Calder Papers, 1926-1967
(I decided to be very slightly lazy about preparing posts before I go on vacation, so this will be the first in a series featuring collections from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Each post will follow my usual tendency to look for unique, possibly atypical but revealing items from a digitized collection)
Jumping on the bandwagon with Miss Beat, 1959 are these Venice, California pageant contestants:
Call me cynical, but I think some of these girls are not actually beatniks. I suspect that the girl on the far left just slapped on some eyeliner in the car after competing in the Miss Culver City pageant.
Wrote or co-wrote some of the most brilliant songs ever.
She died August 26. I was sad to miss posting this while the blog was incapacitated.
Apologies for the long absence – We’re up and running again on Wordpress through Jon’s diligent efforts. Thanks to schwa for the many years of hosting service.
Now to get back in the habit of posting – I’m hoping to get in a few posts a week over the month of September, despite looming (but most welcome!) houseguests and vacation.
All from the