From The Year of the Monkey, Patti Smith "One cannot approximate truth, add nor take away, for there is no one on earth like the true shepherd and there is nothing in heaven like the suffering of real life. "I knew there had to be a brass telescope mounted somewhere on the boards and I was determined to find it, not exactly a telescope but an instrument of beyondness, right on the esplanade… My pockets were brimming with coins so I set up camp and concentrated, first on a freighter, then on a star, and then all the way back to Earth. I could actually see that ball the world. I was in space and could see it all, as if...
It's a Cinch. I have long adored the images created by photographer, Lillian Bassman, a New York native. This one is a favourite. It is so feminine, so dreamy and full of beauty. Lillian started out studying textile design in high school, then fashion illustration at the Pratt Institute. In 1940 she was offered a scholarship to study with Alexey Brodovitch, art director at Harper's Bazaar, at the New School for Social Research and became his first paid assistant at Harper's Bazaar. She went on to become co-art Director at Junior Bazaar where she appointed young photographers, Robert Frank and Richard Avedon. Bassman started creating her own photographs during this time and became a freelance fashion photographer in 1947. She...
'I believe in a set of values I cannot live by. I set high goals for myself, I seek perfection, dream of exotic faraway places. But ultimately, what I long for isn't far away at all. It's in my own backyard. Imperfection charms me, familiar things move me... a celebration of what we have, instead of what we long for. That for me, is glamor.'
Image by Mathew Rolston, Isabella Rossellini, Bird, New York, 1988
Portrait of Count Alexey G. Bobrinsky as a child – by Fyodor S. Rokotov – c.mid-1760s. Count Alexey G. Bobrinsky (1762-1813) was the illegitimate son of Catherine II (the Great) and Count Grigory G. Orlov. I praise loudly. I blame softly. The more a man knows, the more he forgives. Power without a nation's confidence is nothing. In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions. A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache. I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster. I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade; and the good Lord will forgive me, that's his. I may be kindly, I am...
