Roman & Sharon

A nude photograph of the currently detained Roman Polanski and his late wife, Sharon Tate, will be sold at Christie's in NYC on December 7th. The photo, shot by David Bailey in 1969, was taken months before Tate's tragic murder.

The Middlebush Giant

This photograph is of Colonel Routh/Ruth Goshon/Goshen a.k.a. the 'Middlebush Giant', a.k.a. the 'Arabian Giant' . When the Giant singed the back of this photograph, he listed his age as 28, his weight as 475, and his height as 7 feet 11 inches. In reality he was older, shorter, and lighter. And he was not a real Colonel. All of these stats were created by P.T. Barnum. The Giant spent his retirement in Middlebush, Franklin Township, where he died and is buried.

Images for Today

Clara the Rhinoceros

Clara the rhinoceros was a female Indian Rhinoceros who rose to fame while touring Europe in the mid 18th century. At one month old Clara was adopted by Jan Albert Sichterman after her mother had been killed by hunters. In 1741 Clara was transported to Rotterdam and she became the fifth living rhinoceros to step foot on European soil. A curiosity; everyone wanted to see Clara but none were willing to make the journey. And so, Clara visited Brussels, and Hamburg, Hanover and Berlin. She was eagerly received by kings and emperors. She spent five months in Paris. Her portrait was painted and she inspired music and poetry. In 1749 she embarked for Italy. She visited Milan and Bologna, even Venice- eventually leaving for London where she held court with the royal family. Later she was put on exhibition at the Horse and Groom. She died there at the age of 20. A bit young for a Rhino. I guess all that traveling wore her out.

Her portrait as painted by Pietro Longhi in Venice:

Clara the Rhinoceros, 1751

The Charlatan, 1757

Mr. Mansfield

Sweet Nothings

"Kunsthal Rotterdam presents a selection of modest portraits in black-and-white of schoolgirls from eastern Anatolia made by British photographer Vanessa from 2003 onwards. They either pose alone or together with one or two other girls and are looking into the camera's lens expectantly. The girls pose unaffectedly, standing there with drooping shoulders, waiting for the photographer to take the photograph. Each of them is somewhat shy, yet nevertheless self-conscious."


"Eastern Anatolia, which encompasses various nationalities, cultures and religions, is situated in the borderlands of amongst others Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Syria. In this region many families keep their daughters at home. Attending school is a privilege not many of the young girls have. It is in fact extraordinary that the pre-teenagers portrayed by Winship do go to school. Nevertheless, the question remains whether they will not relegated to housekeeping directly after leaving school. These girls are "Sweet Nothings'. ‘Sweet Nothings' is an expression that is used to refer to the honeyed words one says to one's beloved, straight from the heart, but insignificant and innocent - as these girls, and more specific, their futures are considered to be."

For more information on Vanessa Winship- click here.

Dynamics.

It was a lovely Autumn evening, and the glorious effects of chromatic aberration were beginning to show themselves in the atmosphere as the earth revolved away from the great western luminary, when two lines might have been observed wending their weary way across a plane superficies. The elder of the two had by long practice acquired the art, so painful to young and impulsive loci, of lying evenly between his extreme points; but the younger, in her girlish impetuoisity, was ever longing to diverge and become a hyperbola or some romantic and boundless curve. They had lived and loved: fate and the intervening superfices had hitherto kept them asunder, but this was no longer to be: a line had intersected them, making the two interior angles together less than two right angles. It was a moment never to be forgotten, and, as they journeyed on, a whisper thrilled along the superfices in isochronous waves of sound, "Yes! We shall at length meet if continually produced!"

- Charles Dodgson