Reality Asylum

May 30

Orval Hixon - Untitled, 1922.
… via the Spencer Museum of Art

Orval Hixon - Untitled, 1922.

… via the Spencer Museum of Art

Orval Hixon - Portrait of Annette Kellerman, c.1920.
… via the Spencer Museum of Art

Orval Hixon - Portrait of Annette Kellerman, c.1920.

… via the Spencer Museum of Art

Annette Kellerman in A Daughter of the Gods, 1916.
Kellerman railed against the prevailing modesty restrictions in swimwear from a young age, lambasting the impractical nature of the bathing dress and hose. This culminated in her arrest in 1907 on a charge of indecent exposure on a beach in Massachusetts as her one-piece, thigh-high swimsuit was deemed far too revealing. Kellerman’s argument that she needed to be free from cumbersome swimwear in order to achieve unrestricted movement was accepted by the judge and the case was dismissed. The ensuing popularity of her one-piece (that highlighted every curve of her body) eventually led to her own line of swimwear, and the acceptance of the style left companies like Jantzen free to pick up the mantle. … text via: Theatre of Fashion

Annette Kellerman in A Daughter of the Gods, 1916.

Kellerman railed against the prevailing modesty restrictions in swimwear from a young age, lambasting the impractical nature of the bathing dress and hose. This culminated in her arrest in 1907 on a charge of indecent exposure on a beach in Massachusetts as her one-piece, thigh-high swimsuit was deemed far too revealing. Kellerman’s argument that she needed to be free from cumbersome swimwear in order to achieve unrestricted movement was accepted by the judge and the case was dismissed. The ensuing popularity of her one-piece (that highlighted every curve of her body) eventually led to her own line of swimwear, and the acceptance of the style left companies like Jantzen free to pick up the mantle. … text via: Theatre of Fashion

Lewis Carroll - Alice Jane Donkin, 1862.

Lewis Carroll - Alice Jane Donkin, 1862.

May 29

Zdzisław Beksiński  - Nude, c.1955.

Zdzisław Beksiński  - Nude, c.1955.

Zdzisław Beksiński  - Nude, c.1955.

Zdzisław Beksiński  - Nude, c.1955.

Edward Steichen - Grasshopper - Diagram of Doom, France, 1921.
… from Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography, by Todd Brandow and William A. Ewing, Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, and the Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne, 2007.

Edward Steichen - Grasshopper - Diagram of Doom, France, 1921.

… from Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography, by Todd Brandow and William A. Ewing, Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, and the Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne, 2007.

May 28

Vintage French Photo Postcard of Two Nuns, c.1900.

Vintage French Photo Postcard of Two Nuns, c.1900.

Aaron Siskind - North Carolina, 1951.

Aaron Siskind - North Carolina, 1951.

H.A. Atwell - Circus Acrobats, c.1920s.

H.A. Atwell - Circus Acrobats, c.1920s.

Greta Garbo in The Temptress, 1926.

Greta Garbo in The Temptress, 1926.

May 27

Greta Buysse (b.1942), n.d.

Greta Buysse (b.1942), n.d.

[video]

Cindy Marler, from the Amsterdam’s Angels series, 1990.

Cindy Marler, from the Amsterdam’s Angels series, 1990.

May 26

Jaroslav Nohel - Untitled, c.1935.

Jaroslav Nohel - Untitled, c.1935.