ostrichclaw

all is vanity

December 28, 2007 at 3:11 am (Uncategorized)

Probably the biggest influence on my aesthetic, the original haunted house of my childhood, was my late grandmother’s sprawling Victorian mansion in New Jersey. The house was filled with hidden doors, secret staircases, dark alcoves and flitting shadows — it scared the crap out of me.

One of the creepiest things about it was the collection of morally heavy-handed illusion prints my grandmother had hanging in her sitting room. “All is Vanity” (above) is the one I remember best, although more examples follow after the jump. “Vanity” is by American illustrator Charles Allan Gilbert (1873-1929) and prints can be found at Sandlot Science for 20 bucks.

Some other prints my grandmother had, all also available at “illusion gift store” Sandlot Science:

“Society” by George A. Wotherspoon. Per Sandlot Science: “Is it a dandy dressed to the nines, or do you see a well-dressed jackass between the two ladies?”

Another Wotherspoon, ominously titled “Gossip, and Satan Came Also.” “Is it a pair of Victorian lady gossips, or is that Satan himself lurking in the background?”

My grandmother also had a print with a man’s head in profile composed entirely of naked women, and a row of skulls with a caption that read something like, “Beggars and kings, in death all are equal.” I’ll post those as I track them down.