Vintage Postcards

Hell Hole, Wildwoods By The Sea, NJ

Grinning Skull, Six Flags Over Texas

Carniverous Spider, Superstition Mountain Mine-Ride, Legend City, Arizona

Trees of Mystery, California

Sleeping Giant, Tweetsie Railroad, Blowing Rock NC

Marine Pier, Wildwoods By The Sea, NJ

Kong, Wildwoods By The Sea, NJ

Amusement Park After Dark, Wildwood, New Jersey

House of Frankenstein Wax Museum, Lake George NY

Slot Machines In Nevada

Jake The Alligator Man & Shrunken Head, Marsh's Free Museum, Long Beach, Washington

Curious Creature of Unknown Origin, Indian Trading Post, Banff AB

Gargantua The Great, Life Size Bust Made by Dr. H Chester Hoyt, Circus Hall of Fame, Sarasota, Florida

Enchanted Forest, Turner, Oregon

The Gingerbread Castle, Snow White Display, Hamburg, New Jersey

"Hodag", Rhinelander, Wisconsin, "Home of the Hodag"

Cindy Smith Visiting With 'Snowball', Storyland, Northwest of O'Hare Field

Prehistoric Gardens, Oregon Coast Highway

T Rex, Dinosaur Valley Bridge, Drumheller, Alberta

An Authentic Indian Scalping, Tussaud's Wax Museum, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Shrunken Head, Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" Museum, San Francisco CA

All photos found at Swell  Map's impressive collection of vintage postcards.  Some of the more unusual postcards include those in the Mock Violence album.

Peter Tillberg (1946 - 2016)

Krakow, 1991

Paris, 1991

London, 1989

Filses slokum

Aggsamlaren

Troll Horror

Meeting

Waiting

Angry Potatoes

The Priest and the Devil, 1985


A video showing an assortment of Tillberg's sculptures can be viewed here.


Image sources include Bukowskis and The Persson Gallery.

Lizzy Ansingh - Heksenkeuken I, The Witches' Sabbath, 1916

Felix Recondo (1932 - 2015)

Music in the Skin III, 1971

Object Swallower, 1971

It is Hard to Do the Trapeze with One’s Mother, 1971

It is Hard to Do the Trapeze with One’s Mother, 1971 (detail)


Artworks found at Expertissim.

Bruno Goldschmitt - Daniel's Dream, 1910-20

Plate 20 from The Bible portfolio.

Artwork found at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Paul Ranson (1864-1909)

Hippogriff, 1891

Witches in Saturnalia, 1891

The Witch in Her Circle, 1892

The Witch with Black Cat, 1893

Witches around the Fire, 1891

Witches in Saturnalia, 1891

Witch with Cat, 1899

Nude with Carcass, 1899

Fallen Stars, 1900

The Legend of the Hermit or The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1899



"The son of a successful local politician, Ranson was encouraged from the outset in his artistic ambitions. He studied at the Ecoles des Arts Décoratifs in Limoges and Paris but transferred in 1886 to the Académie Julian. There he met Paul Sérusier and in 1888 became one of the original members of the group known as the Nabis.

From 1890 onwards, Ranson and his wife France hosted Saturday afternoon meetings of the Nabis in their apartment in the Boulevard du Montparnasse, jokingly referred to as ‘Le Temple’. Ranson acted as linchpin for the sometimes dispersed group. Noted for his enthusiasm and wit and for his keen interests in philosophy, theosophy and theatre, he brought an element of esoteric ritual to their activities. For example he introduced the secret Nabi language and the nicknames used familiarly within the group. He also constructed a puppet theatre in his studio for which he wrote plays that were performed by the Nabis before a discerning public of writers and politicians.

Ranson’s work showed a consistent commitment to the decorative arts: like Maillol he made designs for tapestry, some of which were executed by his wife. His linear, sinuous style, seen in works such as Woman Standing beside a Balustrade with a Poodle (Altschul priv. col., see Post-Impressionism, exh. cat., London, RA, 1979, p. 119), had strong affinities with Japanese prints and with contemporary developments in Art Nouveau design; it was a style suited to a variety of media, stained glass, lithography, ceramics or tapestry.

Ranson tended to favour exotic, symbolic or quasi-religious motifs rather than subjects observed from nature. In his Nabi Landscape of 1890 (Lausanne, Josefowitz priv. col., see P. Jullian, The Symbolists, London, 1973, no. 174), for example, he sets a variety of obscure feminine symbols within a fantasy landscape. After his early death in 1909 his wife continued to run the Académie Ranson, which they had opened in 1908 to disseminate Nabi aesthetic ideas and techniques to a younger generation. Teaching was undertaken on a voluntary basis by other Nabis, especially Denis and Sérusier." - quote source

Artworks found at The Athenaeum.