The Art History Carnival Returns September 1st!

Earthly Paradise is announcing the return of the Art History Carnival! 

I will be hosting a Carnival of Art History on The Earthly Paradise on the first of each month, beginning September 1, 2010. You can submit articles for inclusion in the carnival until 48 hours before the issue comes out (in this case, August 30, 2010). 

What kind of blog articles will be included? 
Posts covering all periods and art mediums are welcome, as are posts discussing art criticism, architecture, design, theory and aesthetics. All submissions will be carefully reviewed. 

What is a Blog Carnival? 
According to Wikipedia, a blog carnival is "a type of blog event...similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks links to other blog articles on the particular topic." 

Blog Carnivals are a great way to help your blog reach a new audience and to make new friends in the blogosphere! 

Who can submit? 
Anyone, as long as you have a blog! And If you don't blog, you can submit one of your friend's articles (except they better be good--I'll be reading them!). 

Can I host a carnival? 
Absolutely! Please let me know if you'd be interested in hosting the next issue of the carnival. 

How to submit articles
You have two options:

1. Send me an email. Include the title and permalink URL of the post you are nominating for inclusion in the carnival, along with the name of the blog. Please put "Art History Carnival" in the title of your email to help me recognize it in my inbox!

2. Use the submission form provided by Blog Carnival (this is probably the easiest!). 

One final thing to keep in mind: 
To keep things current, posts should have been written after the date of the last Carnival.

Thank you for your participation! Share the news if you know someone who likes to write about art!

Rare Millais Sketches Found in Led Zeppelin Record Sleeves

Former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is one of the world's best known collectors of Pre-Raphaelite art. But he nearly lost a handsome stash of sketches by John Everett Millais as the result of what appears to be an auction house mix-up. 

Apparently, four drawings by Millais were found tucked inside Led Zeppelin records that were due to be put up for auction. Interestingly, the records were actually owned by Rick Hobbs, who had worked for the band for a number of years. Originally, the auction house had believed that the sketches were a gift from Page to Hobbs, but the auction house was uncertain enough to withhold the items from the auction. 

Fortunately for art fans, the sketches have been well-preserved within the LP covers, and they are undamaged. Millais made the drawings in 1843 when he was just 14 years old and a student at the Royal Acadamy. Two of the sketches were inspired by the poetry of Robert Burns. One depicts a scene in Venice were a gondolier is singing to a lady from beneath a window, accompanied by a verse from Farewell Thou Stream "The music of thy voice I heard/Nor wist while it enslav'd me!/I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear'd/Til fears no more had sav'd me!"

Amazing that the sketches remained hidden in those LP covers all these years!

Elbert Hubbard's Little Journeys

If you haven't already seen it, take a moment to visit Stephanie Pina's Lizzie Siddal blog to read Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers: Rossetti and Siddal. Stephanie found a 14 volume set of Elbert Hubbard's Little Journeys at a local bookshop and she's taken the time to transcribe and scan Hubbard's rendition of the story of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal. I had a wonderful time reading it - it's a charming and entertaining version of the story. I found Hubbard's non-judgmental approach to Rossetti quite refreshing (you could say he tries a little too hard to make excuses for him, but I think Rossetti has enough critics). The story can also be found in Volume 13 of Hubbard's Little Journeys, which is available on Project Gutenberg (along with a number of his other writings).

Those of you who are familiar with the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States will recognize Elbert Hubbard as one of the founders of the Roycrofters and the Roycroft Press. (His magazine, The Philistine, which was published by the Roycroft Press, is nearly as well known as the The Germ). Hubbard was heavily influenced by William Morris' philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement, and the Roycroft community in East Aurora, New York, was probably the most ardent attempt to see Morris' socialist vision put into practice in the real world. His art colony may not have survived, but his writings remain available to readers as a window into his world.