Haphazard travels of Sirman Deville around the Middle

[Umbugbene]

Thanks for the pictures and for the architecture lesson! I nearly went into architecture myself (I was accepted at architecture school but decided against it), and I minored in architectural history in college. I hadn't heard of Rondocubism before, and apparently I was mistaken about the building with the Black Madonna (is that the one?) being the only cubist building. I have heard though that the Rietveld Schroeder House in Utrecht, which I saw once, is the only building ever built in the "De Stijl" style (forgive the redundancy there).

I must say I love that streetlamp and the cemetery gate. You're right, they do seem to fit into expressionism with their crystal forms. And that furniture is brilliant... the sofa alone is worth a trip to that museum next time I'm in Prague!

[niminy-piminy]

Cubist Museum is within the Black Madonna house.
but there are plenty of cubists and plenty of rondo-cubists houses around the town.
it would take plenty of time to see all of them!
the most iconic cubist house (the "purest" representative of the style) is probably this one...


a few cubist houses are also outside of Prague.
very interesting is f.e. the cubist reconstruction of a baroque house in the city of Pelhřimov.
it demonstrates (modern) cubism fits well with (historical) baroque.


and there are also a few rondo-cubist houses outside of Prague.
f.e. creamatorium in the city of Pardubice that i mentioned recently...

most spectacular local crematorium is the one in the city of Pardubice.
in this building CREMATOR by Juraj Herz was shot.

the cubist sofa was part of the whole cubist furniture set...


next time you gonna visit Prague let me know!

[niminy-piminy]

the (only) cubist streetlamp (in the world) from 1913 in full splendor...


it seems similar to Constantin Brâncuși's "endless columns".
i have no clue if local "cubists" and Brancusi consciously influenced each other (one way or the other) or if the similarity is coincidental.
but it is obvious these (expressionist) crystal shapes were part of then-Zeitgeist (and not only fancied by local "cubists").
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81729

[niminy-piminy]

this is Black Madonna house...


Black Madonna is adorning the facade...


besides Cubist Museum, inside is also a cubist coffee room.
there, (with coffee) "cubist" deserts are served (cubist past is nowadays thoroughly exploited)...

[niminy-piminy]

i forgot to mention the existence of a cubist clock...
however, the ridiculous extent of the local obsession with cubism is already more than clear i guess

[niminy-piminy]

Cremator meets Rondo-Cubism (Art Deco)...
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-cremator/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krematorium_Pardubice

most spectacular local crematorium is the one in the city of Pardubice.
in this building CREMATOR by Juraj Herz was shot.

[Umbugbene]

Fantastic! Especially the building in the first (b&w) picture. It's still standing, I hope? And I'm even more in love with that streetlamp.

I remember that crematorium well from the movie. Nice to connect it with the style I just learned about!

The city I grew up in, Chicago, has almost no art nouveau (Jugendstil) and certainly no architecture from the original expressionist movement, but we did have one very famous architect, Louis Sullivan, whose work was closely related to art nouveau. There are also many Arts & Crafts buildings and some Prairie School, which are both distantly related to those early modern European decorative styles. Plus we have a lot of art deco from the '20s and early '30s.

[niminy-piminy]

yea, it is still standing!
in its neighborhood are a few more remarkable cubist specimens.
unfortunately, the house has only Czech wiki entry.
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubistick ... 4%9B_ulici

its entrance...


— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

i believe Chicago must be very cool!
i might be somewhat familiar (theoretically) with "First Chicago School" (Sullivan, etc.).
but i know near to zero about "Second Chicago School" (the 1940s-1970s).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_s ... hitecture)
however, one of my many plans is to (especially) investigate the (postmodern) Chicago Seven.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_S ... rchitects)

and i always loved the (postmodern before it was cool) design of Chicago Tribune Tower (in the form of a Doric column) by Adolf Loos.
pity, it was not built!
https://www.archdaily.com/880899/how-ch ... re-forever

[sally]

is prague very big, jiri? i mean, when the pandemic is over and all the hordes of scfz have simultaneously & secretly been lured there because of all the tempting things you're posting....are we going to be tripping over each other whilst we're all eye-locked and converging on the various architectural delights? could be hideously awkward

i am the world's worst traveller, and for a few minutes even i contemplated going

[niminy-piminy]

well, Prague is big enough that i would be probably able to devise (in a single specific time) several parallel routes for several Superchampers without these routes crossing each other and thus giving every single visitor the impression of being the unique explorer of the charms of Prague.
however, my Prague flat is basically a single room (with only a separate bathroom and toilet) and thus there is no scope to provide each and every Superchamper a separate guest room (unless some of you would be willing every day commuting back & forth 160 km — from Prague to my East Bohemian estate/cottage and back).
so, to avoid domestic conflicts and domestic violence i would prefer if all the possible visits would be spread over the whole year and all of you, dear Superchampers, not coming all at once.
looking forward to seeing you all in person, kids!

[niminy-piminy]

btw. Prague art nouveau house that i didn't see yet (on my very eyes) and i plan to go to see (in some indefinite near future) is Vila Helenka (1903)...
https://cs.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... QRV2GfcCi0

[niminy-piminy]

1943 poll viewing No28:
HANGMEN ALSO DIE! (Fritz Lang)

Hangmen Also Die had a world premiere in Prague, Oklahoma, an event which featured Adolf Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini being hanged in effigy on Main Street.

1/ good to know there is one more Prague (in Oklahoma).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague,_Oklahoma

2/besides, i would like to know if (in the film) they intentionally mispronounced "Reichs Protector" as "Reichs Potato" or i just misheard it.

[niminy-piminy]

seems like the film immediately comes with the answer to my question (NO POTATOES)...

[Umbugbene]

yea, it is still standing!

That's a relief, because when I see a building in black & white alongside other buildings in color, my immediate guess is that no color photos exist because the structure is long gone.

and i always loved the (postmodern before it was cool) design of Chicago Tribune Tower (in the form of a Doric column) by Adolf Loos.
pity, it was not built!
https://www.archdaily.com/880899/how-ch ... re-forever

Loos was being postmodern not only in his design, but also in the joke it makes - i.e. a pun on the word "column" as in "newspaper column" (the building was to serve as headquarters for Chicago's main newspaper). The winning design is extremely derivative, basically the Butter Tower of Rouen Cathedral turned into a skyscraper, but it's an uncommonly elegant skyscraper and it's still one of the most beloved local landmarks.

Villa Helenka is another fabulous revelation! If you don't stop posting amazing architecture I'm going to have to spend two months or more traveling around Czechia! By the way, did you know that Sergei Eisenstein's father was an architect of art nouveau houses in Riga?

[niminy-piminy]

By the way, did you know that Sergei Eisenstein's father was an architect of art nouveau houses in Riga?

no, i didn't.
reading... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Eisenstein
and while searching for the house (i found it) i see headlines like "Riga, Meca of Art Nouveau" and amazing pics like the two below.
in the past, i was considering going to Brussels to see Victor Horta, but now seems like Riga is the place!



the most popular local art nouveau landmark is Municipal House (1905-1912).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_House
my snapshot from 2015.

Alphonse Mucha wall paintings inside.


and the most unique local art nouveau house is Villa Bílek (1911).
František Bílek was an art nouveau sculptor and he designed this house for himself (so it is not a house designed by an architect).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_B%C3%ADlek
the villa has an unusual shape resembling trace of a scythe in a field. The brickwork masonry is articulated by pillars in form of corn sheaves which evoke Egyptian architecture. Through this building Bílek, who was a deeply religious artist, tried to express his view on substance of life.

it is still standing (one can go inside), it is just a pic of how it looked after completion (without all the current trees around).

[sally]

getting randomly followed on twitter and i have no idea why except that it's some kind of osmosis!

[niminy-piminy]

nomad society wants to help you discover a mad society,
build traumas and make new enemies.
(under a pretext of a "daring adventure") these rascals try to drag the introverts out of their comfort zones.
disgusting!

[sally]

disgusting!

https://twitter.com/WhusDGaj/status/1385616579870724097

[niminy-piminy]

Southern Moravia is worth interest only if you are into drilling oil, boozing, or cross-dressing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_and_g ... h_Republic
Oil and gas deposits in the Czech Republic are ... located mainly in southern Moravia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_wine
Wine in the Czech Republic is produced mainly in southern Moravia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_of_the_Kings
... the "King"; a young boy of 10 to 15 years old, whose face is partially covered, holding a rose in his mouth. The King and his groomsmen are dressed in feminine costumes, while all the other riders wear masculine clothing. After riding through the village for a few hours, sometimes exchanging witticisms with the crowd...

a meditative landscape can be found rather in "Bohemian-Moravian Highlands".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian- ... _Highlands
It forms a big region of rolling hills and low mountains...
The softly, rounded summits offer beautiful and stunning panoramic views of the surrounding countryside, valleys and castles...

[sally]

the "King"; a young boy of 10 to 15 years old, whose face is partially covered, holding a rose in his mouth. The King and his groomsmen are dressed in feminine costumes, while all the other riders wear masculine clothing. After riding through the village for a few hours, sometimes exchanging witticisms with the crowd...

that's a nice place to put a rose. today is st george's day, which, ignoring england (super patriotically), has a catalan custom where apparently a man gives a rose to a woman and she has to give him a book in return! who the hell thought that stupid exchange up? why can't there be a tradition where i lob a daisy at someone and get at least a pamphlet for the trouble

anyway promise us jiri when you next go to your out-city manor to take some nice countryside pics for us

[niminy-piminy]

there is a nice short film about "ride of the kings" called KING'S GAME (Jaromil Jireš, 1967).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171383/

a poor copy available, but i would like to subtitle it (at one point).

[niminy-piminy]

anyway promise us jiri when you next go to your out-city manor to take some nice countryside pics for us

i usually go by train (about 160 km).
via train windows, i captured (via phone) the surrounding landscape like this in the past.

December 2015
https://vimeo.com/161775843

January 2018
https://vimeo.com/254061925

then i pass just a short additional route by bus.
my manor is in the middle of the village.
so not really a trip into the wilderness.
since the middle of January, i wasn't there.
i have only occasional reports from sis that it is not yet a ruin.
i will post all the (East Bohemian) pics i can find in my deposit and will try to make some more in the future.

[niminy-piminy]

this is f.e. how it looks when i visit my sis (who lives in a nearby village) and we go mushrooming in the local woods.
October 2013

[niminy-piminy]

few pics from an abandoned Jewish cemetery at the outskirts (in the middle of the fields) of my hometown.
September 2013
general view & ex-morgue (no human corpses inside anymore, only a few trunks/branches of dry wood).


all-around many ruined gravestones (mostly having an enchanting green hue).


several majestic trees, sometimes two trees as if growing from the common roots.


i don't know if this hole was a well in past.


in any case, a frog inside.

[niminy-piminy]

if anyone wonders, "how was the hazelnut harvest in Eastern Bohemia last autumn?"
i can say, "it was pretty okay." (as compared to the previous years that were lacking rainfall.)

my grandma usually harvested hazelnuts last weekend in August.
she didn't mind if some hazelnuts were eaten by squirrels or spotted nutcrackers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_nutcracker
but she feared raids of human infants going to/from school in September.
thus she used to conduct hazelnut harvest before the new school year starts.
i believe nowadays kids are rather focused on virtual reality and don't give a shit about real-life hazelnuts on trees.
however, i still try to follow the family tradition set by my grandma.
thus i harvested hazelnuts on August 30th (last year).

when a rainbow appeared in the sky (look closely on the first pic!) in the evening of August 30th, 2020, i thought, "time to harvest hazelnuts!"
btw. if you wonder, "what's the "tower" on the pics?" then i have to say, "my manor neighbors with a local firemen station and, in the "tower", the local volunteer firefighters use to dry their hosepipes."
after i started the harvest (in the evening), soon, the rainbow handed over the symbolic rule over the harvest to the (nearly full) moon.


i expect not everyone is familiar with the procedure of hazelnut harvest.
so, the steps are as follows.
1/ first, you have to notice some hazelnuts on the branches.
obviously, it is preferable to do this during the daylight.


2/ second, you have to hoard all the picked hazelnuts in the basket.
3/ then you have to place the basket next to the spot where you accumulate your organic waste (hazelnuts have to be unhusked).
4/ next to the basket is usually placed the chair (it is more comfortable to do the unhusking while sitting).
5/ on the basket, you have to place a low slat box (hazelnuts have to dry before they are stored).
(the last pic portrays the organic waste of the hazelnut harvest — the residue of unhusking.)


btw. the spot where i store organic waste is occasionally visited by a local hedgehog who likes to take a nap among all the rotting rubbish.
snapshot from 2016


but back to the harvest.
(as i already said) August 30, 2020, was a magic evening reigned by the moon.


as i was unhusking the hazelnuts, i noticed the moon became very playful.
1/ first, it was hiding among the roses i grow.


2/ then, it was hiding behind the fence (that delimits the boundaries of my estate).


3/ it even tried to hide behind my chair.


but don't be mistaken, hazelnut harvest is not some ethereal (poetic) activity without any tangible (sublunary) benefit!
after you pick, unhusk, and dry hazelnuts, you can finally crack them and eat them.
and if you grow two types of hazelnuts (ochre and reddish) and while they are drying on a slate box you mix them thoroughly (thus having no clue anymore if the particular hazelnut was picked from "ochre" tree or "reddish" tree), then cracking each hazelnut is a positively suspenseful activity.
it's fun cracking hazelnuts if you don't know in advance if reddish or ochre hazelnut is inside.
btw., both types of hazelnuts taste the same.
the difference between reddish and ochre hazelnuts is purely esthetic.
i grow less reddish hazelnuts and thus they seem exceptional.
but if i would grow fewer ochre hazelnuts my perception of exceptional/common would be exactly the opposite.

[rischka]

this is delightful, jiri. i had no idea about hazelnut harvest. i feel as tho i just watched an ogawa documentary

[niminy-piminy]

the harvest of hazelnuts is less intricate than the harvest of persimmons but it also offers moments of resonance with Earth!

[sally]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

thank you jiri this is so lovely, i feel like i'm in a cosy little fairytale

that coy moon amongst the roses! ♥
(and as i am as allergic to hazelnuts as i am to strawberries, i am totally indifferent to any non-aesthetic nut qualities)

[niminy-piminy]

well, i posted only 6 "coy moon amongst the roses" pics because i don't want to give an impression i was going nuts during the harvest.
but the truth is... as i have the graphomania leanings, i am also prone to take an unlimited number of very similar snapshots.
thus my "hazelnut harvest" album consists of 240 items (many of them very similar).
pics with moon & roses are in sum about 70.
these are 6 more...

[rischka]

LOL no worries, i do this too