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marshallcolman.bsky.social
Ceramic artist. Writer. Snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. Blog at https://marshallcolman.wordpress.com/
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THE LUNATIC FRINGE A delicious cartoon by Kay Ambrose in Arnold Haskell's Ballet (Penguin, 1938).

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

Guerilla gardening, Brooklyn.

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If you'd like to unroll my blog posts on silk, taste and trade, just follow the link here. marshallcolman.academia.edu

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SILK IN PARADISE I wanted to see how silk was made so I went to the Macclesfield Silk Museum. There’s a good tour of Paradise Mill, the restored factory where silk was woven by hand until 1981. The looms were left in place when Cartwright & Sheldon closed, unlike in most other heritage museums…

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (7) After Benjamin Robert Haydon had told his tale to William Ewart’s committee, Sir Martin Archer Shee, the President of the Royal Academy, was called in to answer his charges. Ewart gave him a far less sympathetic hearing than Haydon, pressing him on the exclusiveness of…

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (6) Of the thirty-seven witnesses before William Ewart’s committee on arts and manufactures who were asked to make a judgement about design, thirty-four said that British design was inferior to French design, two said Britain and France were more or less the same, and one…

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (5) Benjamin Robert Haydon was an artist who wanted to create great history paintings but had wildly exaggerated ideas about his own genius. He was tactless rude, unworldly and paranoid. His admirable confidence in his ability was not shared by everyone. He disproves the…

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marshallcolman.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/s...

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DeepSeek

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (3) John Bowring, a main witness at Lord Grosvenor’s select committee on the silk industry in 1832 and William Ewart’s select committee on arts and manufacture in 1835 was forceful, energetic, knowledgeable and a Francophile. He achieved much in life but, like many pushy men,…

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (2) As soon as it was known in 1824 that the importation of French silks was to be permitted in two years’ time, British merchants ran down their stocks in anticipation of being able to buy cheaper goods in the future. New orders declined and weavers were laid off. Once the…

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SILK, TASTE AND TRADE (1) William Ewart, MP (1798 - 1869) at about the time of his enquiry into arts and manufactures. There was a repeated refrain among design reformers up until the Second World War that British manufacturers could not compete with foreign goods because their products were badly…

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Here is a nice vase I made.

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Kevin McCloud in the Sagrada Familia: "How much are you over budget?"

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✏️ Scriveners in Damascus (Syria), 19th Century #Damascus #Syria #Writing

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Le roi décrète, Golfe d'Orléans.

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Not boring.

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A dish I made a few years ago, press moulded and decorated in-glaze.

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Pompeo Batoni ran a successful business painting flattering portraits of unprepossessing young Englishmen on the Grand Tour. This is Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh with wreaths of fruit and corn.

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The little flint-and-brick smokehouse in Cley-Next-The-Sea. KIPPERS, BLOATERS, RED HERRING, MACKEREL, SMOKIES, KILN ROAST SALMON, GRAVADLAX.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Other work of the Ladybird artists. Fox Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

submitted 21 days ago • 5 comments

Bit of random hunting around let me to this portrait of Russian poet Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius by Léon Bakst. Can’t say I’ve heard of either of them before but I do like this painting. (1906)

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Marianne Faithfull #RIP (1946-2025) Le Coeur Gros (1966) Hugues Aufray cover youtu.be/J9Qx0arYdgw?...

submitted 28 days ago • 5 comments

Remain curious.

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments