About Me

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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Sunday, March 31, 2013

happy easter, happy spring!

thanks wikimedia commons {PD:Art}
Be sure and click on this to make it bigger and easier to see, for this is The Rites of Spring by Frederick Stuart Church.  Church (1842-1942) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to a family prominent in business and politics.  After serving in the Civil War, young Church decided to break with family expectation to study art in Chicago and eventually New York City.  He became an illustrator of particular fame for his ability to anthropomorphise animals into jolly roles such as the ones you see above; I'm happy to say he was also famed for his empathy and kindness to them.  (You might gather this from the illustrations on his letters.)
Here Church shows an impossible assortment of creatures in high revel, bears, lambs, mice and little dogs together with two pretty young ladies, while one bunny blows a serenading horn. I wish each and every one of you such joy and fun to share with your furry folks today and all Spring long.

Happy Easter!

1 comment:

The Lee County Clowder said...

Interesting. Any idea if Church based this on Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" ballet in some way?

Probably a reach, but there is just enough in common to make it possible.