Ferdinand Cheval

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Facteur_Cheval_-_Fa%C3%A7ade_Est.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

French postman Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) tripped on a stone in April 1879 and was never the same again. Claiming he’d been inspired, he began collecting stones during his daily rounds, carrying them home in huge quantities and assembling them at night by the light of an oil lamp.

After 20 years he’d completed the outer walls of his palais idéal (“ideal castle”), combining styles suggested by the Bible and Hindu mythology. But when Cheval finished the project after 33 years of work, authorities refused to let him be buried in it. So he built his own mausoleum.

His dedication was rewarded — he was interred there the following year.

| Art · Oddities

Graduated Rulers

Stretch out this image by Erhard Schön …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OpticalIllusion.JPG

… and you’ll see images of Charles V, Ferdinand I, Pope Paul III, and Francis I:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OpticalIllusion.JPG

Big deal, you say, anyone with a computer can make a compressed image.

Well, Schön made this one 1535, as a wood carving. Beat that.

| Art · Oddities · Technology

No Dipping

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prag_ginger_u_fred_gehry.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Prague’s “Dancing House” is nicknamed “Fred and Ginger,” for obvious reasons.

Such a controversial design would normally be denied, but former president Václav Havel is a strong supporter of avant-garde architecture … and he owns the building next door.

| Art · Oddities · Society

Fallen Astronaut

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fallen_Astronaut.jpg

There’s only one piece of art on the moon: Fallen Astronaut, an 8.5-cm aluminum sculpture of an astronaut in a spacesuit. It’s meant to honor astronauts and cosmonauts who died furthering space exploration … but it’s also a testament to the almost limitless patience of its creator.

Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck agreed to the project after meeting astronaut David Scott at a dinner party. Making art for the moon is pretty demanding in itself — it has to be lightweight, sturdy, and tolerant of temperature extremes. But NASA also said the figure couldn’t be identifiably male or female, nor of any identifiable ethnic group. On top of that, because Scott wanted to avoid the commercialization of space, they didn’t want to make Van Hoeydonck’s name public.

The artist agreed to all this, and in 1971 Apollo 15 put Fallen Astronaut on the moon, along with a plaque listing 14 fallen space explorers. Van Hoeydonck even agreed to create a replica for the National Air and Space Museum “with good taste and without publicity.”

But he finally balked when Scott tried to talk him out of selling 950 signed replicas for $750 apiece at New York’s Waddell Gallery in 1972. A guy’s got to make a living.

| Art · Science & Math

Hare Raising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hase_Colletto_Fava.jpg

This is Hase, a 200-foot bunny erected in September on an Italian mountainside by the Viennese art group Gelatin.

You’re welcome to climb around on it. No rush — it’ll be there until 2025.

| Art

Source Forge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SupperatEmmaus-Meegeren.jpg

One of these Vermeers is a forgery. Which is it?

Click for Answer
| Art · Crime · Puzzles

A Tennessee Parthenon

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Parthenonnashville1.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Nashville’s Centennial Park contains a full-scale replica of the Parthenon.

Like the original in Athens, it’s “more perfect than perfect”: To counter optical effects, the columns swell slightly as they rise, and the platform on which they stand curves slightly upward. So the temple looks even more symmetrical than it actually is.

| Art · Science & Math