Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Art History, II: Two Captains

Kirk, one of the Victorian/Steampunk Star Trek Wallpapers by Rabbit Tooth, who creates some very amusing photo manipulations ("manips").
Steampunk is.. um, well... like, Jules Verne imagined our world and now some of this world is turning around to imagine his.
I'm not very familiar with it, so here's the Wikipedia link.

(I really need to learn photoshop one of these days.)

While I'm in the era, here's the real thing--and my favorite pair of legs in art:
Captain Frederick Burnaby, in his 3rd Household Cavalry uniform, painted by Tissot in 1870.
Burnaby was an adventurer and writer who, among other things, went to Khartoum, Sudan (which I was just proof/reading about) to report on Charles Gordon's ill-fated undertakings there, for The Times.

[Kirk in Art History 101 here.]
[Kirk as Master and Commander here.]
[The Enterprise as a Ship of the Line here.]

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

Steampunk, eeee. I know little about it, but it's a genre that I think is pretty easy to understand intuitively, somehow. The Victorians feel so close to high-tech, somehow. And it's so beautiful and glossy and rich in detail, all the brass and leather and buckles...maybe that's the only way I'm able to enjoy the sensory details, is if they're imaginary and I can intuit them. :)

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

Ahh, that rotter the Mahdi! poor old Gordon - the final indignity was being portrayed by Charlton Heston in the film Khartoum..

..but I digress...

Happy Christmas Fresca, its been a pleasure reading your stuff this year, do keep it up!

Fresca said...

Jen: Right! Steampunk is perfect for people like me who flunked "S" [sensory] on the Myers-Briggs indicator! It's pretty much play in the fields of the mind...though I guess some people actually make the imaginary technology...

Manfred: I was saving Gordon for today--just about to post his pic.
Merry Christmas and thanks for blogging to you too!