enclos*ure

Vintage landscape: Tokyo hanami

March 27, 2014August 20, 2017 Cindy at enclos*ure7 Comments

“Cherry Flower-Street, at Mukojima, Tokio,” ca. 1880s -90s, by Kimbei Kusakabe, via The New York Public Library Commons.

There’s a good article on the 2014 cherry blossom viewing (hanami) in Tokyo — which starts this week — here.

The arrival of the cherry blossom is keenly anticipated, with round-the-clock news reports providing updates on exactly where and when the fabled flowers will appear alongside all manner of sakura-themed promotions. Advertisements currently on display in the Tokyo Metro suggest that drinking Kirin beer will enhance the hanami experience, and should you be feeling peckish, McDonald’s has helpfully introduced a “cherry blossom burger”, complete with “pink buns”.

— Adrian Bridge, The Telegraph

*Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs. A cherry blossom photo from the same collection here.

Life in gardens: Ivy Cottage

March 25, 2014March 29, 2014 Cindy at enclos*ure1 Comment

The garden of Ivy Cottage, residence of Elisaeus von Seutter, in Jackson, Mississippi, via the E. von Seutter Photograph Collection of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) Commons on flickr.

Elisaeus, the youngest son of German aristocrats, emigrated to New Orleans in 1848, hoping to explore the American west. However, after a series of false starts, he ended up in Raymond, Mississippi, where he trained as a jeweler and later opened a successful jewelry shop. He then travelled to Austria to marry and bring back an old love, Julia Hoch.

The von Seutters lost most of their business and property in Raymond after the Civil War. They moved to Jackson for a fresh start, and Elisaeus built a two-story building for his new jewelry/watchmaking shop and photography studio.

He also built Ivy Cottage on North State Street, and the couple created an impressive garden there.

The above photo is dated c. 1869 by the MDAH, but that seems unlikely, as the house was only just completed at that time. It may have been taken in the late 1870s or early 1880s. From eight births, the von Seutters had only three children who lived past age eleven: Armine, b. 1854; Edward, b. 1860; and Carl, b. 1866. The photo may show Julia standing with the youngest son and one of the older boys in the background.

MDAH’s E. von Seutter collection has 35 stereocards and 48 photographs of post-Civil War Jackson assembled by the von Seutter family. Most were taken by Elisaeus and his son, Armine.

There are more Ivy Cottage photos here.

The Sunday porch: conversation

March 23, 2014April 11, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure9 Comments

“Porch of old house at Monroe St., Mobile[, Alabama],” taken November 4, 1941, by Charles W. Cushman.*

The atmosphere of this porch is still and quiet, but I think there’s something urgent about the conversation. The expression of the young woman in pink is serious; the woman across from her has stopped on her way (in or to her own house?) from the grocery store. They all listen intently to the older woman in light blue.

Cushman was an amateur photographer who began documenting his travels in 1938, using expensive, (then) little-used Kodachrome film. He continued taking color pictures for 32 years, ultimately bequeathing 14,500 slides to his alma mater, Indiana University.

NPR has an interesting audio/slide show on Cushman and his work here, and here is a series of color photos of New York City that he took in the early 1940s.

*Used with the permission of the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection, Indiana University Archives. I originally posted this image in November 2012.

Life in gardens: many pretty devises

March 21, 2014April 11, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

“Ladies seated at their embroidery, including one engaged in lace-making, and another at the virginal, with a man beside her singing. Behind, a formal garden, with clipped hedges, parterres, and fountain.”

The image is from the Album Amicorum of Gervasius Fabricius, 1603-1637, (Würzburg and Salzburg) via The British Library Commons on flickr.

It’s hard to see how any of them could work over their ruffs.

Now for women instead of laborious studies, they have curious Needle-workes, Cut-workes, spinning, bone-lace, and many pretty devises of their own making, to adorne their houses, Cushions, Carpets, Chairs, Stooles, confections, conserves, distillations, etc. which they shew to strangers. . . . This they have to busie themselves about, household offices, etc. neate gardens full of exotick, versicoloure, diversely varied, sweet smelling flowers, and plants, in all kindes, which they are most ambitious to get, curious to preserve and keepe, proud to possesse, and much many times to bragge of.

— Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621