“…the eternal black night, death under the colourless earth” – James Ensor on his dread of death     Belgian painter and printmaker James Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) etched his Seven Deadly Sins in 1904. To hammer home the message of human foolishness, malice and the farce we construct around ourselves, … Continue reading "The Seven Deadly Sins Under Death’s Dominion by James Ensor, 1904" The post The Seven Deadly Sins Under Death’s Dominion by James Ensor, 1904 appeared first on Flashbak.

Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters, anyone seeking a professional look hired a studio photographer. These portraits of couples from the 1970s are a release from all that narcissism. The lovers paid for these pictures because they wanted one picture of themselves good enough to hang on a … Continue reading "Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s" The post Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s appeared first on Flashbak.

“They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark Ellen   In 1976, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her friend, the sociologist Dr. Karen Folger Jacobs, documented the lives of women living in the high-security, all-female wing of the Oregon State Hospital … Continue reading "Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976" The post Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976 appeared first on Flashbak.

This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer Manuel Orazi (1860 – 1934) was printed in an symbolic edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page uses the Christian calendar (name days, iconography), but this year of magic is rooted … Continue reading "Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895" The post Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895 appeared first on Flashbak.