A Flowering for the Ages

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Flowering for the Ages Botanists who classify and name plants are called plant taxono­mists, plant systema­tists, or systematic botanists, most of whom work in her­baria, a name first applied by Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), the great Swedish systematist. A herbarium, the plant taxono­mist’s basic reference source, is a collection of preserved plant specimens, mostly pressed and dried (although certain specimens...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Fancy That! “Capricious Fancy: Draping and Curtaining, 1790-1930,” an exhibition tracing the history of design sources for draping and curtaining American and European interiors during the span of nearly one hundred and fifty years, will open at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia on Monday, December 6 [1993]. On view will be a selection of rare books, prints, and trade catalogues drawn...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Thomas Eakins edited by John Wilmerding Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994 (212 pages, cloth, $49.95) “Frank,” “brutal,” “raw,” “uncompro­mising,” “diabolically realistic,” and “manly” were terms once used to describe the work of Philadelphian Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), one of the greatest American painters of the...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Conceived and funded by industrialist and philanthropist Henry Phipps (1839-1930), the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park opened, without ceremony, in December 1893. The original complex – which cost more than one hundred thousand dollars – was designed and erected by Lord and Burnham of Irving­ton-on-the-Hudson, New York, a firm noted for its construction...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Fountains of Philadelphia: A Guide By Jim McClelland Stackpole Books, 2005 (80 pages, paper, $14.95) Fountains of Philadelphia: A Guide, replete with eighty color photographs, several maps, and a bibliography, celebrates the artistry of the city’s famous – and not-so-famous – fountains, from the monumental Washington Monument on Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum...
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