The Empire of Death

If I were going to be in Southern California on September 24th at 7pm, I would take the opportunity to meet this guy. Dr. Paul Koudounaris (smaller images above, see complete slideshow of photographs by Mark Berry) is a professor of Baroque art history at California State University Dominguez Hills, and an event on that date is planned to launch his new book, The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses (Facebook page here). Although the official publication date is not until October, copies of the book will be available at this and subsequent events. Dr. Koudounaris will sign them and show a sampling of the hundreds of original photos he took for the book during his research in 20 countries* across 3 continents. In his author/artist statement, he writes:

"Some of the sites I studied are major tourist destinations and famous to this day, but many others are unheard of—located often in remote rural areas, and in some cases found by diligent research, in others by sheer accident. Among them were some which had never before been photographed. Other sites, no longer extant, were discovered in searches through archival material, but even these were sometimes reborn through the discovery of old prints or early photos. I never felt that the subject I was dealing with was death, and in presenting the sites I strove to recontextualize them for a modern audience which is all too inclined to view them as products of morbidity and despair. These sites were intended as statements of hope and beauty, and it was important to me that I find a means through photographs and the writing of history to convey that: these sites represent death only in so far as death itself affirms life."

So, if you want to meet someone who writes like this and looks like that - or if you just have an interest in decorative bones - get thee down to La Luz de Jesus next Saturday.

*Among them Austria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland.

Follow-ups

Gossamer 9/27/09 The oldest spider web on record has been found encased in amber found on an East Sussex beach in the U.K. Scientists at the University of Wyoming have determined exactly what makes cobwebs so sticky. And about my Gossamer post, my sister's delightful comment: "The idea of forcing spiders to work in sweat shops is sort of deliciously sinister. Yes, many frights have occurred thanks to the rc tarantula. I had to draw the line at bringing it in the car."

Pig butchering 9/1/09 Reuters reported that one of the fastest growing do-it-yourself trends is butchering.

More mystery 8/23/09 Follower Kent Schnake was prompted by this Agatha Christie post to look up the most prolific authors, and was surprised by the answer.

Surviving rabies 8/18/09 Follower Megan McCabe sent me the link to this incredible story that aired on "This American Life" (Act I) last Halloween.

Ripley's Seeing is Believing 8/14/09 A story about Lee Redmond, who no longer holds the world's record for the longest fingernails, due to an auto accident.

Hummingbirds 7/28/09 An American designer has developed the eye2eye mask, a helmet with a built-in hummingbird feeder.

Dali and Disney 7/11/09 A photograph has just surfaced (above) showing Salvador Dali exiting the Paris Metro with his pets - a dog and an anteater! And this summer, a Houston, Texas, Salvation Army thrift store was auctioning off several Dali originals that had been donated anonymously to benefit the adult rehabilitation center.

Up in the air 7/5/09 More about fireworks and the Founding Fathers.

Spontaneous human combustion 6/9/09 Over the weekend, a very mysterious death that has the classic signs of SHC occurred here in Brevard County, Florida.

The art of David Teniers the Younger 5/22/09 I mention stolen works of art in this post, and read about the recovery of Picasso's "The Naked Woman" from a house in Iraq.

Iron lung 5/12/09 June Middleton of Australia, who spent 6 decades in an iron lung (and is pictured wearing a portable version) has died at the age of 83.

Marlin Perkins 4/21/09 My Dad had a major sighting to report from his home in Arizona late this summer: "There have been reports of a bobcat in our little community and today I SAW IT! I've never seen one in the wild, only in zoos. He was larger than I expected. He walked along rather casually, then jumped up on a 6 foot high wrought iron fence and leaped toward a couple of rabbits near a big bush. The rabbits and the bobcat went into the bush. I don't know if he made a kill. We were playing golf and had to keep going. Had we not been on the course I would have stayed and waited for him to come out..."

Robo-animals 4/8/09 Video of elephants being outfitted with prosthetic legs.

Albinos 11/18/08 An albino otter was spotted on the Moray coast in the U.K.

Lying in state 11/7/08 In August, longtime reader Angie McLachlan awoke to find that someone had blocked her door, preventing her from answering any calls for embalming until the vehicle had been moved.

Petrified wood 9/30/08 The prize artifact displayed as a moon rock in a Dutch museum has proven to be just a piece of petrified wood.

Kutna Hora ossuary 9/29/08 A descriptive quote from Body of Work by Christine Montross, one of the first books I read on my Kindle: "Without question it is not the bodies that unnerve the most, or even the piles of bones that, if one begins to count how many lives are represented by each sacrum or jawbone, cause the mind to spin and reel. The most disconcerting element of the crypt is that the bones are used not just as memorials or relics but omni-presently as decor, which is injected with a creepy kind of whimsy. From the ceilings hang illuminated chandeliers of cantilevered arm bones and clavicles. The doorways between the chapels are outlined by a filigree of looping ribs. Half pelvises on the walls and ceilings overlap at a central point, flowering out in petaled whorls, and vertebrae are gathered in clusters, forming oddly beautiful wreaths. In some spots the collages of bone convey portentous, tempus fugit-style messages of mortality: The pointed base of one sacrum abuts the base of another so that they, outlined by matching clavicles, form the shape of an hourglass. Two scapulae branch out from the sides of a skull, like wings. On one ceiling the skeleton of a child is mounted - one of three nephews of Pope Urban VIII on display in the crypts. In one small hand, he holds a grim reaper's scythe. In the other the scales of justice, whose chains are made of finger bones, interlaced and dangling."

Kutna Hora Ossuary

I'm not certain who put me in touch with George Higham, but it has been many years since then and I now own 5 of his sculptures, including the box depicted below. The photo above shows George in his studio where he has produced a stop-motion film based on Edgar Allan Poe and a tarot deck (see his website for all the gory details). Speaking of which, during the day George x-rays the dead at the morgue. My first question to him was whether his skeletal sculptures were done from still lifes and he said he had seen enough bones and bodies to conjure them easily out of his head. I told him I was researching Skulls and Skeletons and asked if he was aware of the ossuary in Sedlec, Czech Republic, commonly referred to as Kutna Hora. Not only had he heard of it, he was heading there on vacation the following month! He photographed the church and its profusion of skeletal ornaments and kindly let me reproduce them in my book. After I dressed as Poe for Halloween (see slideshow below), I decided that the actual crow I had prepared by a local taxidermist was going to George for Christmas (it loomed in the museum and was not to be a part of the permanent collection). I hauled the bird and a tiny crystal tree ornament to a well-known pack-and-ship store. The crow (it is illegal to kill an actual raven) was destined for George's studio in New York and the ornament was intended for Aunt Judy in Florida. Guess who got the bird?