an observer

Once rare, by 1915, nearly 900 million had been mailed in the U.S., with some 3,000 unique Halloween-themed designs. These cards helped cement the holiday’s iconography: black cats, jack-o’-lanterns, witches’ brooms. But they also captured now-forgotten rituals like apple bobbing, scrying, and cow pranks.

Whimsy meets stagecraft: These 1915 stage designs by William Penhallow Henderson bring Alice in Wonderland to life in vivid color and imagination. Created for The Players Producing Company of Chicago, they reflect Henderson’s signature touch — a post-impressionist artist known for his paintings, furniture, and visionary American design.

The wild stillness of nature through the eyes of a self-taught visionary.

Detailed, vintage landscape drawings capture the art and precision of early 20th-century estate garden planning.

A symbolic painting depicting a serene female figure, Time, flanked by two cherubs, life’s phases. Rendered in calming blue tones against a radiant gold background, the piece blends natural, sacred, and classical elements to evoke continuity and reflection.

Donatello, Pazzi Madonna (c. 1420–25) A groundbreaking marble relief created using Donatello’s signature stiacciato technique, this intimate depiction of the Madonna and Child, with no halos to distract, radiates classical restraint, spiritual expression, and revolutionary perspective within a compact devotional format.

Simonetti—working from his theatrically staged studio, other artists' illustrations, traveler's descriptions, photographs, props—crafts an imagined Orientalist scene.

Simonetti—working from studio props, other artists' illustrations, traveler's descriptions, photographs—crafts an imagined Orientalist scene.

Simonetti—working from studio props, other artists' illustrations, traveler's descriptions, photographs—crafts an imagined Middle Eastern courtyard, where artifice and atmosphere intertwine.

Optics: A Soap Bubble Colour mezzotint by M. Rapine after Blaise-Alexandre Desgoffe, c. 1883. An ephemeral moment made eternal: a soap bubble shimmering with interference colours, its surface holding the science of light and the wonder of transience.

With nothing but a small blade and a soldier’s longing, he transformed remnants of the forest floor into delicate, translucent love letters. These leaves, etched during rare moments of stillness in the trenches, are not just craft—they are preservation of identity, memory, and a life beyond war.

Featuring classical motifs, scrollwork, and architectural embellishments, the catalogue reflects the craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities of the period, offering insight into the materials and styles popular in decorative arts and woodwork of the time.

His personal photo collection, possibly linked to his research, includes unidentified erotic images resembling 19th-century "French postcards" featuring unknown models.

1889. Wisbeach, England.

1889. Wisbeach, England.

Édouard Bisson