European Antiquities

I am neither a photographer or an antiquarian, but I do love antiquities, which makes me a menace with a digital camera. These photo galleries feature sites in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey. There are a lot of antiquities here. They all interested me, but proceed at your own risk. France Ancient Alyscamps Cemetery French Castles And Chateaux, A Sampling Mont-Saint-Michel The 12th Century Fontevraud-L’Abbaye Normandy Sites to See Paris Antiquities & More South of France Antiquities St. Trophime, Arles Spain Barcelona Toledo Italy Some Churches of Rome The Roman Forum And Colosseum Rainy Day in Pompeii

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Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval

The 19th century postman’s pastime is one of the world’s most important art environments, in the little town of Hauterives, France. Here are photos from a 2018 visit. For more information visit Spacesarchives. And see a collection of vintage postcards here. Near the Palais is the cemetery where Cheval built himself a mausoleum as remarkable as the Palais.

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The Rainbow Beach Carvings

The revetment and jetty at the south end of Rainbow Beach and adjacent to the northeast corner of the Sawyer Water Plant host more than 700 rock carvings, many made by lifeguards in the 1950s and 60s. These carvings represent a rich record of summer life at the beach as well as including a number of significant individual works of art. It’s also the location with the largest number of identifiable carvers. These galleries feature highlights from the Rainbow Beach carvings. Read the Chicago Lakeshore Art Story

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The Morgan Shoal And La Rabida Rock Carvings

Many of Chicago’s oldest lakefront carvings are on the badly deteriorated revetments along Morgan Shoal in Hyde Park. The more than 1,000 carvings there, between 45th and 50th Streets in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, are in imminent danger of being lost. This section of lakefront is in terrible condition, with many of the old rocks topsy turvy and falling into the lake. The condition of the revetments is such that they cannot be rehabilitated, but that does not mean the rocks and their carvings must be abandoned. The city is proceeding with a project to rebuild and expand the shoreline here,

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A Joe “40,000” Murphy Update

I believe the first content I posted to this Web site was a piece about Joe “40,000” Murphy, the Chicago usher who created an art environment inside his South Side house and nearby five-car garage. That was in 1994, not long after I had acquired more than 700 pieces of art previously salvaged from Murphy’s property in anticipation of its sale. Murphy had died in 1979. Bits and pieces of the work have been exhibited in the years since then, most notably at Randolph Street Gallery in 1994, Aron Packer Gallery in 1997 (both Chicago) and in a traveling show

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