Category Archives: Art

Picturing Maps

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I have long been intrigued by old school pictoral maps. The exmples above and below are from the  University of Michigan’s Clark Library Maps collection, each shows the United States through a different cultural lens, covering everything from literary giants … Continue reading →

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The supply of strange ideas is not endless.

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The Flight of Pigeons from the Palace” by Donald Barthelme In the abandoned palazzo, weeds and old blankets filled the rooms. The palazzo was in bad shape. We cleaned the abandoned palazzo for ten years. We scoured the stones. The … Continue reading →

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Wonderground

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

This pictorial map of London was originally published in 1914 as an advertising poster for the London Underground. The design became very popular with the public and was published in several different editions. It is credited with reviving Tube travel as well as … Continue reading →

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Brave New World

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Brave New World, 1945. Adolph Arthur Dehn. Lithograph on wove paper. “Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the … Continue reading →

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Some Good Advice

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

In 2006, Ms. Lockwood, an English teacher at Xavier High School in New York City, gave her students an assignment to write persuasive letters inviting their favorite authors to the school. Five students chose Kurt Vonnegut. Though 84-year-old Vonnegut couldn’t … Continue reading →

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Good Books

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Good books are friendly things to own. If you are busy they will wait. They will not call you on the phone Or wake you if the hour is late. They stand together row by row, Upon the low shelf … Continue reading →

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Spinoza’s Airtight Case

Posted on April 16, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/488 Support the comic on Patreon!  

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How to organize a home library

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

 

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More Than Just The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Posted on April 6, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

If you stop by here on a regular basis, you are probably aware that I am a fan of Japanese woodblock printing. Most folks are familiar with “Under the Wave off Kanagawa”  by  ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo … Continue reading →

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Decoding the Heavens

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The Astronomicum Caesareum (1540) by the German mathematician, astronomer and cartographer Petrus Apianus was used by the privileged – including the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, who commissioned it, and the Tudor king Henry VIII – to find guidance, knowledge and fate in the stars. … Continue reading →

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