My final selection of paintings by Pierre Bonnard looks at one of his most interesting pictorial devices: the landscape view through French or other windows.

Bonnard developed a taste for views from high points in his cityscapes of Paris during the last years of the nineteenth century. Many of his paintings from that time adopt a high viewpoint from the second or third floor, and look down on bustling people, carriages, and pets in the street. But as far as I can see, he didn’t include the frame of the window in those views.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Street Scene (The Auteuil Viaduct) (c 1910), oil on canvas, 61.5 x 46.3 cm, Private collection. The Athenaeum.

The first sign of him framing a view in this way is in an unusual painting of this Street Scene (The Auteuil Viaduct) made in this town to the west of Paris in about 1910…

Tycho is the Latinized form of Danish Tyge, itself the Danish form of Tóki which comes from Old Norse element Þórr meaning “thunder” which comes from Proto-Germanic *Þunraz (thunder) which derives from a PIE root word. I’ve also seen it listed as possibly being a Latinized form of Greek Tychon meaning “to hit a target; hitting the mark” deriving from PIE root word *dʰewgʰ- (to produce; to be strong, have force). In Greek mythology, Tychon is the name of a daemon of fertility; there’s also another Tychon who is the daemon of chance or accident, who is similar to Tyche, a Greek goddess of fortune,  chance, providence, and fate (even their names come from the same root word).

Origin: Proto-Indo-European

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Variants:

• Tyge (Danish)
• Thyge (Danish)
• Tyko (Finnish)
• Tóki (Ancient Scandinavian)
• Tychon (Ancient Greek)

Daphne is the name of a naiad (a female nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, rivers, streams, brooks, and any type of fresh water) in Greek mythology. One day she caught the eye of the god Apollo and he pursued her in spite of her rejections. Just as he was about to catch her, Daphne called out to her father, the river god Ladon, for help (in some versions it’s the goddess of the earth, Gaia) and was transformed into a laurel tree. Since than, Apollo adopted the laurel as one of his symbols and a wreath of laurels was given as a prize for the victors in games. Daphne means “laurel, bay” from Ancient Greek which may be derived from a much older source, possibly pre-Greek, but that’s uncertain.

Origin: Ancient Greek

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Variants:

• Daphné (French)
• Daphnée (French)
• Dafni (Modern Greek)
• Dafina (Albanian, Macedonian)
• Dafne (Italian)

Kein neuer Commissario

– Guttapercha –

Keine Sorge, Guttapercha ist nicht noch ein neuer “Commissario” und der Tote aus Borneo auch keine exotische Leiche. Aber eins nach dem anderen!

Auf den Fahrten der „Fürth“ treffen wir einige Waren an, die heute weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten sind, wie zum Beispiel die Guttapercha oder auch nur kurz Gutta genannt. Wenn Sie nicht gerade in einem Dentallabor arbeiten, sind Sie wahrscheinlich noch nie in Berührung mit diesem, zur Zeit unseres Dampfschiffes „Fürth“, sehr begehrten Rohstoff gekommen. Ich auch nicht.

Und wer weiß heute schon noch, dass der weltweite Erfolg des größten deutschen Industrieunternehmens, der Firma Siemens, zu einem großen Teil auf dieser Substanz und ihrer Verarbeitung beruht?

Aber beginnen wir auf der Insel Java, wo die „Fürth“ regelmäßig Batavia, Soerabaya und auch Tjilatjap anlief (heute Djakarta, Surabaya und Cilacap) und Guttapercha nach Europa brachte.

Guttapercha-Verarbeitung auf Java (ca. 1920/1930); Quelle: commons.wikimedia.org, File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM…