Plenty of Nothing

Tetsuya Ishida

This surrealistic funeral scene by Tetsuya Ishida could have been the inspiration for the covers of the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service books.

Victor Ambrus

I'm a huge fan of Victor Ambrus, an illustrator whose eye for historical costume is unsurpassed in our day and age. You might know him from Time Team, or from one of about a million children's books he's illustrated. Here's a set of stamps he designed for the Isle of Man. I pretty desperately need to study his book Ways of Drawing Hands. His website. Time Team Isle of Man episode.

Göteborgs Konsthall

The Large Salon of the Göteborgs Konsthall, which opened beside the Göteborgs Konstmuseum on this date as part of the 1923 Gothenburg Exhibition. The building has always been used for contemporary art, and the first featured artist was Edvard Munch. It's still going today.

Mark Marsters, "Rescuing the Gorilla Girl"

Richard Dadd Eyes

Richard Dadd (1817-86) is a Victorian artist best remembered for the fairy painting The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke. He had a lifelong interest in romantic, mythological and Oriental subjects. But his defining quality is his craziness. In 1843 he stabbed his father to death and the next year he was committed to a mental institution and was never again at liberty. He continued to paint, however, and his subjects often exhibit the intensely bright yet inward stare of the girl above.

Stark Staring

Richard Dadd's portrait of Sir Alexander Morison, alienist, with fishwives. From the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Greenock Morton make their final visit of 2012-13 to Raith Rovers' Stark's Park this afternoon.

Morton Reserves beat Partick Reserves 3 - 1 Monday.

Partick took over first place Wednesday when they beat Cowdenbeath 0 - 3. Partick enter today's play one point up on Morton with a game in hand. Raith, Falkirk and Dunfermline were all eliminated from the title race Wednesday, and Queen of the South won the Second Division.

Dunfermline have gone into administration. There is still no set point reduction for a club entering adminstration, despite the fact that it happens nearly every year, so the Pars will have to wait and see how far they will be forced into the relegation zone. They laid off most of their first team Thursday. Partick have signed two of them.

Partick visit Cowdenbeath for the second time this week.

The 12-12-18 scheme is hitting significant opposition among Second and Third Division clubs, so SPL2 is back on the table. If the First Division is replaced this summer by an SPL2 whose founding membership is decided by invitation, expect Rangers to be in it and Dunfermline out. Morton would be invited I imagine.

In the meantime, Morton has announced a £750,000 stadium improvement program which includes new seats, a new pitch and a temporary groundsharing agreement with St Mirren in case the renovations stretch into next season, should the club gain promotion.

[Raith win 2 - 1. Morton goal by Wilkie. Partick win, and are now four points up with a game in hand. Partick play again Tuesday (against Raith) but not next Saturday due to their Ramsdens Cup final against Queen of the South.] [Rangers have won their first ever Third Division title.]

Tomorrow Sapporo host Gamba Osaka in a meeting of the recently demoted. [Gamba win.]

Squirrels of the Mughal Empire

The British Library has an exhibition of Mughal art on now.

Jiro Takidaira

Oh! Just discovered Jiro Takidaira. He practiced kiri-e or cut paper picture making, an art somewhere between manga and woodcut. This changes everything. See here. And here for an article about the discovery of a batch of his sketches, which were normally cut up in the picture-making process. And here.

Stora Bryggeriets öl

The advertising poster was one of the great art forms of a century ago and Stora Brewery of Stockholm was all over it. Sources: top, middle, bottom.

Sybil Andrews

Winch (1930), from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sybil Andrews' designs from the early Thirties are fantastic.