"Children at Play" (Chinese Art)

"Children at Play" Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, April 2010. Last year I saw this exhibition and I thought these paintings 齊白石 (Qi Baishi) were just so charming I had to post about them on this blog. The painting on the left (c. 1930) is called 夜讀圖 ("Studying at Night"), and the one on the right (also c. 1930) is 送子師從 ("Taking the Son to School"). The paintings seem quite sympathetic toward the child's plight.

Incidentally, the name 齊白石 is a pseudonym. The self-taught artist was known for landscape painting (among other things), and 白石 literally means "White Stone," suggesting snow-covered mountains.

For more about the artist and his legacy, see here.

Guide to Arabic Calligraphy

Guide to the Arabic alphabet, "Calligraphy of the Islamic World," Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art, 2007. This pamphlet offers a chart providing information on the letters of the Arabic alphabet and it also allows you to trace the proper strokes in order to write السلام عليكم (As-Salāmu `Alaykum = "Peace be with you"). I'm not exactly sure if the chart of letter forms is all that useful, since Arabic letters (as I understand it) must change their shape depending on where they appear in a given word.

(For more on calligraphy in Muslim cultures, see this online exhibition. To see another chart of the Arabic alphabet with cute animal pictures, see this earlier post.)

GOTV (Get Out The Vote) Posters [Election 2008 Flashback]

These election posters (placed in spots were windows once were) encourage people to get out and vote in the 2008 elections. These were on the wall of an abandoned school building in the SE Quadrant, Inauguration Day 2009. Above (center), a poster featuring an adorable little girl encourages Spanish-speaking voters to take part in the election: Ella confia en ti para tomar la decisión correcta ... Tu país también. ¡Voto! ("She trusts you to make the right choices...so does your country.") On the left, a week-long pill box organizer has 4 compartments raised to read VOTE (a plea to elderly voters perhaps?).

Above, posters targeting African Americans (right) and Asian Americans (left). The whole "Wok + Dutch Oven = Asian American" thing is a bit silly, but it's an attractive poster nonetheless.

Obsolete Library Catalog Cards (Library of Congress)

The emergence of the online public-access catalog has largely rendered the traditional library card catalog obsolete. At the Library of Congress, which has a searchable online catalog, this point is made especially clear: old paper catalog cards are unceremoniously stacked among blank pieces of scrap paper. Above is a sampling of old cards I picked up this afternoon (click to enlarge). Counter-clockwise from top left: records for 2 films in English, then other items in German, Spanish, Danish, Russian, and 2 in Hungarian.

For an engaging history of the library card catalog, see here. To see some creative ways of using "retired" library catalog cards, see here.

Txt ad nt so gr8

Shouldn't an ad for graduate study at least use proper grammar and punctuation? Somehow this attempt to appear "cool" via texting lingo doesn't really inspire much confidence. On the metro, September 2010.

Paris: Neighborhoods (Jewish, Japanese, Latin)

This blog entry goes through a few distinctive neighborhoods in Paris: le Marais (the old Jewish Quarter), le quarter japonais (Japanese Quarter, around la Rue Sainte-Anne), and le quartier latin (Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne - so called because university scholars used to speak Latin).

Here's a typical storefront in the Marais advertising merchandise in Hebrew and French. Incidentally, the word "Librarie" doesn't mean "library" - it means "bookshop" (the French word for library is "bibliotheque").

This excellent restaurant, "l'As du Fallafel," advertises its signature attractions in Hebrew: falafel (פלפל) and shwarma (השאוורמה). It's worth noting that the origin of falafel is disputed; some would claim it is Arab in origin. Whatever its origin, the food is delicious.

A closer view of the take-out order window reveals playing card aces (the word "As" in the restaurant name means "ace") and the motto of the establishment is "Toujour Imité Jamais Égalé" (Always Imitated, Never Equaled) - a nice jab at all the rival restaurants that have opened up nearby.

Along the Rue Sainte-Anne there's a stretch of Japanese restaurants - here's the menu for Naniwa-Ya, which probably has the best Japanese noodle soup I've ever eaten. The Japanese menu reads in the traditional manner, up-down and left-to-right. Oddly, the menu uses the letters YA rather than the kanji (character) 屋 or や (ya).

On one of the walls inside the Sorbonne I saw this sign advertising a photo competition for an international language study program. "No entiendo" is Spanish for "I don't understand," and the French translation ("Je ne comprends pas") is the URL for the website. I find it ironic that the acronym ESL (English as a Second Language) doesn't need any translation.

Inside one of the bathrooms in the university, some pedantic graffiti. One person demands that the maintenance staff replace the hand towels, and another person corrects the first person's grammatical error, correcting "essuies-main" to the proper French form "essuie-mains" (hand-towels).

Chinese Characters, Early Modern Readers

I stopped by the Folger Shakespeare Library's "Imagining China" exhibit today one more time today (wanted to make sure to see it again before it closes). This display case shows how Early Modern readers (mis)understood Chinese writing. You can't make out all the text in this photo but you at least get a sense of how Early Modern printers in the West (attempted to) reproduce(d) the characters.

For more on this particular issue, see this section of the Folger website (not sure how long it will remain active); see also this previous posting.

Bon Appétit!

Anyone practicing the art of French cooking this Thanksgiving? Here's Julia Child's diploma from Le Cordon Bleu. The French text seems to reflect her status as the only woman in her graduating class: M. (for "Monsieur") is replaced by "Mrs." The reading "M. Mrs." is an unexpected quirk - it seems to me that the calligrapher could have simply added two more letters to make M. (Monsieur) into Mme. (Madame) or Mrs.

For more on Julia Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian, see the National Museum of American History website.

P.S. Mrs. Julia Child was not the first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu; that honor actually goes to English chef Dione Lucas.

Arabic Word of the Day

This photo was taken just about two years ago (December 2007), when the language center where I work posted this Arabic word of the day: ثلج (snow). The sign includes the word (in original script), its pronunciation, meaning, and its use in a sentence.

I overheard someone make this comment as I was taking the photo: "There's actually an Arabic word for snow?"

LOC Printers' Marks, Latin and Greek Mottos

Library of Congress, November 2009. Two early printers' marks painted on the ceiling of the Jefferson Building.

On the left, D. Appleton & Co. (note D A & CO on the shield). The Latin inscription in the ribbon reads INTER FOLIA FRUCTUS (fruit among the leaves) = e.g., the  "leaves" (i.e., pages of book) yield "fruit" (knowledge).

On the right, the De Vinne Press. The Greek inscription is a citation from "Prometheus Bound" (Προμηθεύς δεσμώτης), a tragedy by Aeschylus (Αἰσχύλος):

καὶ μὴν ἀριθμόν, ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων,
ἐξηῦρον αὐτοῖς γραμμάτων τε συνθέσεις,
μνήμην ἁπάντων, μουσομήτορ᾽ ἐργάνην. (Fragment β' lines 459-61)

[Prometheus speaks here: "Yes, and numbers, too, chiefest of sciences, I invented for them (humans), and the combining of letters, creative mother of the Muses' arts, with which to hold all things in memory."]

If you're interested, you can take a look at the original Greek text and an English translation.

LOC Printer's Mark Display

Library of Congress, November 2009. A snazzy interactive computer display allows the visitor to view another early printer's mark. Note the stylized "R" for the name Rosenbach.

For more on this particular mark, see this page on the LOC website.

LOC Printer's Mark, Caxton

Library of Congress, November 2009. A rarely-noticed ceiling motif in the ceiling of the Jefferson Building is its sequence of early printers' marks. These symbols were in some respects precursors to modern corporate trademarks or logos, but they could also evoke heraldic devices. Here's the late 15th-century mark of William Caxton, the first English printer (note the stylized W and C).

For more on the symbolism of printers' marks, see this section of the LOC website or the subsequent posts.

Heraldry Endures

I visited the Folger Shakespeare Library yesterday and noticed this emblem on the security police uniforms. The Library's security forces have has adopted Shakespeare's family arms as its emblem. In the 1590s, the Shakespeare family was granted permission to use these arms; note that the shield bears a spear (alluding to the name "Shakespeare") and the original arms bore a motto as well: "Non Sanz Droict" [French = not without right]. For more on these arms, see this PBS documentary website.

The use of the Bard's arms invites a number of questions: Is the police badge the modern descendant of the knight's shield? Since Shakespeare has no direct living descendants, are the Folger police force among his metaphorical heirs?

Arabic Alphabet Animals

This sign advertising Arabic-language lessons has been posted up around my place of work for a few months now.

The alphabet proceeds right-to-left (note the use of red to indicate the first letter of each word) and the list includes a few animals with names relatively similar to their English counterparts: e.g. in the first row جمل (jamal) = camel; in the second row  زرافة (zaraafah) = giraffe; in the third row غزال (ghazaal) = gazelle.

P.S. [Added September 2010] I've noticed that you can find a larger version of this chart (with basic Arabic lessons) at this website.

Eastern Bloc Posters and Photographs

More images from GW's Global Resources Center. Here, a Romanian poster bears the words "Goodbye Comrade." An informational pamphlet from this exhibit's 1999 manifestation has more on this particular poster.

Above, a German dissident poster, fall 1989. The chant "WIR sind das Volk" (WE are the people) eventually morphed into "Wir sind EIN Volk" (We are ONE people), expressing desire for the reunification of East and West.

Here, a Czech poster celebrates "Velvet Revolution" of November 1989; the subtitle apparently reads "it's already here."

The caption next to this poster in the exhibition reads "no caption necessary." Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

P.S. For related postings, see here and here.

Berlin Wall, Pieces of History

Global Resources Center, Gelman Library, George Washington University. An exit sign for the American sector of Berlin bears an inscription in four languages: English, Russian, French, and (in much smaller sized writing) German. English-language graffiti adds another layer of textual complexity.

P.S. The Global Resources Center at GW has organized a series of events to commemorate the Eastern Bloc revolutions of 1989. Other related DC resources: "Making the History of 1989," a website maintained by George Mason University in conjunction with the NEH, CHNM, and German Historical Institute; see also the German Embassy's "Freedom Without Walls" website and my previous post; see this posting too.

P.P.S. Here's a clean version of the sign above, from the display at the Newseum:

Shakespeare in Chinese

I highly recommend the current exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library entitled "Imagining China: The View from Europe, 1550-1700" (it explores relationships between Early Modern Europe and China - including a fascinating collection of maps, letters, documents, and other artifacts).

Today I noticed some new "family guides" for the exhibition. The "Learn Chinese!" flyer (left, above) invites readers to pronounce Chinese characters, including the standard phonetic transcription of the name "Shakespeare" (莎士比亞 shā shì bǐ yà).

I'm glad to see the Chinese text has been carefully prepared, but I must admit some indication of the proper tones in the phonetic transcriptions would have been welcome (especially if this flyer is inviting readers to "sound out" the words).

Curiously, the red box with caption "One China, Many Names" (right, above) resonates with contemporary geopolitics. Both mainland China and the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) officially claim that there is only "one China" (中国 Zhōng guó, in Mandarin; 中國 Tiong-kok in Taiwanese) - but arriving at a shared definition of "one China" is a difficult matter.

P.S. It just occurred to me that the final syllable of the transliteration for the name "Shakespeare" (亞 yà) also happens to appear in 亞 洲 yà zhōu ("Asia").

P.P.S. For a related post, see this later entry.

Bad Omen?

Last week the Sackler Gallery proudly announced the opening of "Falnama: The Book of Omens," a book of divination widely used in the Islamic world.  Unfortunately, "error message gibberish" has already ruined the display on this electronic information kiosk. Sign of things to come?

Capitol Hill: Yu Ying Public Charter School

Capitol Hill. Signs for the Yu Ying public charter school (offers Chinese language immersion) have been up around town for some time now.

I'm baffled by the name of the school (育英 = Yu Ying). The school's website claims 育英 means "cultivate excellence," but 英 often means "English" which gives me the impression this is about teaching Chinese speakers English (and not vice versa). Maybe I'm missing something.