• artists,  bowler,  hats,  painters,  photography,  sculptors,  top hats,  vintage

    Who didn’t get the ‘No Top Hats’ memo?

    Berlin Secession exhibition, 1906. I guess Lovis Corinth didn’t get that memo?

    Jury for the Berlin Secession 1908 exhibition. From the left: sculptors Fritz Klimsch and August Gaul, painters Walter Leistikow and Hans Baluschek, art dealer Paul Cassirer, painters Max Slevogt (sitting) and George Mosson (standing), sculptor Max Kruse, painters Max Liebermann (sitting), Emil Rudolf Weiß and Lovis Corinth.

    from Wikipedia
  • artists,  hats,  painters,  portraits

    Self portrait as a hunter

    Love the humour in this self portrait, Max Slevogt’s portraits do come over as a bit pompous but pretty sure this one from 1907 ‘Selbstbildnis als Jäger’ was a tongue in cheek one.

    I can’t think of an artist less like a hunter than Max with his cigars and glasses…

  • artists,  bowler,  hats,  painters,  paintings,  portraits

    Max Slevogt bowler self-portrait

    Returning more to the blog’s main theme, here’s a self-portrait from German impressionist painter Max Slevogt, 1913 ‘Selbstbildnis Mit Schwarzem Hut’ which roughly translated is ‘Self-portrait with black hat’ – of course a bowler.

    Doesn’t look like he’s that fond of the city? More info here.

  • antiqueerian,  bromance,  hats,  photography,  portraits,  top hats,  victorians,  vintage

    Merrick Toppers

    Top hats in 1872. A cabinet portrait of two men linking arms, possibly brothers or close friends, photographed in 1872 or 1873 at the “Merrick” photographic studio at 33 Western Road, Brighton, which was owned by Brighton entrepreneur Joseph Langridge (1812-1895).”

    Yeah, ‘friends’, totally friends, LOL. *gaydar goes to max*. Again from the Photo History Sussex site, a treasure trove and even talks about the different types of top hats, something I’ve ranted on before about those doing costume drama using the wrong types….

  • hats,  top hats

    “The hat tax was a tax levied by the British Government from 1784 to 1811 on men’s hats. The tax was introduced during the first ministry of Pitt the Younger, and was designed to be a simple way of raising revenue for the government in a rough accordance with each person’s relative wealth. It was supposed that the rich would have a large number of expensive hats, whereas the poor might have one cheap hat, or none at all. The hat tax required hat retailers to buy a license, and to display the sign Dealer in Hats by Retail. The cost of the retail license was two pounds for London and five shillings elsewhere. Heavy fines were given to anyone, milliner or hat wearer, who failed to pay the hat tax. However, the death penalty was reserved for forgers of hat-tax revenue stamps.”

    from 10 Bizarre Taxes.

    In other news, just won a bid for my first silk top hat! Yay!