A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 29 March 2022 - T for stars and murals

 Hello lovely girls!

It's T-Party time! Come and join us at the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. Post something with a drink or drink reference in it and we'll have a wonderful time.

Today I have two postcards to show you. Both about stars. The first one comes from the USA and was sent to me by Katie back in January:

It features Plate XXXII from The heavens: an illustrated handbook of popular astronomy, by Amédée Guillemin. Wikipedia says this about him:

Amédée Guillemin (born 5 July 1826 in Pierre-de-Bresse, died 2 January 1893 in Pierre-de-Bresse, France) was a French science writer and a journalist.

Guillemin started his studies at Beaune college before taking his final degree in Paris. From 1850 to 1860^[1] he taught mathematics in a private school while writing articles for the Liberal press criticizing the Second French Empire. In 1860, he moved to Chambéry where he became a junior deputy editor of the weekly political magazine La Savoie. After the annexation of Savoy by the French empire, he returned to Paris where he became the science editor of l’Avenir national (The Nation's Future).

Guillemin presently started writing books of physics and astronomy which became very popular. He wrote "The Sky" which was translated into many languages. His major work, "The Physical World", consisted of five large volumes. His publisher, Hachette, encouraged him to write a series of booklets about astronomy and physics under the title "Small popular encyclopaedia", a scientifically sound but accessible collection about sciences and their applications. French astronomer Jacques Crovisier from the Observatoire de Paris suggests he may have been a source of inspiration for Jules Verne's 1865 novel, From the Earth to the Moon.

One of his quotes:

And a photo of him:

The stamps are lovely. There is the Tiffany Lamp stamp and the Silver Coffeepot. This could be my ticket to the T-Party!

On the right a mystery Forever stamp issued in 2021. It's a Forever stamp  that puts your sleuthing skills to the test.

The stamp boasts bright colors and interesting shapes that when placed together spell out a mystery message.

Spoiler alert, the message reads: “More than meets the eye!”

The one next to that with the mythical raven is a 2021 stamp design by artist Rico Lanaat Worl.

Merging traditional artwork with modern design touches, this stamp depicts one of many stories about Raven, a figure of great significance to the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. Among the cultures of the region, Raven plays an essential role in many traditional tales, including stories about the creation of the world. Inspired by the traditional story of Raven setting free the sun, the moon and the stars, Tlingit/Athabascan artist Rico Worl depicts Raven just as he escapes from his human family and begins to transform back into his bird form.

Now for my second card:

This one came from Germany, also back in January. It features the "visible heavens from July 22nd to October 31st". (No other information)

The stamp is the digital stamp with a Hamburg underground station on it. I have featured it before in one of my blogs.

Now, what can I tell you about my life...

I remember I promised to show you some more murals from my trip:

The next one depicts women's work in the field. There was an older lady who remembered doing this activity (I can't remember what it is called... is it a threshing floor?)

Below is a 'ludoteca'.

A ludoteca (from the Latin ludus , « game », « toy » and from the Greek word teke «box», «place where something is kept») is a space where some type of activity is carried out for children using games and toys , especially in early childhood education , in order to stimulate physical and mental development and solidarity with other people. They originated, as a specific pedagogical space, from the 1960s . Its main objective was to help families with children with difficulties; later its objectives were expanded by offering various services.

The first toy libraries were the Toy Loan in the US . founded in 1934 and Lekotek in Sweden in 1963 . Starting in the 1960s , UNESCO founded several toy libraries in prisons , schools and community centers, and in Latin American countries .

I expect these two were on the outside of a gym...

The mural below makes fun of Don Quijote (from the book by Cervantes)

The mural below features Artemisia Gentileschi playing the lute.

Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional work by the age of fifteen.

The mural is inspired by her self portrait:

Learn more about this painting here.

I love her work, not just because it is beautiful, but also because she was a feminist.

• Gentileschi subverted traditional depictions of the female protagonists of biblical and mythological stories presenting them as self-motivated heroines capable of making their own decisions rather than passive objects of the male gaze. In doing so she presented them in an entirely new way and this allowed them to possess a power that had been denied them by other artists.
• The artist's teenage experience of sexual assault affected much of her work and themes of abuse of authority, rape, and violence permeate many of her paintings. It is likely that painting these subjects allowed her to process the trauma of her assault and to seek revenge and redress through her artworks.
• 
  

Washing clothes at the river, before there were wash houses:

Below a depiction of nature, painted on the back of a school.

And being in Andalucía, there had to be a painting of a flamenco dancer: 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the murals.

That is it from me today.

Happy T-Day and take care.

Hugs,

Lisca