Circus horse girls

Was inspired to do a drawing about circus horseback riding girls, and came across some awesome reference pictures I HAD to share...

1908, people! I love it! (From Shorpy.com - great vintage photos )

Following two 1890 posters from http://www.imageenvision.com 

From The Golden Circus by Kathryn Jackson, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen

(image from flickr )

Japanese Art Nouveau Postcards

I came across this small collection of postcards for sale and was just amazed at some of the beautiful Art Nouveau Japanese images it featured... just the sense of design, color and composition all are things that caught my eye.

more links:
Art of the Japanese Postcard: MFA Boston
Curved line aesthetic in Japanese art
Assorted images

Umbrellas Viewed from Above
Takehisa Yumeji 

Female Nude Seated in Water
1906, by Ichijô Narumi

 Ducks Swimming Upstream

Uzaki Sumikazi

Woman with Umbrella
Ichijo Narumi

Peacock on a Wall

Wada Eisaku

Bruce Mozert's Underwater Photography

Found this via Boing Boing and Smithsonian; some fantastic 1930s underwater photography by Bruce Mozert to help promote Silver Springs, Florida.

Love the surreal juxtapositions, cute girls/ pin-up qualities, and vintage / retro look.

American Museum of Natural History

Just found this fantastic site of old museum photos from the American Museum of Natural History via Morbid Anatomy.  There are TONS of fantastic photos on the site- these are just a small small sampling of some of the ones I found on a first perusal...

Especially love the vintage feel and surreal quality of people setting up the museum dioramas and displays and the stark b/w look...

Speaking of Echo Park and Lotuses

This photo delights me to no end- her expression, the vintage quality, and the fact that she's surrounded by giant lotuses is just wonderful!

(from the Herald-Examiner/ Los Angeles Public Library)

Louise Van Nuys is pictured in a canoe holding lotus blossoms in 1936, during a visit to Los Angeles from the East Coast.

from the Baltimore Sun online

Vintage Echo Park Postcards, Los Angeles

I found these beautiful postcards at this years Lotus Festival in Echo Park, Los Angeles, showing scenes from the lake in earlier times (caption on back reads "Echo Park in Midwinter").

I like them especially for the colors and for how lush Los Angeles looks in these images.

For more information, visit www.HistoricEchoPark.org