RIP Mervyn Heard: Friend, Scholar, Showman

We are very sad to report the death of the wonderful Mervyn Heard. A rare pairing of scholar and showman, he was a genius of the magic lantern, ghost shows and phantasmagoria, and was a contributor to our recent book Death: A Graveside Companion.

He was also a friend and will be sorely missed.

This video by the über-talented Ronni Thomas captures he and his passion exceptionally well. RIP, Mervyn. You shall be missed and remembered.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Death: A Graveside Companion" New Art Book Exploring the Intersections of Death and Beauty

Image
My new book Death: A Graveside Companion will be published by Thames and Hudson this October. A large scale picture book of nearly 400 pages, it contains over 1,000 images--many never before published, and largely drawn from the Richard Harris Art Collection --tracing humankind's attempts to imagine and that great, inevitable unknown mystery of human life: namely, death. The book features 19 essays by a broad variety of thinkers that will be familar to readers of this blog, including Mel Gordon (author of Voluptuous Panic and Grand Guiginol ), Michael Sappol (formerly of the National Library of Medicine), Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor, cultural critic Mark Dery , and John Troyer of the Centre for Death and Society. Essays cover topics ranging from paintings created via channeling the spirits of the dead to eros and thanatos (sex and death) to 19th century horror theater to anatomized figures of Jesus Christ crafted for unknown purposes in 17th century Europe; See belo...
Read more

The History of Medieval Automata With Dr Elly Truitt, Bryn Mawr College, Next Thursday June 16th

Image
Lancelot, in metal armor, fights two copper knights, at an enchanted castle, in the 13th century prose romance Lancelot of the Lake. (Image: Lancelot do lac, France, ca. 1470. Paris, BnF, MS. Fr. 112.) Next Thursday, June 16th, we are deeply excited to be hosting Elly Truitt of Bryn Mawr for an illustrated lecture to celebrate the release of her book Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art . (Tickets here) . As she explains: Centuries before Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics, before Fritz Lang's Metropolis or Çapeks Rossum's Universal Robots, before Vaucanson's digesting duck, people imagined, designed, built, and pondered the possibilities and pitfalls of creating artificial people, animals, and other natural objects. Medieval robots are the hidden past of our robotic present, and they were ubiquitous in medieval culture. They appear throughout the Middle Ages and were used to embody complex ideas about the natural world and the heavens, including belief in de...
Read more

Panoptikum - Grand Musée Anatomique: Touring Historical Anatomy Museum Seeks Funding!

Image
I have just been alerted to an exciting new touring historical anatomical museum now seeking funding. Their project description follows; you can find out more--and make a contribution!--by clicking here . You can visit them on Facebook here . Thanks so much to Morbid Anatomy Reporter at Large Eric Huang for sending this my way! Historical Anatomy Museum Please contribute to help preserve the historical traveling medical and anatomy museum know as Panoptikum - Grand Musée Anatomique. The "panoptikum," a display where the exhibits surround the observer, is one of the oldest kinds of fairground attractions. Be it a waxwork display, sideshow or a traveling museum - the panoptikum was not only entertainment but also had an educational aspect. With today's fun-fairs, carnivals and amusement parks focused of the thrill aspects of mega-rides the classic fun-fair museum show has faded into the background and is now seldom seen . Paradox Sideshows has resurrected the traditional t...
Read more