"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

#ChthonicThursday: Maximilian Pirner

Maximilian Pirner (1854–1924) was a Czech painter and one of the leading figures in the Vienna Secession, a significant movement in art and design that emerged in 1897.
At its core, the Vienna Secession was a rebellion against the academic art establishment, which was dominated by historicism and rigid standards: the artists involved sought to create a new, modern aesthetic that reflected the changing times and the spirit of the age, which might explain why Pirner is… well… a bit gloomy.

Pirner wasn’t as active in the local artistic community as artists such as Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, and Koloman Moser, and maybe that’s why his focus remained on classical mythology, but the incursions of macabre themes undeniably tie him to his contemporaries.

The end of all things

 

Medusa

 

Hecate (1901)

 
Advent Calendar

Marjorie Bowen — Raw Material

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Though I think I get what Lem was trying to do with this novel, I also understand the many people whose reaction has been “what the fuck did I just read?” The novel is about alienation, social estrangement, post-traumatic stress and culture shock, which are

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December 12, 2025 9:00 am
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Mary E. Wilkins Freeman — A Discovered Pearl

“Wonder what’s goin’ on in the church?” Gilman Marlow stopped and stared slowly over at the church. It was a little white building with five pointed windows on each side. The windows were all streaming with light now, and the bright light showed from the

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December 12, 2025 9:00 am
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