Vintage Halloween Witches ~ New Collage Sheets!

I had to show off some of the new collage sheets I've been working on, just in time for Halloween crafts.  Yes, I know it's only August, but crafters tend to always be thinking one holiday ahead!  I'm crazy for Halloween witches and I hope you will enjoy these new vintage Halloween images I don't think you'll find anywhere else ~  including Art Nouveau Witches, some cool Witch Photos, unique Victorian Witches from vintage postcards and ads, Edwardian Witchery, and finally a 1920s Halloween Dance.

Check them out at Lunagirl.com.

Vintage Diva: Lina Cavalieri

Here is a short bio of another Victorian Edwardian diva.  This is a beautiful postcard of actress and singer Lina Cavalieri. I've restored it, removed scratches, and enhanced the color.

"La Cavalieri" had quite a colorful life! She was orphaned at age 15, and ran away from a convent orphanage to tour Italy with a theater troupe. She sang at cafes and music halls in Vienna and Paris, and by age 20 was famous across Europe.

Lina Cavalieri studied with the top singers of the day, but was known as much for her beauty, fiery temperament, and love of emeralds as for her pleasant voice. She boasted over 800 marriage proposals, of which she accepted four! She was also famously generous. She campaigned on behalf of orphans, performed for the troops during WWI, and worked as a nurse during WWII. She died in an air raid in Florence in 1944 at age 70.

Vintage Diva: Cleo de Merode

In honor of my DIVA blog challenge going on this week, I thought it was time for another Vintage Actress feature.  We have so many beautiful photo postcards of Victorian Edwardian actresses and dancers in our Ladies Photos collections, and maybe you'll enjoy knowing a little more about these famous ladies of the stage.  I'm working on a collection of just actress and showgirls, organized alphabetically so you can find all the images of each lady together.

Many will recognize the unforgettable face of Cleo de Merode.  She was born Cléopatra Diane de Mérode on September 27, 1875, in Paris, France, the daughter of the Austrian landscape painter Karl Freiherr von Merode, part of a famous Belgian noble family. She began her study of dance at age eight and made her professional debut at age eleven.

Cléo de Mérode quickly became known for her beauty and glamour even more than for her dancing skills, and at a young age her image began appearing on postcards and playing cards. A unique new hairdo she choose to wear became the talk of Parisian women. She was also noted for her tiny waist which was accentuated by the tightlacing that was popular at the time. Sculptor Alexandre Falguière used her as the model for his sculpture "The Dancer," which today can be seen in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Several famous artists of the day painted her portrait. In Vienna her beauty caught the attention of painter Gustav Klimt.

In 1896, 61-year-old King Léopold II of Belgium saw Mérode dance in the ballet and became enamoured with the 22-year-old performer. Gossip started that she was his latest mistress. Because the King had two children with a woman reputed to be a prostitute, Cléo de Mérode's reputation suffered because of the gossip connecting her to the king.



Despite these whispers of scandal, Cleo became an international star, performing across Europe and in the United States. At the peak of her popularity, she chose to dance at the famous cabaret Folies Bergères, taking the risk to do something other elites of the ballet had never done before. Her performance gained her a whole new following.

Very popular in her ancestral homeland of Austria as well as in Germany, she appeared in the 1926 German motion picture "Frauen der Leidenschaft." Mérode continued to dance until her early fifties when she retired to the seaside resort of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques area of France. In 1955 she published her autobiography, "Le Ballet de Ma Vie."

Cléo de Mérode died in 1966 and is buried in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where you will also find the tombs of other famous artists including Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Honore de Balzac, Delacroix, Moliere, Proust, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf , and Jim Morrison.

MORE IMAGES OF CLEO

Happy Mother's Day!

New CD: Lunagirl Vintage Nudes

Lunagirl is pleased to offer 360 classic, tasteful vintage nude photo French postcards on CD, restored and ready to browse and print for projects.  Brand new today ~  See it here!

Many artists and crafters appreciate these beautiful antique risque images and our customers have requested a collection to use in their card making, altered art work, and other projects.

You'll find a lovely collection of vintage women, most from the Edwardian era or the 1920s Flapper era, some from the earlier Victorian styles.  The poses range from serene to sassy!  Ladies with veils, big hats, corsets, petticoats, jewelry, costumes. Some post cards have two versions, in different color tints.


Why are they called French postcards?  Many early postcards originated in France, including photographs of actresses, children, romantic ladies, and other themes, in addition to the "naughty" ladies (who were very popular with WWI soldiers!).  But the term "French postcard" eventually became associated with risqué images (most early 20th century risqué postcards originated in Paris).  These images are rather tame by today's standards but were considered quite naughty and even scandalous in their day!

Edwardian Beauty Miss Lily Elsie

You may recognize Lily Elsie as one of our very favorite "Lunagirl" ladies ~ in fact, the lady in our blog banner. She is certainly one of the most beautiful women in our photo postcard collection, and was a prolific and talented actress in Edwardian musical comedies.

She was born Elsie Hodder in 1886 in West Yorkshire, England, the daughter of a dress-maker who operated a lodging-house. When her mother married theater worker William Thomas Cotton in 1891, Elsie became Elsie Cotton.

Despite being painfully shy, "Little Elsie" was a star in the British theater from early childhood, landing title roles on the London stage by age 10. By age 20 she had,appeared in 14 shows. Her anxiety and stage fright combined with the heavy touring schedule she adopted from an early age would lead to bouts of exhaustion throughout her life. From about 1900, she adopted the stage name "Lily Elsie".

Elsie acted in several Edwardian musical comedies before her great success in "The Merry Widow," opening in 1907. "The Merry Widow" was a huge hit, making Miss Lily Elsie a star (and launching a fad for the plumed hats she wore in the play!) Elsie appeared in another 16 shows, garnering continuous praise. One critic wrote "...it gave great pleasure merely to see her walk across the stage."

Admired for her beauty and charm, Elsie became one of the most photographed women of Edwardian times. Her image was much in demand by advertisers and for postcards. An Atlanta newspaper wrote, "Everyone agrees that Lily Elsie has the most kissable mouth in all England." The famous costume designer Lucile described her as "a girl who had both beauty and intelligence."

Elsie married the son of a wealthy textile merchant and left the stage, exhausted. She returned in 1916 and 1917 but then retired again, this time to the English countryside. She was easily stressed by touring, but starred in new productions in the late 1920s, always to good reviews. She also had small roles in two early motion pictures.

Unfortunately her marriage was unhappy and ended in 1930. She became reclusive and suffered from various ailments both physical and psychological through much of the rest of her life, and died in 1962 at age 76 in London.  A lovely, talented, and sensitive lady with such pretty eyes ~ we hope she experienced joy as well as sadness in her life.

Lunagirl Wall Calendars featuring art and vintage photos

We are pleased to offer four beautiful 2012 wall calendars, available for purchase in our Lunagirl Cafepress Gift Shop:  Vintage Beauties featuring lovely Edwardian women, Vintage Bellydance, Bouguereau paintings, and Bouguereau Little Girls paintings. I'm happy to say that they have been pretty popular since we introduced them last year!

Click on the pictures below to go see the listings with all the calendar pages, twelve different images in each of course. (In our cafepress shop you'll also find all types of Lunagirl images on apparel for women men children and babies, as well as journals, tote bags, mugs, magnets & more.)
  

 

Featured: French Easter Photos & Postcards on CD

 Perfect for Easter season crafts: our Lunagirl Easter Photos & Postcards CD includes 100 charming vintage images. Most feature ladies, children, and romantic couples, many with eggs, baskets, flowers, and/or Easter greetings (usually in French!) This lovely and unique offering, created especially for Lunagirl customers using antique cards from our private collection, is available now. Click here to see details and a bunch of sample images!

It's Monday Again!

Let's do a Monday free image today ~ this pretty lady with her red hair and distant gaze seems perfect for this time of year. Here the locusts buzz and hum as summer drifts off, and there is cool air in the evenings and early mornings. Days are still warm and sunny, but the light is slanted and you can feel the wheel turning toward autumn. While the cooler air is energizing there's a sense of sadness and longing, even loss .... I guess I'm a romantic in the original sense, who likes my beauty mixed with a little darkness, because it's my favorite time of year!

Enjoy this image for your personal, non-commercial projects. Please credit Lunagirl Images if your work is displayed online or published. If you want to use this image for commercial use, just email at info@lunagirl.com

You'll find a great variety of images of women on our Lunagirl Victorian Vintage People CD! It's soon to be discontinued in favor of a revised edition, so get this version while you can.

Vintage Romance

To our regular visitors, I apologize for neglecting the blog for awhile! We have been quite busy around here. The least I can do is give you a link to our Lunagirl Feature Article on VINTAGE ROMANCE, just in time for St. Valentine's Day. It has bits of fun information about the origins of Valentines Day and its customs, and of course plenty of pretty pictures to look at!

I've been creating new Lunagirl collage sheets like crazy. You can see all the latest at http://lunagirl.com/W-Lunagirl-Collage-Sheets-NEW.htm

I think there are too many new ones to put them all here, but I do want to share a couple of favorites on the theme of Vintage Romance!

Stay tuned for Vintage Blue Flappers, and a link to our Feature Article on The Victorian Language of Flowers (Spring is around the corner!)

Bonne Année - 365 jours de bonheur!

Judging by the number of New Year cards we come across, sending greetings for the new year was very popular in the Victorian and Edwardian eras -- maybe as popular as sending Christmas cards! We're developing a lovely collection of vintage photo postal cards originally sent to wish friends and family Happy New Year (or Bonne Année, a good year, in French).

And looking at the dates on the back, they sent them not only at January 1st, but throughout the season from after Christmas into the first weeks of January. We think that's a lovely custom that we should revive!

Cards usually carried wishes for happiness, prosperity, and sometimes health and friendship, and often featured pictures of good luck symbols such as four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, coins, even pigs (an old lucky symbol that has gone by the wayside). Many have charming photos of children, ladies, or romantic couples.

You'll find a nice selection of restored cards on our Christmas New Years Photos Postcards CD, and also on the New Years French Postcards collage sheet below. Heureuse Année!

MONDAY Free Image!

If it's Monday that means freebie! Here is one of the new photo postcards we have been working on, newly scanned, cleaned up, and embelllished just a little bit.

Yes, we know it's not even Halloween yet, and I hate it when the stores put up the Christmas decorations this early.... but many crafters start their Christmas projects now, so here is a charming little girl with her holiday gifts, from 1909.

Just click on the image above to open the full-size original and save. She will eventually be published on CD, but for today she is free for your use in personal non-commercial projects. Thanks for visiting ~ enjoy!

What kinds of images would you like more of?

We are (literally) surrounded in our office by hundreds of vintage photo postcards recently purchased as a large collection from overseas. Most are French and some are German or Dutch. We have pictures of women from the Victorian and Edwardian age, romantic couples and some brides, Victorian boys & girls, flappers and little girls of the 1920s and 1930s, holiday photo cards, and more, all waiting to be scanned, restored, altered and published.

What to work on first!? It would help us to hear from our customers .... what you like to see more of in terms of images for your art and crafts projects? Email us at summertownsun@yahoo.com and let us know!

Moon-day FREE IMAGE DOWNLOAD Vintage Bellydancer

I love dance, especially bellydance, and we are proud of our Lunagirl collection of vintage bellydancer photo postcards. We would like to share this lovely photograph from the early 1900s Edwardian era, of a joyful dancer with her veil. I have restored the image and enhanced it with subtle shades of pink and violet and a little added sparkle.

You're welcome to use this lovely image in your personal crafts and altered art projects (no commercial use). This altered image is copyright 2007 by us. If you publish or display your work, include credit and a link to http://www.lunagirl.com/

For more vintage bellydancing images and other vintage ladies, check out our collections of Victorian Edwardian Vintage Ladies Photos on CD.

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting our new Lunagirl Images blog! We hope you'll also visit us at Lunagirl.com to see our giant collection of high-quality Victorian, Edwardian, vintage and retro digital images, art, cards, photos & other ephemera.