Another Strook with something I drew, read, and listened to.
Drawing Painting
I didn't get around to drawing because I finally painted my office. From Hospital White to atmospheric Rijksmuseum Green. Now I can slowly fill the wall with my own work and even more sources of inspiration, such as Ernst Haeckel.
Reading
Alexander von Humboldt's travel stories inspired a generation, including Charles Darwin and Junghuhn (see Strook #11). In Annejet van der Zijl's latest biography, De Zwevende Wereld (The Floating World), I read how Franz von Siebold also began to dream of a life as an explorer after reading Humboldt's publications. The German Siebold got that chance when he was asked to work as a military doctor in the Dutch colony of the East Indies. By chance, they were looking for a replacement for the doctor on Deshima, the artificial island where the Dutch had exclusive access to the Japanese market.
On Deshima, Siebold became the expert on closed Japan. His reputation as a Western doctor also grew rapidly in Japan. He was able to explore the country during a so-called court trip to the shogun in Edo, now Tokyo.
If Siebold had been content with his large collection and descriptions of Japanese culture and natural history, he could have remained undisturbed on Deshima. But Siebold tested the limits of the military regime, among other things by obtaining secret maps. This earned him a lifetime banishment. Not only from the island, but also from his Japanese wife and 3-year-old daughter.
In the decades that followed, his daughter built up a reputation as a doctor in Japan, the first woman in that profession. This makes De Zwevende Wereld (The Floating World) a double biography: the story of Siebold and his daughter Oine, against the backdrop of a Japan that was slowly opening up to the outside world. Siebold returns to Japan thirty years later, but his need to prove himself has alienated almost everyone. His reputation, which once placed him alongside researchers such as Humboldt, is in tatters. What a fascinating life story and history book. I read it in a few days.
Listening
I only listen to Geese anymore, Rutger Otto wrote last week. I have to write the same thing, because I only listen to Geese anymore too. Cameron Winter's band (I wrote about his remarkable voice earlier) is a real hype in the music world, and not without reason. The album isn't easy, but the reward is great. Cobra was on repeat. Then Au Pays du Cocaine. And now mainly Taxes.
See you next week!