Hypatia

no problem! i find rummaging around for public domain goodies really fun; it's the same kind of fun i get from puttering around thrift stores, but i don't need to worry about physical storage or money. it's also a nice time-wasty scrolly thing to do on the computer that scratches a similar Constant Input itch as twitter or tumblr but it feels a little more enriching and a little less brain-melty haha

hmm, a lot of different ideas here!   "What are the sources for any of these images?" this very post contains links to the sources of the images! "What is the point of divesting them from context?" interesting question! i have saved them for potential use in personal art projects; i am posting them so others can enjoy looking at them and potentially also use them in their art projects. i enjoy collage and other forms of transformative art which changes the context of ideas and images, and think in a broad sense there is much to enjoy about taking images and repurposing them in ways distinct from (or even contrary to!) their original context or purpose. images separated from their context are the language of most of the internet; i am ambivalent about this conceptually, as it is Fun but the extent to which living working artists are stolen from is Not So Fun. using and encouraging others to use art that is actually "up for grabs" instead of outright stealing from somebody who needs money is also A point, i guess! "It may be public domain but that doesn't mean artists shouldn't get credit for the effort put into developing their skills and creating these works Kindly consider putting in the effort of adding credit." i have in fact added the name of the artist as a tag for artworks that i have the artists name easily available! in many instances credit for the art is difficult to determine. illustrations in argosy magazine, for instance, are not credited at all! plenty of works i have saved i didn't bother saving the credit for, though, since they were saved for personal use and not for a blog. i have started doing so recently, but feel no urgency or particular interest in going back and tracking down the source for images i have already saved unless someone asks about one in particular. the artists are dead; they cannot get their feelings hurt and are not losing any money. it seems like you feel strongly about it and may find this attitude i am taking to be no good! i am sorry about that. "This is no different than fanart repost blogs going 'artist unknown credit to artist! <3'." i strongly disagree! it is very different on many levels, even setting aside the legal argument, as i have no particular investment in the law as a measure of acceptability. (acceptable-ness?) fanartists are measurably harmed by reposts of their work; many of them depend on the money they make from commissions and print sales, and reposting their work without credit essentially robs them of potential income. this is not true for an artist whose work has lapsed into the public domain decades after their death. fanartists make and distribute their work for free as participants in the gift economy of fandom, often using fanart as a means of expressing love for a work as well as for engaging socially with other fans; reposting their work takes away opportunities for social engagement in their fandom community this is not true of someone whose professional illustrations were published in a magazine over a hundred years ago. reposting a fanartists work harms them. posting and using public domain work without credit may be considered disrespectful, but that is a really different thing in my opinion and that difference is important to me. this is how i personally am choosing to engage with public domain works! i understand if you disagree and prefer to do it differently. this post is here so other people can easily go rummaging themselves and find stuff they like and engage with it in whatever way seems best to them!

thanks!
i generally post around five images or so in a go, around twice a day! ish. some days i dont post at all. i don't especially care that much about having a dedicated posting schedule or whatever; at the moment i'm just uploading stuff i have already saved when i feel like it.
if the posting habits are annoying and ppl would rather browse once in a while than follow, that's v understandable & fine by me! i mostly made the blog as a thing to be browsed and not followed anyway haha.

...awkwardly it appears I have curation site in that list that I completely forgot I had

oh awesome!! i'm excited to poke around these, i love having more places to look. thank you! :)