Crystal Balls in Art: Difference between revisions

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'''IMPORTANT NOTICE''' This is a site devoted to HISTORICAL IMAGES AND TEXTS. If you are triggered by words used to describe people in the past or by seeing cartoon images drawn in the past, please leave this site now. It is for HISTORIANS and not for you. Please see the page [[Palmistry and Palm Readers]] for an explanation of the historical use of the word "gypsies" in the context of fortune telling by Romani people and other people. Thank you.''


== Crystal Balls in Art ==
== Crystal Balls in Art ==


'''IMPORTANT NOTICE''' This is a site devoted to HISTORICAL IMAGES AND TEXTS. If you are triggered by words used to describe people in the past or by seeing cartoon images drawn in the past, please leave this site now. It is for HISTORIANS and not for you. Please see the page [[Palmistry and Palm Readers]] for an explanation of the historical use of the word "gypsies" in the context of fortune telling by Romani people and other people. Thank you.  
Fortune tellers, wizards, gypsies, and swamis are the ones who perform [[:Category:Crystal Gazing|crystal gazing]] in 20th century art. Sometimes the crystal balls appear all by themselves, in no one's hands; sometimes they are the toold of diviners. This page of crystal balls in art specifically covers commercial art. I have done my best to identify the artists, but i await information on quite a few, as commercial artists were not usually allowed to sign their work when these pieces were made.  
 


Fortune tellers, wizards, gypsies, and swamis are the ones who perform [[:Category:Crystal Gazing|crystal gazing]] in 20th century art. Sometimes the crystal balls appear all by themselves, in no one's hands; sometimes they are the toold of diviners. This page of crystal balls in art specifically covers commercial art. I have done my best to identify the artists, but i await information on quite a few, as commercial artists were not usually allowed to sign their work when these pieces were made.


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File:Absorene-The-Ball-Of-Magic-Crystal-Ball-Wizard.jpg|Unknown Artist: Absorene advertising pamphlet cover. "The Ball of Magic Makes Clean Healthy Rooms. Absorene Cleans Wall Paper and Window Shades. The Absorene Mfg Co., Saint Louis, Missouri. Dry Cleaner for Washable Wall Paper." The Aborene company was founded in 1891 and is still in business. The tag-line "For Sale By" was typeset for surprinting with the names of stores that carried the product.  
File:Absorene-The-Ball-Of-Magic-Crystal-Ball-Wizard.jpg|Unknown Artist: Absorene advertising pamphlet cover. "The Ball of Magic Makes Clean Healthy Rooms. Absorene Cleans Wall Paper and Window Shades. The Absorene Mfg Co., Saint Louis, Missouri. Dry Cleaner for Washable Wall Paper." The Aborene company was founded in 1891 and is still in business. The tag-line "For Sale By" was typeset for surprinting with the names of stores that carried the product.  


File:Secret-Hearts-DC-No-67-Crystal-Ball-Carnival-Cover.jpg|John Romita: cover for "Secret Hearts" No. 67, April 1960, published by by DC Comics, New York. This romance comic shows a carnival reader predicting love troubles to a frightened your woman by reading a crystal ball. Note that she is wearing a polka-dot sun dress and her boyfriend can be identified as such because he holds the matching jacket for her. Above in the tent we see [[:Category:Astrology|astrology]] symbols, and behind the young woman is a [[Palmistry_and_Palm_Readers |Palmistry]] chart. Such tales usually end with the Gypsy having been wrong about there being a rival, and the woman learning to trust her lover and not a carnival fortune teller.  
File:Secret-Hearts-DC-No-67-Crystal-Ball-Carnival-Cover.jpg|John Romita: cover for "Secret Hearts" No. 67, April 1960, published by by DC Comics, New York. This romance comic shows a carnival reader predicting love troubles to a frightened your woman by reading a crystal ball. Note that she is wearing a polka-dot sun dress and her boyfriend can be identified as such because he holds the matching jacket for her. Above in the tent we see [[:Category:Astrology|astrology]] symbols, and behind the young woman is a [[Palmistry_and_Palm_Readers |palmistry]] chart. Such tales usually end with the Gypsy having been wrong about there being a rival, and the woman learning to trust her lover and not a carnival fortune teller.  


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<gallery widths="300px" heights="450px" perrow="3" align="center; cellspacing=8px; cellpadding: 5px 5px 5px 5px;">


File:Seabord-Line-Advertisement-1908-crystal-ball-cards-palmistry.jpg| Unknown Artist: Magazine add for the Seaboard Air Line Railway in "Country Life in America," December 1908; the reader combines a crystal ball, playing cards, and palmistry to predict that "The straight line in your palm is not straighter than the straight line to the palms."  
File:Seabord-Line-Advertisement-1908-crystal-ball-cards-palmistry.jpg| Unknown Artist: Magazine add for the Seaboard Air Line Railway in "Country Life in America," December 1908; the reader combines a [[:Category:Crystal Gazing|crystal ball]], [[:Category:Cartomancy|playing cards]], and [[:Category:Palmistry|palmistry]] to predict that "The straight line in your palm is not straighter than the straight line to the palms."  


File:Pears-Soap-Indian-Crystal-Gazer-And-Woman-advetisement-1907.jpg|Unknown Artist, Pears' Soap magazine ad featuring an "Indian crystal gazer" who reveals beauty secrets to an upper-class Edwardian woman.
File:Pears-Soap-Indian-Crystal-Gazer-And-Woman-advetisement-1907.jpg|Unknown Artist, Pears' Soap magazine ad featuring an "Indian crystal gazer" who reveals beauty secrets to an upper-class Edwardian woman.

Latest revision as of 19:45, 12 August 2024

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IMPORTANT NOTICE This is a site devoted to HISTORICAL IMAGES AND TEXTS. If you are triggered by words used to describe people in the past or by seeing cartoon images drawn in the past, please leave this site now. It is for HISTORIANS and not for you. Please see the page Palmistry and Palm Readers for an explanation of the historical use of the word "gypsies" in the context of fortune telling by Romani people and other people. Thank you.

Crystal Balls in Art

Fortune tellers, wizards, gypsies, and swamis are the ones who perform crystal gazing in 20th century art. Sometimes the crystal balls appear all by themselves, in no one's hands; sometimes they are the toold of diviners. This page of crystal balls in art specifically covers commercial art. I have done my best to identify the artists, but i await information on quite a few, as commercial artists were not usually allowed to sign their work when these pieces were made.



catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
Your Wate and Fate


Special thanks to my dear husband and creative partner nagasiva yronwode for illustrations, scans, and clean-ups.