January: a Whistle Stop Tour - Joan Lennon

It's January, when many of us heave a sigh of relief that the (relentlessly) festive season has passed again, more or less successfully, and we can subside, stroll or leap (depending on mood) back into the arms of whatever it was we've had to set aside.  But, while waiting for the coffee to brew, spare a moment for the month herself, and how artists have been seeing her down the years ...

January from Les Tres Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry 
(between 1412 and 1416)

Aquarius in his pants 
(from a medieval book of astrology)

                 Woodcut illustration of Aquarius by Johannes Regiomontanus, 1512. 
                              (clothed.  So much more comfortable.)

                   Woman Walking in the Snow, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1787-1861.

Skating 
(early 1820s)

1920 New Year's Greeting Card 

(did no one wonder which month exactly the year had a sex change?)

January by Grant Wood 1940 

(painter of American Gothic and a complete surprise to me!)

There, the coffee's ready.  Off you go now.


P.S. I also learned the following:

January starts on the same day of the week as October in common years, and starts on the same day of the week as April and July in leap years. In a common year, January ends on the same day of the week as February and October in a common year, and ends on the same day of the week as July in a leap year. In all years, January begins and ends on the same day of the week as May of the previous year. (Wikipedia)

I find this interesting, not in itself, but in the fact that someone thought someone else out there might actually want to know.  Dear geeks, we love you all.

  

Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.