It’s About Time

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” -Bertrand Russell

The history of clocks is a history of civilization. The art of keeping time is expressed uniquely in different eras by many cultures.

The history of the sundial reaches far back into antiquity. The sundial pictured here is from the Arabian Peninsula (ca 50BC).

A new study sheds light on the precise mechanism through which Stonehenge may have kept track of time for the people of Southern England. Stonehenge was built around 4,500 years ago.

In a detail from Lorenzetti’s painting Allegory of Good Government (1338), a woman holding an hourglass contemplates the meaning of the passing of time.

Artists have used the metaphor of time to express their visions using their exceptional talents.

Surrealist artist Salvador Dali in his painting The Persistence of Memory (1931) uses timepiece imagery to question the ineluctability of time.

The cuckoo clock, has often been featured in literature, music, cinema, television, in the Western culture, as a metaphor or allegory of innocence, childhood, old age, past, fun, mental disorder.

In his homage to the grandfather clock, the contemporary sculptor Alex Chinneck’s uses his skills to merge the past with the present, and imagine his future.

De Stijl, the Dutch art movement, valued abstraction and simplicity. It has inspired the creation this red-yellow-blue-black clock. The abstraction and simplicity of this 100 year old art movement sees its expression in today’s clocks.

At Courage Drifter, the bold simple geometric shapes, clean lines and bright contrasted color palettes of Mid-Century Modern graphics have inspired the creation of new home decor items. The contemporary look of the clocks in this collection will add style to any home. See the entire Modtoks collection here.

Until next time, mind your minutes and hours and your days will take care of themselves.

Courage Drifter