Michèle Plott
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micheleplott.bsky.social
Michèle Plott
@micheleplott.bsky.social
5.3K followers 6K following 2.1K posts
Historian of the emotions, visual & material culture, (sometimes) gender, lately monuments & memory in the urban landscape
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micheleplott.bsky.social
Show & tell on Nick Lloyd’s @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social tour
Two small round metal & enamel (?) pins, from the 1930s; one is red & white & says “I gave that Spain’s children might live”, with a black & white image of a distressed baby at the center. The second pin is black & red with the capital letters CNT filling most of the pin. (The CNT was the v large anarcho-syndicalist labor union that played a major role in the Spanish Civil War.)
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 AM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Monument to Francesc Macià on the Plaça Catalunya

also the 1st stop on a marvelously informative Spanish Civil War tour with Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social in September
Weathered bronze bust of Francesc Macià (1859-1933) in front of a section of a towering concrete structure; together they are the monument to the Catalan politician that stands on the Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona. Josep Maria Subirachs, installed 1991.
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 AM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Plaça de la Universitat at sunset

(Barcelona)
A darkening sky, pale purple with a few swirling clouds, still faintly orange and red at the horizon; below, trees line the busy, wide boulevard that divides the dark outline of the university building from the square. The streetlights and cars’ headlights glow.
November 14, 2025 at 10:28 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
last night at Symphony Hall
A view from the 2nd balcony right of the stage & front orchestra seats at Symphony Hall in Boston. I caught a great view of the Handel & Hayden Society, a gorgeous fortepiano, & of the back (alas) of pianist Tanguy de Williencourt as the audience applauded their really wonderful performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #3.
October 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Absolutely in awe of this guy’s core strength tbh

(Reykjavik, Iceland)
Vatnsberinn (1937), a statue by Ásmundur Sveinsson. A ridiculously strong-looking man braces himself to pick up two large water cans.
October 13, 2025 at 7:45 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Hrafnabjargafoss

(Central Iceland)
September 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
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ALL the colors
A slightly sideways photo of a crater lake in central Iceland, showing the seemingly infinite colors and textures of rock, water and cloudy sky. The area around Landmannalaugar is well known for its colors, and they are, in fact, pretty amazing.
September 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
micheleplott.bsky.social
near Landmannalaugar
(Iceland)
The edge of a crater lake in central Iceland; the steep rocky sides of the crater are brown and red and an unbelievable (but real) chartreuse. Bits of blue sky break through light clouds, the first sun we saw that day.
September 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM
micheleplott.bsky.social
near Askja Crater, August 21, 21:54
(Iceland)
Sunset in central Iceland, near Askja. A line of yellow and orange light divides a dark blue-grey sky from the near-black, obscured landscape. The outline of a volcano in the distance looks small, almost miniature, but it is actually huge & dominates the drive to Askja.
September 6, 2025 at 2:51 AM
micheleplott.bsky.social
18hrs later we had one peach left from a large bag
A perfectly ripe peach cut into six pieces & arranged like a star, on a small white plate with a blue pattern. Colorado has some of the MOST delicious fruit in the summer!
August 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Lunch stop in Twin Lakes, early August
Trees, a weathered, grey-blue pickup truck, & a sign (“Tenderfoot Farm”) w/a large & colorful (fake) rooster perched on top, all obscure a distant view of a lake & mountains, a brilliant blue sky, & a few white clouds. A shaded dirt path in the foreground.
August 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Big sky at sunset over the Fresh Pond shopping mall.
(Cambridge, Massachusetts)
A Whole Foods market next to a liquor store; in the foreground parked cars lined up. The ground is still wet and shiny from the rain. Above the buildings a large pink, orange & grey cloud looms, reflecting the sunset. Photo from Thursday evening, August 14.
August 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Post your last photo of DC to show what a hell-hole it is.
A worn brick path leading up from the C&O Canal to Georgetown. The sky is blue & the trees, along grass to the left of the path & a wooden rail fence, are bare.
August 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Hydrange-o-mania 🍃🍃
A very large, white, irregularly shaped hydrangea in a small black vase.
August 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
mood.
A yellow cup (of coffee) with a dazed, stressed & confused face drawn on it in black. This guy needs help! In the foreground a half-eaten piece of bread & some plum jam on a blue & white plate.
August 12, 2025 at 2:44 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Before the Race
c. 1882
Edgar Degas, botd in 1834
5 horses in a field, waiting restlessly for the start of the race. Clouds float in a small strip of distant sky. The jockeys are wearing brightly colored silks, & both the men and horses seem to be moving in the painting; it’s almost impossible to shift to seeing the scene as (immobile) oil paint on a panel. (one of the things I really love about Degas) Bought by Sterling & Francine Clark in 1939.
July 20, 2025 at 2:00 AM
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a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Cambridge
Trees mostly in shade, Adirondack chairs in a vibrant red on the lawn in Radcliffe Yard.
July 19, 2025 at 11:11 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Portrait of Albert Einstein in a weathered wooden frame; he’s wearing a distinctly vintage-looking spacesuit.
July 18, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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Just randomly missing Maxvorstadt today.
A very random city snapshot taken in Munich; in the foreground a transformer (electrical box) at the edge of a sidewalk w/stickers, spray-paint & a framed portrait of Einstein in a spacesuit; behind Apollo 13-Albert there are apartment buildings, a glimpse of a crane, & the Ballabeni ice cream store w/out its usual long queue (because it’s closed in winter).
July 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
A happy Sunday to all from these two very Bavarian ducks 😊

(seen in Zwiesel, 2017)
2 rubber ducks, the kind a toddler plays with in the bath except that one duck is wearing Lederhosen & the other a Dirndl
July 13, 2025 at 5:06 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
In the Boiler House at MASS MoCA
(North Adams, Massachusetts)
Boiler House, commissioned by Sprague Electric Company in 1947 and now “selectively preserved as a relic of the great industrial age of carbon.” Rusted pipes & support beams & an air/heat shaft lead up 3-4 stories to more pipes & a weathered glass roof.
July 12, 2025 at 3:28 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Last week at the Clark
Detail of one of the bronze versions of Degas’ Little Dancer Aged 14, cast between 1919 & 1930. The original, sculpted in wax w/a tulle skirt, human hair, & a silk hair ribbon, was first exhibited at the 1881 Impressionist exhibition.
July 11, 2025 at 3:33 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
The two bed hangings by May Morris described in previous post. More flowers, leafy branches; birds & a squirrel frolic. I definitely would have bought them to hang above my bed in 1916.
July 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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May Morris at the Clark
(Williamstown, Massachusetts)
Smaller white flowers at left, a larger orange & red flower, & a green & red, white-breasted bird posing on a branch, wool threads on linen. Detail of bed hanging, 1 of a set of 2, designed & embroidered by May Morris, 1916, Mary Newell, Dora Webb, G. Cattell, A.B. Simpson, Isobel Catterson-Smith, Mrs. Moore, Nan Hornby, M. Dalton, & Wilhelmina Edelstein, embroiderers.
July 9, 2025 at 4:58 PM
micheleplott.bsky.social
Approaching Berlin, a year & a lifetime ago.
Through an airplane window, the last minutes of sunset over lakes near Berlin. A few thin clouds in the sky are also reflected in the water, the plane’s wing delicately bisects the horizon.
June 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM