The Marvelous Madness of Aloïse

Aloïse Corbaz lived a life outside the margins. Institutionalised, alone, and without any training, her deeply individual artworks were both a product of and a comment on her struggles with mental illness. Within the walls of a Swiss asylum in early 20th century, Corbaz was extremely prolific. She used unconventional materials like toothpaste, flower petals,…

Artist of the Week: She was a Victorian Rockstar Photographer

Julia Margaret Cameron revolutionized the world of photography. Known for her dreamy, soft-focus images and dramatic compositions, Cameron was the queen of Victorian portraiture. She was ahead of her time, doing everything differently before it was cool. Cameron was a late bloomer artistically, she didn’t pick up a camera until she was 48. Her daughter…

Artist of the Week: Surrealist Sorceress, Remedios Varo

You might say female Surrealists are having a bit of a moment. Our forgotten Parisian bohemian queen, Leonor Fini stole the show at Art Basel’s 2023 fair in Miami, and this week, a painting by Britain’s lost surrealist, Leonora Carrington, sold at Sotheby’s for a record $28.5 million. We still have a few women Surrealists…

Rediscover the Fine Arts Retro Aesthetic of the Babysitters Club

Remember The Baby-Sitters Club? If you grew up in the nineties, had a perm or a crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas, you definitely swapped copies with your friends. The series, which details the lives of a group of pre-teens living and babysitting in suburban Connecticut was created by Ann M. Martin, although the majority of…

Is Anyone Looking for the Lost Art of Britain’s Founding Pop Artist?

I say “Pop Art”, you say Andy Warhol … or maybe Roy Lichtenstein. Pop is often seen as a quintessentially mid-century American (and male) movement, a reaction to overconsumption and popular images encapsulated by Warhol’s soup cans. But Pop Art actually dates back to artists working in 1950s London, one of whom was the co-founder…

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The Paris Off-Beat Winter 2022 Guide

Despite inflation and skyrocketing energy prices, The City of Lights isn’t going dark during the holidays, but instead is relying on LED lights and shorter hours (ie turning off all of the lights before midnight) to maintain the usual festive mood throughout the city. Let’s start planning your winter in Paris… Eating & Drinking your…

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The Wonderful Watercolors of Georgia O’Keeffe

One of the twentieth century’s essential artists, Georgia O’Keeffe needs little introduction. Her name immediately evokes large oil paintings depicting flowers or desert landscapes. O’Keeffe is also known for her paintings of New York City skyscrapers, her marriage to the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, and her love affair with the American west. But…

When They Say ‘Haussmann’s Paris’, What Do They Mean?

Walking through Paris, as a tourist or a local, it’s hard to miss the sense of harmony that the city exudes. The standardized buildings, the parks, the long angular streets that seem to always lead to a landmark. Everything feels intentional, organized, and connected. This isn’t by chance, this sensation is largely thanks to the…

America’s “Bohemian Queen”: A Sleeping Surrealist

“I am a witch, oh that’s true”, confirmed Gertrude Abercrombie to a Chicago radio host in 1977, the year she died. In truth, the strangest thing about Gertrude Abercrombie is that she isn’t a household name among the Surrealist greats of the 20th century. Sure, she wore pointy hats, cast spells, lived in a spooky…

In 19th Century Paris, She Held a Permit to Wear Pants

A cigarette-smoking, pants-wearing, animal-dissecting painter, Rosa Bonheur spent her life doing exactly as she pleased. 2022 marks the bicentenary of the birth an artist who opened countless doors for female creatives, both in her home country of France and abroad. Born in 1822 in Bordeaux, Rosa Bonheur was the daughter of Sophie Marquis, a piano…