The Monstrous Film Set That Jumpstarted Hollywood

If you build it, they will come. And if they don’t, you’re screwed. Such was the case for Mr. D.W. Griffith, the infamous movie mogul behind the best worst movie ever made: the silent epic Intolerance (1916). Griffith became the emperor Los Angeles for the picture, creating a veritable city of 300-ft-tall Judean walls and…

Unearthing the Curious Quentin Crisp

Writer. Dandy. Philosopher. Creature of the night. Quentin Crisp was so many things, but above all he was steadfastly himself. Sting dedicated his song, “Englishman in New York” to Crisp. The New York Times memorialised him as a revolutionary “Writer and Actor on Gay Themes” in light of his 1968 book, The Naked Civil Servant,…

Living in a Digital Castle with our Photographer du Jour

Once upon a time, there was a secret realm in the depths of the Web. A world of Y2K Joan of Arcs, medieval steeds and mysterious realms. A kingdom born from the brain of Swedish digital collage artist Helena Blomqvist that feels both ethereal and familiar, but where women are not longer damsels in distress…

When Americans Dined (and Dated) in Cemeteries

When it comes to green spaces, we’re a bit spoilt in New York City. There are over 1,700 parks (even if it doesn’t always feel that way) for our picnics, parties, and general frolicking to unfold. But 150 years ago, parks were still a privilege for the upper-class in America, if they even existed at…

This might just be the Largest Collection of Outsider Art to ever Go on Sale

There are a lot of antique collectors on the world wide web. Professional seekers of this-n-that, people who track down rarities solely to turn a profit – which is all fine and well. But Dale Smith is different, and our ears perked up when the story of his collection landed in our inbox. “I don’t…

But Did You Hear about France’s Most Infamous Madam?

With the Jeffrey Epstein scandal creeping its way into every late night dinner table conversation and the sordid secrets of his mysterious Madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, slowly unfolding in the press, it wasn’t long before we would be talking about “Madame Claude”. France’s own high society brothel queen, aka. Fernande Grudet, reigned for decades as one…

Botticelli’s Venus Was Real, and the Original Blonde Bombshell

The candles begin to flicker in a damp, baroque room, as cherubs emerge from a flower filled pond, hoisting a clam shell up from its depths. When it finally unhinges, the human incarnation of love itself takes form: “The birth of Venus.” It’s an iconic scene, and one that’s been told time and time again…

A Forgotten Kitsch Supper Club is Reborn in New York

A few months ago, a man woke up to a disorientating view outside the window of his apartment in industrial Bushwick, New York. He suddenly found himself face-to-face with a tender childhood memory and the exact glowing neon sign of the storied “Turk’s Inn” supper club from Hayward, Wisconsin, 1,250 miles away. That the recently…

Georgia O’Keeffe: She Lived Deliciously Alone in the Wild, Wild West

In 1934, Georgia O’Keeffe gutted the passenger seats from her A-Model Ford. It was time to make way for the only companion she needed, and wanted, out west: her art. There, in the dry heat of New Mexico, the pioneering female artist drove, hiked, and schlepped her canvases to the farthest corners of its blackened…

Disco Cowboys, Rejoice: The Dive Motel Is Here

A little birdy down south just let us in on a sizzling tip: the retro motel of our dreams just opened in Nashville, Tennessee, inviting travellers far and wide to teleport back to a time when mustard orange was a primary colour, and disco balls outnumbered people. So feather your hair, bedazzle your bell bottoms,…