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Category / Editor’s Picks

Before Jazz, Ragtime gave us America’s First Music Stars

You know the sound of ragtime even if you don’t think you do. “The Entertainer“, a classic piano rag, is one of the most recognisable melodies of the 20th century (go on, have a quick listen). But it was written by America’s greatest musician that we’re betting you’ve never heard of – an African American composer…

The Lost Broadway Musical Starring Muhammad Ali

From the boxing ring to the lights of Broadway, Muhammad Ali’s brief career in musical theatre is not a well-documented one. It’s assumed he only did it for the money, and footage, photographs or any information from the short-lived production are more than difficult to come by. A Black Power musical starring one of the most iconic figures…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXVI)

1. Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested for “loitering,” Montgomery, Alabama, 1958 Public domain photograph (photographer unknown). Found on Reddit. 2. Lee Krasner Is Finally Appreciated for Being More Than “Mrs. Pollock” Her reputation as a painter was, for most of her life, dwarfed by that of her husband, Jackson Pollock. Within the past few years, however,…

Inside the Secret Workshop of the Louvre

In a vast warehouse at the edge of Paris, artisans are working around the clock on a clandestine operation entrusted to them by the Louvre: recreating France’s most iconic sculptures and prints for mysterious clients the world over. And unbeknownst to most of Paris, its doors are open to anyone curious enough to come knocking.…

A Brief Compendium of Modernist Homes for Movie Villains with Flawless Taste

Why is it that the bad guy always inhabits an incredible spread? It seems every self-respecting movie villain needs a strategic hideaway to devise all their evil plans, so let’s take stock of some memorable cinema locations for movie villains with a weakness for Modernist design… The Chemosphere House, LA The Chemosphere, perched on the…

The Overlooked Art (and Drama) of Courtroom Sketching

As 2021 came to a close, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on charges of sex-trafficking in connection with her former partner and accomplice, Jeffrey Epstein. However, it wasn’t her misconduct or the salacious details of her lifestyle that went viral, but rather a courtroom sketch … of Maxwell sketching the sketch artist back. The…

Paris or Egypt? 100 Years Ago, It Was Hard to Tell the Difference

We could play a game here to start off. I could show you a series of ten vintage photographs and you guess which ones were taken in Paris and which ones were taken in Egypt. And to make it interesting, let’s say you get 2 seconds per photo to decide. Ready? Okay go – from…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXV)

1. An Artist’s Utopian Vision from the Early 1900s Wenzel Hablik (1881) was a painter, graphic artist, architect, designer, and craftsman from Bohemia of the early twentieth century, associated with German Expressionism. At the age of six, he found a specimen of crystal, and saw in it “magical castles and mountains” that would later appear in…

In Nazi-Occupied Paris, Swing Kids had their own Resistance Movement

They aren’t remembered for their political or intellectual outpourings, nor for their radical actions in the streets. The only weapons of the Zazou were dress, speech and attitude, and yet, this Parisian subculture somehow came to be a thorn in the side of Nazis and French Fascists. Throughout history, fashion has always been a reliable…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXIV)

1. The Underrated Costume Designs of Flash Gordon Costumes for the 1980 space opera film were designed by Italian Danilo Donati, who in addition to being a production designer, won the Academy Award for Best Costume twice (first for Romeo and Juliet in 1968 and Felini’s Cassanova in 1976). Found on Quora. 2. This champagne bottle fancy dress…

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