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Category / Editor’s Picks

New York, is that You?

American-born Berenice Abbott’s work was exhibited alongside that of Man Ray, André Kertész, and others in Paris. Man Ray introduced Abbott to Eugène Atget, a pioneer of documentary photography, noted for his determination to capture all of the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to modernization. Abbot was very taken with the work of…

If Ophelia Could Talk: The True Story of the Iconic Artist-Muse

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, it’s to listen to the muse – she usually has the juiciest details behind some of history’s most iconic artworks and artists. Today, we travel to the gauzy, sun-dappled world of the romantic pre-Raphaelite painters and zoom in on their unsung queen, “Ophelia” in that iconic…

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

1. Restaurants using mannequins to make social distancing less awkward An American Michelin-starred restaurant, the Inn at Little Washington, hopes to make its dining room feel less empty once customers return at limited capacity…. From mannequins to stuffed animals to pool noodles you wear on your head, restaurants around the world are getting pretty “creative” in…

How She Kept her Husband with Lysol, the Disinfectant of Choice for Feminine Hygiene

“Inject disinfectant into the human body” sounds like the words of someone who flew over the cuckoo’s nest, doesn’t it? Well, once upon a time, women were encouraged to do exactly that, all to accentuate their “dainty femininity” and keep a rein on their man. And, if you were astute enough to read between the…

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

1. A 1962 Italian Magazine showing how the world would look in 2022 Found on Mildly Interesting. 2. An Open-Air Museum of Abandoned Soviet Trains In a railway deadlock surrounded by a dense forest, there are decommissioned locomotives and tractors… a strategic reserve in case of war… some locomotives are in relatively good condition, with…

An Ode to the Unexpected Whimsy (and Strength) of Your Mail Delivery

It was the Little Mail Truck Who Could. An odd American vehicle – looking more like a patriotic Good & Plenty than a post truck – but by the 1960s, the “Mailster” made up one-third of the post’s vehicular fleet, according to The Smithsonian, somehow schlepping 500 lbs of brown paper packages tied up with…

Alone with Her Bike, the First Females to Ride Around the World

Happy women’s history month. Which only gives me another reason to write about more incredible humans that also happen to be female. What fascinates me most about the stories of the women I’d like to share with you today, is not that they dared to figure out how to ride a motorbike or infiltrate a…

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

1. BBC TV Set Designs Do recognise them? Find the shows they belong to in the BBC Archives via Present & Correct. 2. Perhaps Bandstand Architecture is due for a Comeback? 1930s’ architecture comes to the parks of Whitehaven (above) and Swindon (below). Open air concert halls for a post-Coronavirus world? Found on Leftover London.…

Our Zoom Date with one of the World’s Last Artisanal Globemakers

Got your passport handy? Today, we chat with the founder of London’s Bellerby & Co., one of the world’s last remaining globemakers. Fancy a globe the size of a comet? They can make it. How about one crawling with medieval monsters or detailing the route of the Silk Road? You bet. Co-founder Peter Bellerby kindly…

That 1960s Revolution of the Underground Press is Still Alive & Well

Let’s go back for a moment to the swinging sixties in London’s Notting Hill. Portobello Road is the main artery of the hippie movement, heaving with bohemians musicians and freethinking “freaks”, as they’re known to the establishment. Jimmy Hendrix hasn’t yet taken a fatal overdose in his flat and British counter-culture is on the rise.…

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