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Category / Inspiration Vault

Behind the Curtain of the 1940s Chinatown Nightclubs that Shattered Asian Stereotypes

Picture a night out in 1940s San Francisco. You’re in a glamorous nightclub with a floorshow. A sequined dancer does a pas de bourrée on her toes while her tuxedoed partner wows the crowd with multiple drop splits. Then a singer with a warm bluesy voice belts Some of These Days. Finally, a nude dancer…

The “Other” Lost Generation of Black American Artists in Paris

Originally, this was supposed to be a pretty straight-forward piece on an American ex-pat artist whose enchanting paintings of 1930s Paris I’d recently had the fortune of stumbling across via the internet. She was a young woman who had moved to France before the war, where her painting career began to flourish. I was going…

Chronicles of an Affair with his Secretary, Found in an Abandoned Suitcase

The briefcase was found three decades after the affair took place, abandoned in a German apartment and later sold at auction. The contents of the suitcase, an extraordinary collection of materials that chronicled the adulterous relationship between a businessman and his secretary in the late 1960s and 70s. Exposed to our own voyeurism, a recent…

Japan’s Ancient Attitude to Sex was Way Freakier than you’d Imagine

At a glance, the picture looks perfectly innocent: a 19th century, posh portrait of woman sipping tea. Upon closer examination, we learn she’s made up of entangled copulating bodies. Welcome to the fascinating world of ye olde Japanese erotica. Known as “shunga” (春画), the genre flourished in the Edo period (1600s-1800s), and the artworks didn’t…

Preserved Moments of Historical Sass (Vol.2)

The first post seems to have tickled your fancy, so over the past month I’ve been collecting photos on the internet, as well as submissions from readers who rifled through their attics to help me compile more preserved moments of historical sass! Found in Good Housekeeping, June 1952 Found here Reader submission from Peggy…

The Mystery of Baudelaire’s Maddening Mistress

There’s love. There’s lust. Then there’s Jeanne DuVal, who embodied something between the two in her tumultuous relationship with Charles Baudelaire, France’s original “bad boy” poet. As a muse to the rebellious Parisian dandy, she inspired some of the most haunting, revolutionary verses in history – odes to the woman he loved to love, and…

He Painted the Feverish Nights of the Harlem Renaissance

You can almost feel the rhythm of the music through his paintbrush. Archibald Motley was one of the only artists of his time willing to vividly and positively depict African Americans in their vibrant urban culture, rather than in impoverished and rustic circumstances. Skin tone is celebrated as something diverse and inclusive in his work.…

The Strange, Unspoken Glorification of Sexual Assault in Art History

There’s something not quite right about that painting, wouldn’t you say? The many depictions of Leda and the Swan are hanging on the walls of some of the most prestigious museums and galleries across the world, and yet, there’s a conversation we’re not having. The Greek myth in which the Spartan queen Leda is seduced…

24 Films worth watching / re-watching when it’s raining.

I sat with my gal pal in the shelter of a café for lunch today as the rain battered the down outside. “It’s movie week!” she declared. With a weather report like that, I can’t say I disagree. So I got to thinking as I dodged puddles on my way home. Which movies can I…

Meet the Original “Victoria’s Secret” Beauties of the 1920s

When looking at black and white photographs of women considered glamorous in the 1920s and early 20th century, I often find it difficult to relate to their look. Their make-up is strange and melodramatic, their hairstyles usually unflattering and even macabre; almost like there was a preference for a rather un-natural beauty. But then I came across…

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