13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 651)

1. Cardboard studies of shops & little businesses in L.A By Ana Serrano found via Present & Correct. 2. Food styling really has come a long, long way Found on Weird Old Food. 3. The Realist Paintings of a Forgotten 19th Century Artist John Frederick Peto (21 May 1854, Philadelphia – 23 November 1907, Island…

Maud & the Cult of the Clitoris

Maud Allan– beauty of the Belle Epoque, concert pianist-turned actress, dancer and choreographer and … sex-crazed lesbian spy for German wartime conspirators? Suddenly, my morning research into an Edwardian postcard just got a lot more interesting… She was born in Maud Durrant in Canada in 1873 and moved to Germany at the age of 25 to study…

How a Mechanical Chess-Playing Turk gave Birth to the AI Debate 250 Years Ago

As we traverse the world of modern digital technology from smart phones to artificial intelligence, the game of chess still captivates and challenges people the world over. Chess, it seems, has thrived due to the advancement in connectivity. But 200 years earlier, before this electronic wizardry, there was an automated, mechanical marvel that would transfix…

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…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 650)

1. Luna Luna, the secret art amusement park hidden away for 35 years One summer in 1987, the world’s first art amusement park appear in Hamburg Germany, featuring a ferris wheel by Basquiat, a carrousel by Keith Haring, an enchanted tree by David Hockney, a glass maze by Roy Lichtenstein and music by Phillip Glass.…

How Does the “Most Beautiful Hotel in the World” Get Demolished?

When it was completed in 1929, it was advertised as the most beautiful hotel in the world, with some 500 bedrooms, some with their own swimming pools. But the Royal Picardy was only in operation for about 20 years, was abandoned for 20 more and finally destroyed in 1968. While the space inspired creatives from…

The Biggest Band to Come Out of Germany’s Sin City? The Original Beatles

You might think John, Paul, George and Ringo made a name for themselves gigging around Liverpool. Well think again, on both counts. In 1960, John, Paul, George, Pete and Stuart cut their teeth in Hamburg, before they ever made it big at home. Pete and Stuart? Where was Ringo? What’s the deal with Germany? All…

Brushstrokes of Brilliance and Queerness: Unlocking the Leonardo da Vinci Code

While you’re almost certainly familiar with his unrivalled genius as a painter, inventor, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor or architect, there is a little-known aspect of Leonard da Vinci’s life rarely taken into consideration in the context of art history; one that could potentially paint the great master as an unrealised icon of LGBTQ history.…

Electric Jewellery and the Forgotten Genius who Lit Up Paris

Known as ‘The City of Light’ for nearly two centuries, Paris led the way during the Age of Enlightenment, and yet history has forgotten one of the most bizarre and beautiful uses of light ever witnessed by Parisian society: electric jewellery. During the Belle Epoque, the chicest Parisian parties were lit up with electrified fashion accessories…

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

1. Just a three-storey 7th Century Cave In Maharashtra, India, the Ellora Caves is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments, and artwork, dating from the 600-1000 CE period. There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34…