The Wonderful Watercolors of Georgia O’Keeffe

One of the twentieth century’s essential artists, Georgia O’Keeffe needs little introduction. Her name immediately evokes large oil paintings depicting flowers or desert landscapes. O’Keeffe is also known for her paintings of New York City skyscrapers, her marriage to the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, and her love affair with the American west. But…

The Many Faces of a Forgotten Androgynous Hero

Who was Claude Cahun? As ambiguous as an empty page, a radical and an indefinable surrealist who traversed social construct; artist, performer, photographer, sculptor, writer, WWII resistance fighter, female, male, other; Claude Cahun was all of these things, or none of these things. As a largely unknown early pioneer of queer culture, Claude found later…

Following in the Footsteps of New York’s First Urban Explorer

We are exploring New York City with an old hand drawn map that bears the mysterious legend, ‘Where Silence Reigns.’ Roughly sketched out over a hundred and twenty years ago, it shows just four streets. Like a pirate’s map of old, it has an ‘X’ marked on it, but this map marks the spot of…

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

1. Teenagers in the Early 19th Century, from a Girl’s Sketchbook In 1815-1818 teenager Christiane Charlotte «Lotte» Elster (1800-1893) depicted various scenes from everyday life. Details like attires, hairstyles, activities and even names has been faithfully added to the pages of her sketchbook, in drawings and watercolours. OK, so proportions might not be perfect, but…

A Forgotten 1920s Magazine Gives a Glimpse of the Paris Jazz Age in the Flesh

Just how folles were the “Années Folles”? In the digital archives of the French National Library, I stumbled upon a few clues, in vibrant colour. “Paris Plaisirs” is a long-forgotten monthly revue that appears to have been published sometime between 1922-1938 (possibly earlier) from 12 Rue Georges-Berger in Paris – and there’s virtually nothing else…

Pinup’s Colorful, Unseen Past

The atomic age of Americana was marked by post war prosperity, white picket fence idealism, and pinup models. Lots and lots of pinup models. Rosy cheeked redheads and buxom blondes graced magazines, calendars, billboards, and even book covers. These images were as ubiquitous as they were homogenous. Often, models shared features so indistinguishable from the…

When Buffalo Bill was the Toast of Paris

Americans in Paris. Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Jim Morrison, James Baldwin, Nina Simone – these are the names and faces that typically come to mind when we think of those who left their mark on the French capital. But a bison-chasing cowboy doesn’t exactly fit the profile of the American intellectuals, writers, artists and musicians who…

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

1. These Incredible 1920s Illustrations for Carmen Hans Henning Otto Harry Baron von Voigt, best known by his nickname Alastair, was a German artist, composer, dancer, mime, poet, singer and translator. “Carmen is a short story by Prosper Mérimée written in 1845 and published in 1847, from which was taken the opera of the same…

Musidora: A Forgotten French Icon Returns

It could well be the heavily kohled black eyes staring straight at you from under that black balaclava and the slinky catsuit that jog the memory. Mind you, we’re talking well over a century ago here, and eons before the Kardashians or Catwoman began flexing their feline curves in skin-tight lycra all-in-ones. Musidora, aka Jeanne…

A Brief Compendium of the First Girl Groups, Forgotten in Music History

Before the Spice Girs, before Destiny’s Child and TLC, even before the Supremes, there was a litany of female singing groups – often found in threes, often known for their harmonic prowess, and often found on the great vaudeville stages of the time. They laid the foundation for the girl group as we know it…