How One Woman’s Lock of Hair could Become the World’s Most Precious Diamond
Like us, you might have assumed that a perfect diamond can only come from deep under the…
Category Inspiration Vault
Interview with a Parisian Burlesque Dancer
I was at a masked party one evening in Paris when Marie Antoinette showed up in nothing but her underwear, albeit very pretty underwear indeed. She prowled sumptuously about the room until she found a stage and proceeded to perform the most hypnotising dance with two giant feather fans. Who is that woman behind the feathers? What is […]
The Forgotten LGBT Queen of Paris and Her Secret Masonic Temple
She was the kind of woman who never belonged to anyone but herself. At least,…
A Photographer’s Forgotten Muse on the French Riviera
There was definitely something about Renée. When the legendary French photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue met her while…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Preserved Moments of Historical Sass (Vol.2)
The first post seems to have tickled your fancy, so over the past month I’ve…
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…
He Painted the Feverish Nights of the Harlem Renaissance
You can almost feel the rhythm of the music through his paintbrush. Archibald Motley was…
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…