It’s not quite a junk shop, but it’s too informal to count as an antique store. While there may be books, it’s not a book store either, and calling it a thrift store feels wrong. There’s little to definitively categorise or unify its oddities. Much easier to pinpoint is the origi … | Continue reading
1. Painter of bugs, Jan van Kessel the Elder Found on Gods and Foolish Grandeur. 2. Someone’s 94-year-old grandmother has kept a list of every book she ever read since she was 14 years old An archive of one person’s mind over nearly a century. | Continue reading
Picture this: it’s the early 1900s, the silent film era is still just finding its feet, and movie stars are as mythical as unicorns. Enter Florence Lawrence, the “first movie star”, who is about to embark on an epic career, spending the next three decades appearing in almost 300 … | Continue reading
Julia Margaret Cameron revolutionized the world of photography. Known for her dreamy, soft-focus images and dramatic compositions, Cameron was the queen of Victorian portraiture. She was ahead of her time, doing everything differently before it was cool. Cameron was a late bloome … | Continue reading
1. Not one, but two Victorian maritime forts going up for auction next month To be auctioned at Savills on 18 June, they have been under the same ownership for the last 12 years and were restored by businessman Mike Clare as unusual boutique stays. Lot 499, No Man’s Fort, between … | Continue reading
Picture Paris at the turn of the 20th century: a city drenched in absinthe, artistic ambition, and outrageous fashion choices. Amid the bohemian splendor of the Belle Époque, a woman named Renée Vivien, a Brit in Paris, emerged as a poetic powerhouse and an icon of Sapphic love. … | Continue reading
If you’ve ever found yourself sneezing your way through spring or breaking out in hives after hugging a tree, you might be the victim of botanical sexism. Yes, you heard that right. ‘Botanical sexism’ refers to the practice of preferentially planting cloned male plants in urban a … | Continue reading
Imagine Indiana Jones, but instead of ancient artifacts, he’s searching for apples. Replace the dusty temples with abandoned orchards, and you’ve got The Lost Apple Project, a nonprofit organization that searches abandoned farms in the Pacific Northwest to locate old apple variet … | Continue reading
1. A workshop in NYC where you can make your own matchbox shadowboxes Book your workshop with Behind the Matches. 2. Mysterious scrapbooks full of artist obituaries found in the met archives The two scrapbooks held thousands of obituaries of painters, sculptors, and photographers … | Continue reading
You might say female Surrealists are having a bit of a moment. Our forgotten Parisian bohemian queen, Leonor Fini stole the show at Art Basel’s 2023 fair in Miami, and this week, a painting by Britain’s lost surrealist, Leonora Carrington, sold at Sotheby’s for a record $28.5 mil … | Continue reading
It all started when I was looking to source a miniature French to English dictionary (as you do) for Messy Nessy’s Cabinet in Paris (coming soon). It wasn’t long before I found myself obsessing over a 2 x 2.7 cm red leather dictionary from the 1890s contained within a metal case … | Continue reading
1. Paris traffic jams Found from a series on Live Journal. 2. Aphrodite, Stuck in the mud Found on Arkeonews and ART news. | Continue reading
James Hampton’s magnum opus was discovered posthumously in a rented garage he had converted into his studio. The installation features over 180 individual found objects, mostly collected from dumpsters on his way home in the early hours after midnight, when he would clock out fro … | Continue reading
The Palace of Versailles, famously opulent and vast, is often celebrated for its architectural grandeur and the lavish ceremonies that took place within its walls. But at its core, it was essentially a giant overcrowded hotel of horrors for the entire French nobility, who were gi … | Continue reading
1. This Parisian illustrator Lovely work by Yukiko Noritake. 2. Who Ate Where: | Continue reading
I have news: Next month, I’m opening a brick and mortar cabinet of curiosities in Paris. It’s only been a few months in the making – a rather spontaneous decision spurred by the lease on our office expiring. But I’ve also been feeling for some time that it was time to take anothe … | Continue reading
Once upon a time, you could buy a ticket from London to Calcutta for less than the cost of a ticket from Paris to Rome. The year was 1957, baby boomers were still teenagers on the loose and flower power was on the rise. The Albert Travel double decker bus (originally called “Indi … | Continue reading
Horace Pippin was an artist who was gifted with the ability to express his work with an unrefined social realism and dreamlike playfulness of touch that in reality, would mask a darker narrative. The grandson of African American slaves and a decorated World War One veteran who wa … | Continue reading
1. This 1930s Art Deco Illustrator (and master of line-drawing) Art Deco Illustrator Charles Perry Weimer creates a powerfully graphic depiction of a 1930s couple in front of a classic Art Deco building with a clock face. This work is particularly relevant in today’s artworld, wh … | Continue reading
If there is anything that can make a strident music fan salivate in anticipation, it’s the idea of an unreleased track or lost album from a favourite band. It’s like catnip for the musicologist and can become like a biblical quest for a lost chalice of sound for the collector of … | Continue reading
There are many reasons to tell the story of Mata Hari – an extravagant icon of femininity, famous burlesque performer, World War I spy, and “collector” of high one standing lovers – her life reads like a harlequin novel. But arguably one of the most curious (and morbid) anecdotes … | Continue reading
1. Springtime Autochromes, 1900s Found on Société française de photographie. More about the surprising art of autochromes here. 2. | Continue reading
The 30’s was a booming, sensational time for the bizarre and avant garde – a high time for the flashing waves of surrealism before the dawn of the Second World War. Dali and Miro were still painting, Duchamp was on the scene, and Man Ray was producing photographs like the world h … | Continue reading
Fancy living in your very own Rapunzel tower less than an hour’s drive from Paris? Our Rapunzel in this case was Anne Boleyn – the first of Henry VIII’s wives to be beheaded – who lived here in her formative years. It used to be much bigger mind you. The 14th century keep is all… | Continue reading
We often have a romantic notion of what it might be like to walk into a thrift store and walk out with treasure. But in reality, what happens next can be a roller coaster ride that changes your life forever. In 2018, antiques dealer Laura Young discovered an ancient Roman bust in … | Continue reading
1. Ron’s Place: England’s secret Outsider Art palace Behind the facade of this unassuming Victorian villa in the heart of Birkenhead, Merseyside, lies a hidden treasure trove of creativity and passion that was hidden for decades. This is Ron’s Place, a conventional flat transform … | Continue reading
Django Reinhardt was a legendary jazz musician and considered by some the greatest guitarist who ever lived, even more so when you find out he did it all with two fingers. He began as a nomadic busker before becoming a virtuoso and then a romanticised Parisian sepia memory, who s … | Continue reading
1. Rococo and Baroque Pools Prompts by @tomislavmarcijus & @marcijusaivision (Midjourney V6 + Magnific AI) 2. Loft Law: The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts The new book by Joshua Charow is available here. | Continue reading
What do you mean you’ve never heard of the lost civilization of Great Tartaria? It’s only one of the weirdest architectural conspiracy theories going. It seems there has been a monumental cover-up to hide the truth from us all about an ancient empire that’s hiding in plain sight … | Continue reading
The sex industry was one of 18th century Britain’s most lucrative enterprises, and the women and girls at the centre of this trade enraptured the nation, endlessly feeding society with tantalising tales from behind closed doors. But all too often, their voices have been left down … | Continue reading
1. Abkhazia, the Lost Paradise by Pierpaolo Mittica Abkhazia is a non-place. However, it was once considered a paradise. In the years of the Soviet Union, this strip of land spanning 200 kilometres by 100 and facing onto the Black Sea was the chosen holiday destination of the pol … | Continue reading
With their exquisite facades in pastel shades, replete with balconies, pointed gables and elaborate monograms, the Vohrawad mansions are a wonder to behold. One could easily be forgiven for assuming these grand dames stand somewhere in Europe, but today, we’re taking you to Sidhp … | Continue reading
At first glance she looks like just another bookish art historian in matronly 1940s garb – a most unlikely superhero. But Rose Antonia Maria Valland was a lone female spy who, during WW2, tirelessly and valiantly put her life on the line for the love of art, saving scores of loot … | Continue reading
1. Paris Waiters Race as Storied Contest Returns On Sunday, for the first time in over a decade, Paris revived a tradition: an annual race of cafe and restaurant waiters. About 200 men and women swerved, jostled and jogged 1. | Continue reading
1. Keep everyone guessing with numerous aliases and identities Mathilde de Morny presumed many nicknames. Friends called her “Missy”, but in her artistic endeavours, she also went by the pseudonym “Yssim” (an anagram of Missy). When dressed in men’s clothing, she preferred “Max”, … | Continue reading
Perhaps you remember the feeling of unearthing a really great gem at the record store – a forgotten band from another time with an original sound that sends those feel-good electric impulses to your brain. Habibi Funk is one of the few indie record labels bringing the sound of th … | Continue reading
1. Truth Windows A traditional feature of strawbale houses is the truth window – a small section of a wall that is left unplastered on the interior, and a frame is used to show the walls are actually made from straw bales for insulation. Truth windows often take on the role of an … | Continue reading
Before there were fast-casual restaurants, before there was intermittent fasting, before there were meal-replacement shakes, before it all–there was lunch. And before there were Stanley cups, and before there were insulated coolers, and before there was Tupperware–there were boxe … | Continue reading
Picture this: you, an ambitious, career-driven woman wanting to conquer the Big Apple but struggling to find a place to stay. Lodging costs are likely your top concern. Once upon a time not long ago, it wasn’t just about the prices holding you back, but a city-wide policy that pr … | Continue reading
1. Mystery image of the day Having real trouble finding any information at all about this photograph that’s been uploaded onto the internet. Any leads would be appreciated! Found via Tumblr. | Continue reading
According to popular legend, there was once a female Pope – Pope Joan, who reigned for two years between 855 and 857 before coming to a very sticky end. If you’ve never heard of her, it’s hardly surprising as her existence has been questioned for centuries and her name wiped from … | Continue reading
Cast your eye over the creations of Jacques Griffe, and one can’t help but wonder why a designer so acutely gifted doesn’t also boast a couture legacy similar to that of many of his contemporaries. Griffe closed his business in the late 1960s despite earning his reputation as one … | Continue reading
There is a sizeable gap in the documentation of Black American history. So often, what we see of Black history is limited to slavery and the Civil War or the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights era. Record of African Americans during the Gilded Age – prospering African Americ … | Continue reading
1. This must be the place Maydelle, Texas – interesting little backstory on this place here. 2. Hemingway and Dalì’s Venetian Vacation Home A corner of Holland in the Venetian Lagoon, the Casone di Valle Zappa was built between 1923 and 1928 in a thriving fishing, bird watching a … | Continue reading
It’s the Year 232, cccording to the French Republican Calendar. If a wine’s vintage is decided by the year the grapes were harvested, wouldn’t it be fitting for France to celebrate the New Year at harvest time? At the turn of the 19th century, that’s just what France did. With th … | Continue reading
Remember the supermodel-celebrities of the nineties, the ones who wouldn’t get out of bed for under $10 000 a day? Casting a glance a little further back into fashion history, there’s a host of equally noteworthy style muses with diverse achievements in politics, education, liter … | Continue reading
1. An ostrich jockey in the streets of Brussels, 1933 Photographer by Jacques Hersleven, colorised by RDB Colors. 2. Concept art for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Found on the Art behind the Magic. | Continue reading
If you were a late 19th century sex worker, shoplifter, gangster, confidence artist, or petty thief, chances are your path would have crossed with the high priestess of misdemeanour, Old Mother (‘Marm’) AKA the ‘Queen of Fences’ Mandelbaum and her curated network of wickedly skil … | Continue reading