A Secret Cupid Is Emerging From A 17th-Century Vermeer
During a routine round of conservation on Johannes Vermeer’s 17th-century Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, art detectives realized that a section of the canvas had been painted over after the Dutch artist’s death in 1675, concealing a cupid figure.
The Chaotic Story Of Dexys Midnight Runners & “Come On Eileen”
When faced with the phrase “One Hit Wonder” Dexys Midnight Runners would be one of the first bands to come to most minds. Their megahit “Come On Eileen” is one of the eternal dancefloor fillers. So who were Dexys Midnight Runners? Why did they go through sixteen members before their worldwide smash?
Post-War East Harlem Photographed By Leo Goldstein
Leo Goldstein began capturing East Harlem in 1949 after he’d joined the New York Photo League, a photo club that originated around the beginning of the Great Depression. Having remained largely unseen for the last 70 years, his photographs are now the focus of a new book, East Harlem: The Postwar Years.
Human Anatomy Baked Into Polymer Desserts By QimmyShimmy
Singapore-based mixed media artist QimmyShimmy uses polymer clay to craft baby figures and sugary treats that blend fantasy and reality in interesting and often disturbing ways.
How Iran Threw The World’s Greatest Party In A Desert
In 1971, Iran threw an extravagant and exclusive party to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian empire. The party had a grandeur never seen before in the world’s recorded history. It proved to be a stepping stone for the rise of the Iranian revolution and the fall of the Iranian Monarchy that changed the country forever.
Hedy Lamarr Escaped The Nazis And Helped Build Self-Driving Future
She was once billed as “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman,” and that bored her. She wanted to fight Nazis, and to be taken seriously for her technical knowledge and creativity. She wanted control.
Flat 13: Facing Down Apartheid
This is the story of the apartment in downtown Johannesburg that, between the late 1940s and early 1960s, became a hub of resistance against apartheid.
Inside The Real Catskill Resorts That Inspired Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing’s setting, Kellerman’s, is based on the numerous all-inclusive vacation spots aimed at Jewish travelers that dotted the upstate New York landscape throughout much of the 20th century—a constellation of resorts commonly known as the Borscht Belt.
The Threat To Freedom Of Expression In Japan
The closure of part of the 2019 Aichi Triennale reflects a broader climate of aggression, censorship and nationalist revisionism. Art is the frontline in debates around free speech precisely because it creates space for questioning values and challenging historical assumptions in public.
Lisbon’s Outdoor Art Gallery – In Pictures
Street art has transformed Quinta do Mocho, an area once plagued by crime and unemployment. In 2014, local officials decided to improve the district’s image, and invited Portuguese and foreign artists to paint murals for what they now call ‘the biggest open-air art gallery in Europe’.
‘The Intelligence Coup Of The Century’
For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company, Crypto AG, to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA.
Short Film: Ikhwène (Brotherhood) by Meryam Joobeur
One of the most acclaimed shorts of the year, and a frontrunner for Oscar. Mohamed is a shepherd in rural Tunisia with his wife and two young sons. Their world is shaken when their oldest son returns after a long journey with a mysterious woman he says is his wife.
The Courage To Be Yourself: E.E. Cummings On Art, Life, And Being Unafraid To Feel
E.E. Cummings (October 14, 1894–September 3, 1962) — an artist who never cowered from being his unconventional self. “To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”
How One American Citizen Was Forcibly Drafted Into The South Korean Army
Illinois-born Young Chun thought a stint teaching English in Korea would be a quick and easy way to pay off his mounting post-college debt. He could not have been more wrong. Chun became a victim of a collision between unforgiving bureaucracy and the meddling of an unknown family member thousands of miles away.
Watch Picasso Make A Masterpiece
‘Le Mystère Picasso’ is a remarkable documentary film made by French director, Henri-Georges Clouzot, in which stop-action and time-lapse photography are used to capture Picasso at work. Not many of the works he created for the documentary survive but here’s how one of them came to be.
Into The Unknown
It was December 14, 1912. Thirty years old, already a seasoned explorer, Douglas Mawson was the leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), a 31-man team pursuing the most ambitious exploration yet of the southern continent. What followed was one of the most terrifying survival stories of all time.
Nietzsche On How To Find Yourself And The True Value Of Education
Friedrich Nietzsche considered the journey of self-discovery one of the greatest and most fertile existential difficulties. “Any human being who does not wish to be part of the masses need only stop making things easy for himself. “Be yourself! All that you are now doing, thinking, desiring, all that is not you.”
The Love Story That Shocked The World
When Seretse Khama, an African prince, and Ruth Williams, a white middle-class clerk from Lloyd’s underwriters, got married in 1948, it provoked shock in Britain and Africa. Khama was exiled from Great Britain and later became the first president of Botswana when it became an independent country.
The Remote ‘Democratic’ Oasis Of Soviet Russia
The academic town of Akademgorodok in Siberia was created by Russian mathematician Mikhaïl Alekseïevitch Lavrentiev, who wanted to install a safe haven for scientists in the middle of Siberia. Such isolation from Moscow created a fertile scientific and cultural nest away from the influence of the State and its politics.
Near-Death Self-Portraits: Edvard Munch, Van Gogh, And More Confront Mortality
Vincent van Gogh was hardly alone in his pursuit of truth through self-portraiture, and he is not the only artist to have done so. And sometimes, self-portraits created during the final stages of a career can prove to be the most truthful images of artists.
CBS News Coverage Of The Apollo 11 Moon Launch
The Saturn V rocket carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — and just four days later, man first set foot on the moon. The moon mission was a milestone in human history. But it was also a groundbreaking moment in broadcast television.