Photographer Bernhard Langby captures aerial views of fish farms and they’re visually impressive. More images on Colossal. (via Colossal)
- The fascinating story of how a Russian spy stole a Dutch painting that was only recently returned to a German museum:
The story behind the work, which was originally part of the collection of the Suermondt Ludwig Museum in Aachen and then went missing for 75 years, is fit for Hollywood. Now, van den Brink has brought the painting back from New York and, as of Monday, it is available to be viewed by the public in the museum’s so-called Fireside Room.
Van den Brink estimates the painting’s present value at 4 million euros (over $4.5 million). Balthasar van der Ast was among the best-known still life painters of the 17th century. Flower paintings were en vogue at the time – particularly those depicting exotic flowers and exclusive imports such as the Chinese Wan-Li vase seen in the van der Ast.
- An interesting piece in the LA Times discusses how gentrification is killing LA neighborhoods and it uses Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach as an example:
Developers and new buyers with little regard for Oakwood’s place in Los Angeles history have erected massive, lot line-to-lot line boxes, some quite industrial looking, that tower over traditional single-story homes. Streets are narrow. Traffic and parking are a mess.
“You could substitute the word ‘Venice’ with Boyle Heights, Studio City, Encino, Mar Vista, Larchmont, Los Feliz, the downtown Arts District,” said Dan Rosenfeld, a thoughtful urban planner who has also worked as a developer. “The world changes. I don’t think you can freeze the environment.”
Otherwise, he said, you end up with museum cities, like Venice, Italy, or Florence. “And that’s not our future.”
Venice, Calif., he said, is a unique planning challenge. “It has some of the most beautiful beachfront anywhere, a creative character on the boardwalk, older buildings and canals that make it absolutely unique. If you took off restrictions, it would look like Hong Kong.”
Because developers.
- This NatGeo feature on hummingbirds is gorgeous.
- You can now ‘visit’ the International Space Station using Google Streetview:
- This “floating” bird is one of the most impressive ‘tricks’ I’ve seen online in a while (the trick here is that the flapping wings are corresponding to the shutter speed of the camera so we don’t see the wings flap):
- The story of New York City’s first modernist house (it was built in 1936):
The townhouse was not an entirely new construction, but rather a complete overhaul of and addition to a pre-Civil War brownstone. It employed the first use of glass block in the city. Along with the casement ribbon windows, these balance the heavy gray stucco facade, creating a rhythmic pattern of solids and voids. The facade lacks any ornamentation, letting the geometry and large planar surfaces evoke a feeling of modernity and express the separate functions of living and working. Though this may appear simple in design, it is actually “the result of the sophisticated analysis of proportional relationships–the precise balancing of solids and voids– and the avoidance of any non-functional, superfluous detail,” according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
- Dezeen shares great images of Studio Padron’s new secluded library in the woods of New York state and it is a bibliophile’s dream come true:
- These maps illustrate that Americans are of two mind when it comes to climate change, and most don’t think it will impact them:
- Perhaps the worst wax sculpture likeness we’ve seen in a while?
We’re deadly serious about accuracy at @courierjournal. pic.twitter.com/t3xDKVcWRq
— Joel Christopher (@j_christo) July 20, 2017
- Needless to say this is Florida:
Florida man pissed that AT&T trucks are working outside his house shoots out their tires because Florida https://t.co/49qTisyEXW pic.twitter.com/6gSuaPqPCL
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 20, 2017
- Just a reminder to aspire to do more, and in case you need some inspiration:
Required Reading is published every Sunday morning ET, and is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.
