Books
How Hungary's Painted Homes Rebelled Against the Socialist System
As a reaction to the bleak uniformity of suburban housing in post-war Hungary, many homeowners painted their houses in vibrant designs.
Allison Meier
Books
A New Guide to New York's Subterranean Art
There are over 250 art projects lodged in the transit infrastructure of New York City. Some are garish or grand mosaics that cover whole subway tunnels, others you might walk by for years without recognition. A new book compiles them in a guide to city's subterranean galleries.
Books
The Graphics of the Great War in France
More than any conflict before it, World War I was a visual battle. Propaganda proliferated across the fronts, and magazines, newspapers, photography, early films, and even fashion and children's books were involved in a rally of imagery on a large scale.
Books
New Scans of the Voynich Manuscript, a Medieval Book No One Can Read
The Voynich Manuscript is one of the most obsessed-over historical enigmas. A medieval book dating from the late 15th or 16th century, its strange, flowing script has never been deciphered, its origins never determined.
News
800,000 Pages of Patient Art and Mental Health Archives Are Going Online
A few weeks ago, the Wellcome Library announced a new initiative to digitize more than 800,000 pages of material from British psychiatric hospitals. Dating between the 18th and 20th centuries, the trove includes examples of patient artwork and writing, as well as patient-produced publications.
Art
New York's Most Unusual Halloween Ritual
In one of his last great performances, Harry Houdini escaped after 90 minutes from a coffin submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Shelton Hotel (today the New York Marriott East Side).
Art
Flash Back to 1991 with Access to the First US Website
Now you can go back to where the World Wide Web started in the United States with the country's first website. Launched in December of 1991, the website for the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory had little more than text and a few links.
News
A Town Is Not a Museum, Appeals Court Rules
In settling the dispute of where one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century is buried, a ruling last week declared that a town can't be treated like a museum.
Art
A Child's Drawings Preserved over the Centuries by "Magical Mud"
In one region of Russia, the consistency of the earth is just right that manuscripts dating back centuries emerge almost perfectly preserved. Over the past year, more than 1,000 of these birch bark artifacts from the 11th to 14th centuries have been exhumed from the soil of Novgorod, adding to a gro
Art
Mining Tax Data to Map the Past and Future of Urban Development in New York
Last year, the City of New York released a huge trove of tax data to the public. Called Property Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO), the information might not seem terribly thrilling, a dry assortment of building dates, square footage, and property value, but for those looking to map the city's history
Books
Belief, Reason, and the Origins of the World in a Striking Series of 19th-Century Illustrations
Galileo and other troublemakers aside, science and religion didn't have such a complete falling out until the 19th century.
News
Frick Garden and Watts Towers Listed Among Most Endangered US Art Landscapes
The Frick Collection's Russell Page–designed garden, planned for destruction as part of the Manhattan museum's expansion project, is one of 11 land-based art pieces announced as under threat this week by the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF).