Art
A Ranking of George Stubbs's Greatest Racehorses
The British elite were racing fanatics in the 18th century, and there was no greater honor for a victorious horse than having its portrait painted by George Stubbs.
Allison Meier
Allison C. Meier is a former staff writer for Hyperallergic. Originally from Oklahoma, she has been covering visual culture and overlooked history for print and online media since 2006. She moonlights as a cemetery tour guide.
Art
A Sinking Cherry Grove Portends a Future of Rising Tides
With each foot of sea level rise, four lines of cherry trees at the Climate Chronograph die.
Art
Harvard's Garden of Glass Flowers Blooms Again
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The historic collection of glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History recently reopened after its first comprehensive renovation.
Art
The Grisly and Heroic Propaganda of the Doomed Franklin Expedition
This month, the infamously ill-fated Franklin Expedition returned to the headlines with the discovery of the missing HMS Terror.
Art
The Bird-Based Color System that Eventually Became Pantone
WASHINGTON, DC — An effort to describe the diversity of birds led to one of the first modern color systems.
Books
The Chairs that Architects Have Designed
Before he designed the soaring 1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, Eero Saarinen experimented with gravity-defying design through his one-legged white and red Tulip chair.
Art
Peer Around Houston's Vast, Underground Cistern with a Digital Periscope
A subterranean reservoir in Houston, Texas, once slated for demolition is being reimagined as an unconventional art space.
News
At NY Public Library, Books Now Ride the Rails from the Stacks to the Reading Room
A fleet of 24 cars will soon be delivering material from the stacks of the New York Public Library along the tracks of its new "book train."
News
Over 1,200 Archaeologists and Museum Staff Condemn Destruction Wrought by Dakota Pipeline
In a letter released today, 1,281 archaeologists, museum directors and staff, anthropologists, and historians expressed their solidarity against the destruction at Standing Rock by the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Art
How an Imaginary Island Stayed on Maps for Five Centuries
A tiny blot of a landmass off the western coast of Ireland is curiously labeled "Imaginary Isle of O Brazil" on cartographer Thomas Jefferys's 1768 "Chart of the Atlantic Ocean." A 21st-century viewer might wonder: why include a fictional island on a map of the known world?
Art
The Sculptor Who Merged Cherokee and Art Deco Styles
TULSA, Okla. — Willard Stone's wood-carving style might be described as Art Deco Cherokee, with a distinct, streamlined movement and natural themes that reflect his indigenous heritage.
Books
The Fantastic Fall of a Boisterous and Beloved Gilded Age Artist
In one of the many licentious anecdotes from Robert Winthrop Chanler: Discovering the Fantastic, the Gilded Age artist throws a party in his Gramercy Park "House of Fantasy" so raucous that his neighbors across the street — who happen to be painter George Bellows and his family — call the cops.