Art
An Intricately Illustrated 19th-Century Study of Global Fashions
In 1876, French scholar and artist Auguste Racinet published Le Costume historique (The Costume History), an illustrated sartorial tour throughout world history.
Taschen
Books
The Daring, "Degenerate" Book Jackets of the Weimar Republic
Weimar book artists mashed up the styles of new art movements — Expressionism, New Objectivity, Constructivism, plus photography — to design unique and politically provocative covers and jackets.
Art
Photochroms Capture Belle Époque Germany in Color
Whether it offers an image of a sun-drenched beach or a pristine ski slope, the picture-postcard has become a photographic genre unto itself, synonymous with escapist fantasy.
Art
The Dark, Enchanted Worlds of Illustrator Kay Nielsen
Whether or not you know it, you’ve probably seen Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen’s work before.
Art
Cultural Differences Between East and West, Reduced to Pictograms
When graphic designer Yang Liu moved from Beijing to Berlin at age 13, she found herself in culture shock.
Books
Communist China's Cheery Propaganda Posters
In the thousands of propaganda posters produced in China between the birth of the People's Republic in 1949 and the early 1980s, the beaming face of Chairman Mao Zedong watches over a surreal utopia.
Books
Before Google Earth: A Rare Cartographic Compendium From Renaissance Europe
Long before the ubiquity of Google Maps, these colorful engravings, produced between 1572 and 1617, comprised the world's most accurate and elaborate collection of urban cartography ever made.
Art
Annie Leibovitz, Wu-Tang Clan, and the Aura of Expensive Art
Photographer Annie Leibovitz's latest work of art is a book — a book that measures more than two feet high, runs to 476 pages, and comes with its own tripod, designed by Marc Newson.
Books
Renaissance Art of the End Times Revealed in Rediscovered Apocalyptic Book
In 1533, hundreds of dragons were reported to darken the skies over Bohemia, following a 1506 sighting of a blinding bright comet slicing over the sky. Were these foreboding occurrences signs of the apocalypse, or just a lot of Renaissance hearsay?