Special

Bizarre

The Intriguing Tale of Shocking Sheela Na Gig and Its Art References

Everyone remembers their first sighting of a Sheela Na Gig. Wandering around an old church, breathing in the architecture, the history, the silence.

Candy Bedworth 3 July 2023

Artist Stories

Pablo Picasso and Women in His Life

Pablo Picasso, perhaps the most influential and recognizable painter of the 20th century, is well known for his tumultuous (or even abusive)...

Pola Otterstein 1 July 2023

The Duchess of Alba and "la Beata" painted by Francisco Goya, 1795 Artist Stories

The Story Of Duchess of Alba – Francisco de Goya’s Muse

Few women in 18th-century Spain captured the imagination of contemporaries as thoroughly as Doña María de Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez...

Zuzanna Stańska 1 July 2023

Love Story

Women in Rossetti’s Life and Art: Muses and Lovers

Anyone who knows of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood will remember their style by the representation of a very particular type of woman – the ones...

Bolor Jargalsaikhan 1 July 2023

Pop art

Andy Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen

A club The Gilded Grape, situated in the no man’s land of Eighth Avenue and West 45th Street in New York City, was a hub of drag queens and Black...

Magda Michalska 28 June 2023

Review

On Ugliness by Umberto Eco – A Sublime Journey Through Horrid Texts and Faces of the Western World

This book stood on one of my shelves for far too long. The compelling ugliness of its cover attracted me each time I longingly glanced at it. Now...

Giordana Goretti 26 June 2023

Music

Farinelli – The Best Castrato In Portraits

What does “castrato” mean? Castrati were male singers who had been castrated before puberty to retain the so-called voce bianca, that is...

Magda Michalska 26 June 2023

Art History 101

Essential Books for Art Historians (and Art Lovers)

Not sure what you should read next? Here is a list of the most important art-related books you should read. Written in the previous century, they...

Roma Piotrowska 26 June 2023

Women Artists

10 Great Women Sculptors You Should Know

Just like traditionally in painting, art history has acknowledged mainly male sculptors. However, that doesn’t mean that women haven’t made...

Errika Gerakiti 26 June 2023

Women Artists

Claire Falkenstein: Wire and Venetian Glass Sculptures

American sculptor Claire Falkenstein (1908–1997) was highly successful in her days, but today her story rarely resurfaces on the pages of art...

Magda Michalska 23 June 2023

Stained-glass windows, Nasie Al Mulk Mosque, Iran Architecture

7 Extraordinary Stained Glass Wonders You Need to Know

The practice of decorating pieces of glass with the aim of adorning a room seems to originate in the ancient Roman Empire. Later stained glass...

Camilla de Laurentis 23 June 2023

Artist Stories

Claude Cahun. A Surrealist Queer Prophet

Claude Cahun famously said “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.” Photographer,...

Candy Bedworth 22 June 2023