Smithsonian
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Whipping up a Frenzy
As an intern at the Corcoran, I suddenly understood the power of art. When a 1989 Washington DC Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit was cancelled, young art major Jack Ludden found himself beginning his career amidst one of the biggest culture wars of the…
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The Only Way to Travel
A new exhibit, Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction 1780–1910, is on view at the newly renovated Smithsonian Libraries Gallery at the National Museum of American History. The exhibit explores the imaginations of 18th and early 19th century science fiction writers like H.G. Wells,…
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Catch My (Trendy) Disease
Pale skin, thin waists, sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, red lips—all trademarks of 19th century English beauty trends, and all symptoms of the tuberculosis epidemic that ran rampant until the advent of germ theory in the early 20th century. Emily Mullin…
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Patti and Robert, Frida and Diego
The last painting Frida painted in her life was watermelons, and at the end of his life, Diego also painted watermelons. I always thought that was beautiful: this green fruit that opens up, the pulp, the flesh, the blood, these…
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The Great American Typo
The Smithsonian attempts to hunt down its own white whale: why is Moby-Dick hyphenated in the title of the novel but unhyphenated in the text?
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We’d All Be Better Off With Napoleon
On the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo, Andrew Roberts argues that we’d all be better off with a little more Napoleon: A vast amount of literature has explored why Napoleon fought such an unimaginative, error-prone battle at Waterloo. Hundreds…
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Finding Inspiration in Weird Places
At this point, everyone knows about the Amtrak Residency, but the Smithsonian highlights some other unusual places artists can seek their inspiration, including a shack on the beach and a container on a cargo ship.
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Word of the Day: Didapper
(n.) commonly, a little grebe or dabchick, a small water bird that dives underwater; also, a name for someone who disappears for a time before bobbing up again His papers looked organized, from the outside, they weren’t messy, but there…
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Go to the Library Without Leaving Your House
If you liked learning about fore-edge paintings, you’ll love the New York Public Library’s Tumblr. And the Smithsonian Libraries’ Tumblr. And the University of Iowa’s Special Collections & University Archives Tumblr. And all the other library blogs linked in this MetaFilter post,…
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Baby Panda Bears!
We’ll just leave this here: A Smithsonian magazine piece on the National Zoo’s baby pandas. And it’s by Susan Orlean. And it includes photos.
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Narratives of Survival
The Voice of Witness project, founded by McSweeney’s Dave Eggers, is a nonprofit that records the narratives of those who have survived harrowing experiences. The project was started after Dave came back from the Sudan, where he witnessed people trying…
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Why Clowns Freak Us Out So Bad
If you find clowns more sinister than hilarious, you’re in good company. Clowning has long been associated with a frisson of tragedy or fear, since way before It or John Wayne Gacy. Smithsonian has an intriguing history of the art of…