An Ancient Egyptian Funerary Vessel Heads to Outer Space
Tavares Strachan's “Enoch” was launched into space on December 3rd, 2018. It's the latest in a long line of artworks inspired by Egyptian canopic jars.
W. B. Yeats’ Live-in “Spirit Medium”
In the Victorian era, a different kind of ghostwriting became popular—largely because it allowed men to take all the credit.
What The War of the Worlds Had to Do with Tasmania
H.G. Wells's famous science fiction novel imagines what would happen if Martians did to Great Britain what Europeans did to Tasmania.
Ai Weiwei’s Readymade: Politics
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been making political waves for decades, but his current shows are especially relevant to the United States.
William Goldman and the Mystery of Screenwriting
Authorship of Hollywood screenplays is often a complicated matter. But William Goldman was truly a writer in Hollywood.
Victor Hugo: Surrealist Artist
Victor Hugo created visual art that was intuitive, experimental, and inspired by Spiritualism. In other words, nothing like his novel Les Misérables.
The Colonialist Gaze of Matisse’s Odalisques
Henri Matisse's odalisques, or reclining nude females, were inspired by trips to exotic French colonies. But what was the story outside the frame?
The Secret Syndicate behind Nancy Drew
If you remember your grade-school reading log, the Nancy Drew mysteries are by Carolyn Keene. Only she never existed.
Marketing Emily Dickinson as a Children’s Poet
Some of Emily Dickinson's poems were first published in children's magazines, in what one scholar calls a "marketing ploy gone awry."
The Assimilationist Mythology of the X-Men
Stan Lee's X-Men comics explored themes of prejudice and bigotry. So why weren't the original comics that diverse?