Frida Khalo painting

Did Frida Kahlo Suffer From Fibromyalgia?

Studying the artist's paintings may reveal more about the her early trauma and subsequent pain than suspected.
Zoe Crosher Palms

An Artist Memorializes the Disappearing Palm Trees of Los Angeles

Palm fronds in Southern California are falling more frequently due to age, invasive species, and fungus, Artist Zoe Crosher casts these fronds in bronze.
Women House

How 1971’s Womanhouse Shaped Today’s Feminist Art

The National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibit “Women House” pays tribute to the foundational 1972 project of Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro’s “Womanhouse.”
Zines

Before Blogs, There Were Zines

Zines haven't completely disappeared in the internet age, but the photocopier-powered DIY publishing phenomenon has certainly entered history by now.
Red Rose Girls

The Same-Sex Household That Launched 3 Women Artists

The "Red Rose Girls"—Violet Oakley, Jessie Wilcox Smith, and Elizabeth Shippen Green—met at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the 1880s.
Thomas Cole Arcadia painting

When Landscape Painting Was Protest Art

The landscape painter Thomas Cole celebrated the American landscape, but also expressed doubts about the limits of civilization.
Walking Natan

The Art of Walking

Walking as an art has a deep history. By guiding participants, or their own bodies, on walks, artists encourage us to see the extraordinary in the mundane.
Sunbonnet Babies

The Merchandising Whiz Behind the Sunbonnet Babies

In the late 1890s, Bertha Corbett set up her own illustration studio in Minneapolis. Her simple drawing of children in sunbonnets became her ticket to success.
Iskander Miscellany

The Ultimate Bespoke Manuscript

In The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan, sections of text stack on top of one another, interlaced like fretwork. Bursts of flowers and tangles of vines fill the empty spaces.
Cricket cage

Keeping Crickets for Luck, Song, and Bloodsport

Design can facilitate the worst of human instincts, including forcing animals into servitude and violence. Cricket cages tell stories about how people have treated the insects throughout time.