Who Was the Little Girl in Las Meninas?
A Spanish princess who became a German queen, Margarita Teresa lived a life structured by Catholicism and cut short by consanguinity.
Our Obsession with Art Heists
A deeply ingrained interest in stolen objects and their recovery reflects our collective uncertainty over how we value art.
Orange Crate Art
California citrus growers drew on mass-printing techniques and advances in color lithography to create distinctive brands for their boxes.
Rosa Bonheur’s Permission to Wear Pants
One of the few women permitted to wear trousers during the Third Republic, the French artist developed a sense of self through her clothing choices.
The New York School Poets
From Bernadette Mayer to Joan Mitchell. Tracing the path from the New York School poets to their painter friends.
How an Unrealized Art Show Created an Archive of Black Women’s Art
Records from a cancelled exhibition reveal the challenges faced by Black feminist artists and curators in the 1970s.
The Drama of Point d’Alençon Needle Lace
In its heyday, lace was beautiful, expensive, and handmade. Naturally, lace smuggling became the stuff of legend.
Message in a Button
A dive into the the University of Connecticut Pins and Button Collection gives a wearable history of progressive causes.
The Paradoxical Pomegranate
Aphrodisiac and contraceptive, enflaming and cooling, the pomegranate was a balancing act, mediating between opposing states.
How Latin Camp Rocked the New York Underground
Puerto Rican queers produced theater and film that made them mainstays of the New York underground arts movement of the 1950s and ’60s.