Dorothy Richardson

Dorothy Richardson and the Stream of Consciousness

Though often associated with Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, “stream of consciousness” novels spilled first from the pen of British modernist Dorothy Richardson.
José Garcia Villa

José Garcia Villa, an American Poet Ahead of His Time

While Villa’s otherness created an opening for his work in the US, American critics ultimately held both his modernism and his nationality against him.
Kandalama Hotel, Sri Lanka

The Enduring Appeal of Architect Geoffrey Bawa

Bawa's global travels helped him to create buildings and landscapes that are inextricably linked to Sri Lankan sensibilities and craftsmanship.
Portrait of Beatrice Hastings before a door by Amedeo Modigliani

Beatrice Hastings: The Forgotten Modernist

Marginalized in early histories of Modernist literature, Hastings left a mark on one of the most influential literary magazines of the early twentieth century.
Gertrude Stein

Is it a Crime?

An appreciation of Gertrude Stein’s pulp explorations.
A stack of books by Virginia Woolf

Was Modernism Meant to Keep the Working Classes Out?

In the 19th century, more working class readers started partaking in contemporary fiction. Modernist literature, however, was specifically not for them.
The Black Shawl, 1917, by Henri Matisse

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?
Barragan house

Casa Luis Barragán, Sacred Space of Mexican Modernism

A tour of the Mexican modernist architect Luis Barragán’s house and studio reveals a surprise with a touch of the divine.
Maison de Verre Paris

What Makes a Glass House the Ideal Home for a Communist Gynecologist?

Paris’s Maison de Verre is a marvel of modernist architecture whose rarely seen interior was constructed to foster sociality.
Mary Edwards Walker

Why Modernist Women Liked Cross-Dressing

Women pioneers of modernism like Gertrude Stein, Frida Kahlo, Radclyffe Hall, & Djuna Barnes found cross-dressing a blessing in disguise.