Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters, anyone seeking a professional look hired a studio photographer. These portraits of couples from the 1970s are a release from all that narcissism. The lovers paid for these pictures because they wanted one picture of themselves good enough to hang on a … Continue reading "Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s" The post Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s appeared first on Flashbak.

“They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark Ellen   In 1976, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her friend, the sociologist Dr. Karen Folger Jacobs, documented the lives of women living in the high-security, all-female wing of the Oregon State Hospital … Continue reading "Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976" The post Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976 appeared first on Flashbak.

Andy Warhol’s star shone brighter after his death on February 22, 1987. The artist succumbed to cardiac arrest while in hospital for gall bladder surgery. Prolific, talented and successful in life, much of Warhol’s work only came to light after his unexpected death, such as early commercial illustrations, versions on his famous Campbell’s soup cans … Continue reading "Andy Warhol’s Life After Death: Cards, Posters And Other Post-Warhol Ephemera" The post Andy Warhol’s Life After Death: Cards, Posters And Other Post-Warhol Ephemera appeared first on Flashbak.

This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer Manuel Orazi (1860 – 1934) was printed in an symbolic edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page uses the Christian calendar (name days, iconography), but this year of magic is rooted … Continue reading "Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895" The post Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895 appeared first on Flashbak.

“One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light,” – James Baldwin, Nothing Personal      The Sun (1919) by Frans Masereel (1889–1972) opens with an artist resting his head on his desk beneath an open window beyond which we … Continue reading "The Sun by Frans Masereel, A Story Without Words – 1919" The post The Sun by Frans Masereel, A Story Without Words – 1919 appeared first on Flashbak.