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Mention Francis Bacon, and you sometimes have to clarify which one you mean: the twentieth-century painter, or the seventeenth-century philosopher? Despite how much time separated their lives, the two men aren’t without their connections. One may actually have been a descendant of the other, if you credit the artist’s father’s claim of relation to the […]
Photo by Paul Booth You value decorum, propriety, eloquence, you treasure le mot juste and agonize over diction as you compose polite but strongly-worded letters to the editor. But alas, my literate friend, you have the misfortune of living in the age of Twitter, Tumblr, et al., where the favored means of communication consists of […]
Civilization moved past the use of castles long ago, but their imagery endures in popular culture. Even young children here in the twenty-twenties have an idea of what castles look like. But why do they look like that? Admittedly, that’s a bit of a trick question: the popular concept of castles tends to be inspired […]
Once you hear Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, you never forget it. Not that popular culture would let you forget it: the piece has been, and continues to be, reinterpreted and sampled by musicians working in a variety of genres from pop to electronic to metal. In versions that sound close to what Satie would […]
Where do the hipster mixologists of Tokyo, Mexico City and Brooklyn take their inspiration? If not from the Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux’ free collection of digitized vintage cocktail recipe books, perhaps they should start. An initiative of the Museum of Wine and Spirits on the Ile de Bendor in Southeastern France, the collection is a boon to anyone with an interest […]
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In 1973, Sean Plunkett (1948-2023) was riding the London Underground during Rush Hour. His portraits of the city have been published by Café Royal Books. After studying photography at Ealing College, Sean Plunkett worked in mines in Australia and then as a builder in the UK. None of his pictures had ever … Continue reading "Rush Hour On The London Underground, 1973" The post Rush Hour On The London Underground, 1973 appeared first on Flashbak.
Jeanne Duval is mostly known as the dark-skinned muse of the poet Charles Baudelaire, his demon who inspired his best poems and lived 20 years with him in a dramatic and abusive relationship. However, Duval’s real identity still remains a question, as her partner’s account can hardly be trusted. As a Black woman in […]
Get Out: Excommunicated in Medieval England JamesHoare Thu, 09/11/2025 - 09:02
Today, one of the most popular characters from the Arthurian legends is undoubtedly Morgan le Fay. She is often presented as a cunning, alluring, evil sorceress who plots against King Arthur. While this basic description matches fairly well with some medieval portrayals of her, it is only part of her story. In fact, some […]
In the 1970s and the 1980s, French artist Bernard Moninot drew and painted a series of greenhouses. Based on different modes of representation – axonometric projections, outside central perspective and interiors views – Moninot’s greenhouses become autonomous realms. In his aet, Geometry meets poetry. We see the contrast between the greenhouse’s highly ordered transparent … Continue reading "Poetic Geometry: Greenhouses by Bernard Moninot" The post Poetic Geometry: Greenhouses by Bernard Moninot appeared first on Flashbak.
