In three decades of teaching medieval European history, I’ve noticed my students are especially curious about the intersection of the stories told in class and the depictions of the Middle Ages they see in movies and television. Judged by their historical accuracy, cinematic portrayals are a mixed bag. However, popular fantasy, unencumbered by the competing...
Ann Patchett, who has written eight novels and five books of nonfiction, says that when faced with writer’s block, sometimes it seems that the muse has “gone out back for a smoke.” It doesn’t matter whether you’re an award-winning novelist or a high schooler tasked with writing an essay for English class: The fear and...
Who invented music? – Rom, age 7, Las Vegas, Nevada The short answer is: No one knows who invented music. No historical evidence exists to tell us exactly who sang the first song, or whistled the first tune, or made the first rhythmic sounds that resembled what we know today as music. But researchers do...
After multiple art handlers complained online about low wages, misrepresentation and class tourism, traces of the collaboration with Highsnobiety all but disappeared and a senior executive issued a mea culpa A collaboration between Christie’s and the aptly named lifestyle and media company Highsnobiety ruffled the feathers of a crucial labour force within the art market that is...
The UK’s Government Art Collection (GAC) is to open its first public display space in London. A room in its new headquarters in the Old Admiralty Building, which is between Trafalgar Square and Horse Guards Parade, has just been refurbished as a viewing room. Presently only open to invited guests, plans are being made to...
Rising inflation (and corresponding shifts in consumer spending), enduring supply chain disruptions, market volatility in China due to stringent COVID policies, and mounting unsold inventory are among the issues that retail companies are currently facing, putting them in precarious positions amid fears of recession. Luxury brands are known to generally weather economic downturns better than their mass-market retail counterparts, and those in other industries, but how well...
Código 1530 has just launched a unique Estate Harvest Still Strength Blanco tequila that is undeniably special. The special edition Blanco is considered an Estate Harvest, meaning it is made with only agave that is grown on Código 1530 owned land. In the tequila industry, less than 1% of tequila brands own the entire process from ‘Field...
The Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) at Saint Louis University presents three new collage-paintings by acclaimed artist Lesley Dill in the exhibition, Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest, on display through Oct. 16, 2022. Lesley Dill is an American artist who works at the intersection of language and fine art in sculpture, printmaking, installation, and performance, exploring...
Throughout his career, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, who has died of cancer at 84, rejected terms like “fashion”. But his work allowed much of the world to reimagine itself through clothing. Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake studied graphic design in Tokyo where he was influenced by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi and the...
Apollo John Rwamparo speaks forlornly of the eight-legged stool, a symbol of authority for his ancient kingdom in Uganda, now glimpsed through a glass barrier at a museum thousands of miles away in Britain. The wooden stool is permanently exhibited at the University of Oxford, one of at least 279 objects there taken from Bunyoro-Kitara...
