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Hot Summer time, Hot Bikini
On July 1, 1946, at 9 o’clock in the morning, an atomic bomb exploded with a force of 23,000 tons above Bikini, a coral atoll in the South Pacific hitherto virtually unheard of. More than six disarmed warships of the Japanese and American fleets were sunk and more than twice that number were seriously damaged.
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Underwear and Fashion: Lingerie, corsetry and hosiery
The authors correlate lingerie with emancipation, querying whether it asserts newfound freedoms or simply adjusts to conform to changing social values. The result is a rigorous scientific rationale spiced with a zest of humour. And the tinier lingerie gets, the more scholarly attention it deserves.
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Shelley’s Art Musings – International Women’s Day – Celebrating Female Artists
There are still huge worlds apart for many women across the globe in areas of work and pay, acknowledgements and accolades. Female artists are still outweighed by male artists in most contemporary galleries. We are very used to seeing the female form as the centrepiece but usually painted from the male perspective.
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The Rise of Ukiyo-e – The Floating World
Ukiyo-e (‘pictures of the floating world’) is a branch of Japanese art which originated during the period of prosperity in Edo (1615-1868). Characteristic of this period, the prints are the collective work of an artist, an engraver, and a printer.
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Hokusai – Japan’s most internationally-renowned artist, a master of Ukiyo-e art
His style of art and subject evolved as many times as he changed his name, but Hokusai’s talent as an artist remained constant and his influential role in later art movements such as Art Nouveau and Impressionism remains eternal.
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Create your own sunshine!
International Women's Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence against women. Let's find a book to bring a smile for your women!
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On feeding my sole obsession
As a kid in suburban Ohio, I grew up thinking that high heels represented adult sophistication and feminine glamour. Against my mother’s wishes, I was wearing them to school by early 2000’s. Similarly to Cher in “Clueless,” I would totter the corridors between periods in platform wedges and lace-up heels. At that point, I was experimenting with turtle necks and studded skirts—so I can’t really speak to exactly who I was trying to impress or why these were my chosen fashion statements, as much as I knew I wanted feel a little more grown-up. Whether it is two inches or five, every woman[i] has a right to a kick ass…
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Picasso censored! No more breasts in his paintings
I am not surprised Fox has censored Picasso’s breasts. It is absurd and creepy to blur out the bosoms of his Women of Algiers in a report on the painting that set a new world record this week. But it is not completely impossible to understand, because if you were a puritan or a fundamentalist or just hated women’s bodies, Picasso’s breasts are the kind of breasts you might find shocking. Picasso is definitely one of the all-time great artists of the breast. His only rivals are the 16th-century painter Titian, whose Venus of Urbino certainly has some nice nipples, and the 17th-century adorer of buxom wenches Peter Paul Rubens,…
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The Pleasures of Shunga
Tea ceremonies, bullet trains arriving to the exact second, intricately dressed, immaculate geisha and the importance of keeping face: these common images of Japan conjure up the notion of a highly-controlled and conservative society. Graphic images of enormous penises and a woman being pleasured by an octopus are not, perhaps, what you might expect. And indeed for the last century and a half the explicit art of shunga, or ‘spring pictures’ has been taboo in Japan- yet this only came about once the country began to absorb Western cultural influences. Before the late-19th century, the Japanese did not share the dominant Western idea that fine art and pornography were very…
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Judith the Man Slayer
Men create; women inspire. While men stand behind the easel painting masterpieces rich in beauty, women have simply stood in front to model. One woman, though, Artemisia Gentileschi traversed the barrier. Rather than paint innocent and cheery little pictures, hers is a masterpiece of violence and revenge. Judith Slaying Holofernes depicts the Biblical scene in which Judith and her maidservant murder the General Holofernes in his sleep to save the Jewish people. Artemisia’s painting stands alone in the extreme portrayal of violence, seen in the anguished face of the general and in the vividness of the blood streaming down the white sheets.
This is an interactive art blog in multi languages, you will find new articles on artists, art history, exhibitions, etc. Contributions welcome.
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