W. G. Sebald

Wikipedia - "W. G. (Winfred Georg) Maximilian Sebald (18 May 1944, Wertach im Allgäu – 14 December 2001, Norfolk, England) was a German writer and academic."
Wikipedia, The Threepenny Review, Conversational Reading, Vertigo: Collecting & Reading W.G. Sebald, NYT

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Black-chinned Hummingbird
"Explore our new birding tips, multimedia, articles, and updated bird profiles."
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Mentalgassi

Eugene - "I can't help but laugh when I look at Mentalgassi's street art installations in Berlin, Germany. Consisting of three core members, they go around wheatpasting faces on public installations, such as reclyling bins and tickets validators, thereby evoking emotion from those that pass by. Gotta love their sense of humor!"
Urban Street Art, Mentalgassi

Gwen John

A Corner of the Artist's Room, Paris, 1907-09
Wikipedia - "Gwendolen Mary John (22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939) was a Welsh artist noted especially for her portraits of anonymous female sitters."
Wikipedia, TATE, Google

Alexander Sokurov

Wikipedia - "Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov ... (b. June 14, 1951, Podorwikha, Irkutsk Oblast) is a Russian filmmaker from St Petersburg who has been hailed as successor to renowned director Andrei Tarkovsky."
Wikipedia, IMDb, The Island of Sokurov, strictly film school, YouTube, (1), (2)

Hannah Höch

Wikipedia - "Hannah Höch (November 1, 1889 – May 31, 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage."
Wikipedia, Photomontage, Google

Tamara De Lempicka

"Designers and architects also remember the 20's for the Chrysler Building, the luxury liner Normandie, and the interior of Radio City Music Hall, all outstanding examples of the decorative arts style called Art Deco."
The Art History Archive - Art Deco

Pompeii and the Roman Villa

"In the first century BC, the picturesque Bay of Naples became a favorite retreat for vacationing emperors, senators, and other prominent Romans. They built lavish seaside villas in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius where they could indulge in absolute leisure, read and write, exercise, enjoy their gardens and the views, and entertain friends."
Pompeii and the Roman Villa - NGA, NYT

Jah Wobble

Wikipedia - "Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, in Stepney in 1958) is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two years."
Wikipedia, MySpace, 30 Hertz Records, last.fm, allmusic, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Vintage Collectible Topic Postcards

"We SPECIALIZE in old historic postcard views from the world and pay particular attention to town views of the local businesses with an emphasis on amusement parks, mining facilities, factories, canals, military bases, soldiers, royalty, disasters, railroad depots, streetcars, movie theaters, opera houses, hotels, restaurants, churches, cemetery, bridges, fire department facilities, hospitals, orphanages, post offices, schools, and trams."
Moody's Collectible Vintage Postcards

Katherine Wolkoff

"In all her work, Wolkoff confounds our expectations of how photography communicates the essence of a person or place. Using almost the reverse lighting conditions that we are accustomed to in photography, she creates a deeper understanding of her subjects."
Danziger Projects, Katherine Wolkoff

At Home in Utopia

"New York City cops in the Great Depression called it Little Moscow, but for the 2,000 Jewish immigrant residents of the United Workers Cooperative Colony, a.k.a. 'the Coops,' it was their first taste of the American dream. AT HOME IN UTOPIA bears witness to an epic social experiment, following two generations of residents and their commitment to radical ideas of racial equality and rights for tenants and workers."
PBS, afl-cio now blog

Scott Mutter

"For thirty years, Scott Mutter employed classic photomontage techniques to create a world of his own -- a more perfect world. The hallmark of Mutter's remarkable imagery is the distinct sense that the elements of each picture belong together, even though the combination may violate the laws of physics."
The American Museum of Photography, Wikipedia, Scott Mutter

Kate Bush

Wikipedia - "Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on 30 July 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic lyrics have made her one of England's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years having sold over 20 million records worldwide."
Wikipedia, Kate Bush, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

Patti Smith: Veil

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
"Singer-songwriter Patti Smith has been toying with various media since she was an art student in NYC during the 1960s. There she met her lifelong friend, late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who inspired her to unleash her inner self through different means. For the past three decades, Smith has been well-known and respected in the art world, especially for her photography, drawings and poetry."
Fordham Observer, Robert Miller Gallery, The Art Newspaper, a patti smith website

Camille Pissarro

The Wheelbarrow
Wikipedia - "Camille Pissarro (July 10, 1830 – November 13, 1903) was a French Impressionist painter. His importance resides not only in his visual contributions to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, but also in his patriarchal standing among his colleagues, particularly Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin."
Wikipedia, Google, Impressionist

Harappa

Gateway At Harappa: Indus Valley Civilization
"This ancient settlement existed from about 3300 BCE and is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents—considered large for its time. Although the Harappa Culture extended well beyond the bounds of present day Pakistan, its centres were in Sindh and the Punjab."
Wikipedia, Harappa

The Tropics. Views from the Middle of the Globe

"In the minds of Westerners, the term 'tropics' is usually connected to lush vegetation and exotic cultures - a view which is influenced, of course, by the traditional art from the equatorial regions."
Kulturstiftung Dea Bundes, Berliner Festspiele

Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscpes of the Golden Age

Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age
"In the 17th century a new genre of painting—the cityscape—emerged, fostered by the booming economy of the Dutch Republic and its affluent urbanites. Images of towns and cities became expressions of enormous civic pride."
Pride of Place, NYT

Stan Brakhage

Wikipedia - "James Stanley Brakhage (January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003), better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film."
Wikipedia, Stan Brakhage: A Brief Introduction, senses of cinema, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now

"In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice."
In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, Justseeds, flickr

Mission of Burma

Wikipedia - "Like many of their post-punk contemporaries, Mission of Burma's efforts are largely concerned with extending punk's original vocabulary without losing its essential rebellious spirit. Using rapid shifts in dynamics, unconventional time signatures and chord progressions along with tape effects, Mission of Burma challenges the prevailing idioms of punk while attempting to retain its power and immediacy."
Wikipedia, Mission of Burma, MySpace, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2)

David Attenborough

Wikipedia - "Sir David Frederick Attenborough ...(born 8 May 1926 in London, England) is a broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the respected face and voice of British natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years."
Wikipedia, PBS - Life of Bird, PBS Online, Video - The Living Planet

Rockport Harbor

Gloucester Daily Times - "Battered and broken by the great winter storm of 1978, Motif No.1 collapsed, and in an eye blink, was swept out of Rockport harbor. Within the year, a duplicate had been built and repainted to look as good as new."
Wikipedia, Rockport, flickr - Rockport Harbor, Wikipedia - Gloucester, Wikipedia - Plum Island

Johan Barthold Jongkind

Le Quai d'Orsay et la machine a guinder, 1852
Wikipedia - "Johan Barthold Jongkind (June 3, 1819 – February 9, 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism who influenced Claude Monet."
Impressionism, artnet, Google

Heaney at 70

IrishTimes - "This month, Seamus Heaney celebrates his seventieth birthday. The Irish Times commemorates the occasion and his unique contribution to Irish literature."
IrishTimes, RTÉ Celebrates Seamus Heaney's Birthday, At 70, Heaney muses on cadences of a poetic life, (1)

Justice in Police Cells - A Walk Through Through

"JUSTICE is an exhibition in Bristol UK that brings together work from five artists from France and the US - C215, Dan23, Bruno Leyval, Least Wanted and MC1984. All of the work in the exhibition is based on the themes of Law and Order. The show includes specific installations, photography, prints, and stencils, all placed within the the Bridewell Police Station’s cells."
current, flickr,

William Blake

Newton (1795)
Wikipedia - "William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age."
Wikipedia, Tate, Blake Archive, poets.org, The William Blake Page, YouTube, (1), (2)

Turner & Italy

The Piazzetta, Venice, JMW Turner
"Turner & Italy begins in 1802, when the Peace of Amiens made travel on the Continent possible for British artists, and J M W Turner crossed the Alps for his first, brief glimpse of the country that was to play such a crucial role in his art."
Telegraph, National Gallery Complex, Turner and Italy - Telegraph,

Nirvana

Wikipedia - "Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the most notable being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990."
Wikipedia, last.fm, MTv, MySpace, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Cy Twombly

Wikipedia - "Edwin Parker (Cy) Twombly Jr. (born April 25, 1928) is an American artist well known for his large-scale, freely scribbled, calligraphic-style graffiti paintings, on solid fields of mostly gray, tan, or off-white colors. He exhibits his paintings worldwide, and now has an exhibition in London."
Wikipedia, Gagosian Gallery, artnet, Haber's Art Reviews, YouTube, (1)

Brazza in Congo: A Life and Legacy

"There are many treacherous paths leading toward history’s realms of darkness, but when it comes to routes hacked out by imperialist powers in the Congo, we really do seem near darkness’s heart. First arrived the explorers, whose readiness to confront disease and starvation, crashing rapids and warring tribes, can seem on the edge of madness."
NYT, NYU

Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933

"A team of international scholars discusses Calder's many innovations during this period in Paris, chief among them his abstract, motorized, and mobile works. They analyze the extended cast of Calder's animated Circus, made in Paris between 1926 and 1931, and include previously unpublished photographs by Brassaï and Kertesz of Calder and this beloved performative sculpture."
Whitney, Daily Icon, Art/Museums

Egypt's Golden Empire

"Over 3,500 years ago, Rome was no more than a soggy marsh and the Acropolis was just an empty rock, but Egypt was on the brink of its greatest age - the New Kingdom."
Egypt's Golden Empire - PBS, Video - Google, (1), (2)

Vasily Smyslov

Wikipeia - "Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ... (born March 24, 1921, in Moscow) is a Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958."
Wikipedia, chessgames.com, Chessville