Art and Museums
Drawn to Purpose Online Exhibition: Women Illustrators and Cartoonists at the Library of Congress
From the nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century, women made incremental progress as professional cartoonists and illustrators, with occasional, notable leaps forward by particular creators. In the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries — as educational and professional opportunities expanded — women have become leaders, producing best-selling work, winning top prizes, and receiving high acclaim from their peers in the field. more »
Restoring the Armada Portrait of An Icon, Queen Elizabeth - Shopping for Sextants, Prime Meridian Cufflinks, Dollond Quarter Size Sundial, Clockwork Pendant Necklace
The Armada Portrait was designed to be a spectacle of female power and majesty, carefully calculated to inspire awe and wonder. Like many Tudor portraits, it is packed with meaning and metaphor. Elizabeth's upright posture, open arms and clear gaze speak of vitality and strength. She is draped in pearls — symbols of chastity and the Moon. Numerous suns are embroidered in gold on her skirt and sleeves, to signify power and enlightenment. She rests her hand on a globe, with her fingers over the New World, and above can be seen a covered imperial crown: both signal her potency as a ruler, not just of England but also as a monarch with overseas ambitions. more »
A Welcome to Public Domain Day by Duke's Law School; What is Entering Public Domain in the US? Not a Single Published Work
If you live in Canada or New Zealand, January 1st 2018 would be the day when the works of René Magritte, Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker, Jean Toomer, Edward Hopper, and Alice B. Toklas enter the public domain.1 So would the musical compositions of John Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn, Paul Whiteman, Otis Redding, and Woody Guthrie. Canadians can now add a wealth of books, poems, paintings, and musical works by these authors to online archives, without asking permission or violating the law. And in Europe, the works of Hugh Lofting (the Doctor DoLittle books), William Moulton Marston (creator of Wonder Woman!), and Emma Orczy (the Scarlet Pimpernel series) will emerge into the public domain, where anyone can use them in their own books or movies. more »
Dreams of the Kings: A Jade Suit for Eternity; "Humankind's Dream of Eternal Life is Enduring"
The centerpiece of Dreams of the Kings is a 2,000-year-old, life-sized jade and gold burial suit, meticulously assembled from more than 4,000 pieces of jade linked together with gold wire. Jade is China's most precious material and has been exalted in that country since the Neolithic period as having deep spiritual significance associated with the afterlife. It was only during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E –220 C.E.) that it was used to completely encase the corpse to reflect the belief that the body would not decay if encased in jade.
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