Author Archives: corvusfugit

1928: Damaged

Walker Evans: [Workers Loading Neon “Damaged” Sign into Truck, West Eleventh Street, New York City] (1928-1930)

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19th Century: Provenance Unknown

Portrait of a child holding a lizard. Nineteenth or twentieth century, maybe American.

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1390: And the Books Were Opened

Jacobello Alberegno’s polyptych of the Apocalypse was originally part of a much larger set of artworks in the church of the Benedictine convent of San Giovanni Evangelista on the Venetian island of Torcello; it is now on display in the … Continue reading

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1889: Artist-in-Residence

The celebrated 19th century French painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur was known for wearing men’s pants, shirts, and ties, as well as participating in traditionally masculine activities such as hunting and smoking. She lived with her lifelong partner, Nathalie Micas … Continue reading

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1961: A Song Bob Dylan Never Wrote

From Dylan’s Chronicles Volume One (2004): I can’t say when it occurred to me to write my own songs. I couldn’t have come up with anything comparable or halfway close to the folk song lyrics I was singing to define … Continue reading

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1965: The Girl Who Took Care of the Turkeys

The Girl Who Took Care of the Turkeys Now we take it up. (audience)Ye——s indeed. There were villagers at the Middle Place and a girl had her home there at Wind Place where she kept a flock of turkeys. At … Continue reading

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1808: Portrait of a Horse’s Ass

Henry Raeburn: Portrait of George Harley Drummond (ca. 1808–9); “It is curious…that the animal’s hindquarters should be so prominently displayed” says the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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250 BC: Thunder, Perfect Mind

In 1945, near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, a farmer named Muhammed al-Samman discovered a sealed jar containing thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices. Written in the Coptic language and collectively known as the Nag Hammadi Library, these writings are … Continue reading

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1750: First Sleep, Second Sleep

That dreaming is a less sound species of sleep, appears from the familiar fact, which has probably been observed by every individual; viz. that the first sleep is much freer from it than the second. We retire to rest, fatigued … Continue reading

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1959: Satchmo Talking

Collages by jazz great Louis Armstrong, mostly done on reel-to-reel tape boxes. Dates on the newspapers used range from 1959 to 1971, the year of his death.                           … Continue reading

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