History

Steven Heller|Essays

A Good Trademark: A Historical Perspective

Textile Brand Names Dictionary, included were more than 4,000 names of fibers, yarns, fabrics, and garments registered with the United States Patent Office between 1934 and 1947.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Can Graphic Design Make You Cry?

How can you create anything visually compelling if you don’t engage at some fundamentally human level — a place where memory and feeling are as valued as form and execution?

Steven Heller|Essays

When Satire Was More Than Funny

"L'Impudique Albion," caricature d'Edouard VII by Jean Veber, L'Assiette au Beurre, Septembre 1901At the turn of the century the French Republic was threatened by a military-church-aristocracy coalition and a huge bureaucratic …

Mark Lamster|Essays

Red Star

The New York-Amsterdam connection has been much in the news of late, and rightly so, as this is the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's Dutch-sponsored voyage of American discovery.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Bowery on the Beach?

Has Leigh Bowery, said to have died more than a decade ago, been hiding out on the Coney Island boardwalk sporting a mullet all along?

Angela Riechers|Essays

Hot Ticket

To see a play or movie, or ride the Twentieth Century Limited, you needed a ticket, and the development of ticket-dispensing machines paralleled the growth of popular culture.

Mark Lamster|Essays

On Muses

Lee Siegel has a wonderful piece in today's WSJ on the history and decline of the muse in art.

Steven Heller|Essays

How Much Is That Artifact in the Window?

Design and Style #3, cover by Seymour ChwastMany of us have bought design objects for pleasure or scholarship. We’ve paid big bucks or a pittance. But what determines the value? Is it simply supply and demand or some abstract idea of …

Lorraine Wild|Slideshows

Will Burtin: Design and Science

Will Burtin’s story is presented in Design and Science: The Life and Work of Will Burtin. Like all of the emigré “pioneers,” Burtin brought an amazing amount of talent and energy (along with plain old ambition) to …

Ken Worpole|Gallery

Tidal Pools: Photographs by Jason Orton

Tidal pools were once common along the coast of Britain, particularly at seaside holiday resorts. Although many such pools have been destroyed or exist as ruins, others are being revived thanks to the energies of lido enthusiasts. This …

Mark Lamster|Essays

Thomas Jefferson: (Henpecked) Jewish President

That Thomas Jefferson had an African-American lover is by now common knowledge. Few, however, realize he had a Jewish grandmother, a fact too often neglected by chauvinistic historians.

Gabrielle Esperdy|Essays

Less Is More Again — A Manifesto

A Duralex Picardie tumbler, photo by Gabrielle EsperdyThe time has come to update William Morris and Adolf Loos for the 21st century. A hundred years ago Loos told us to suspend the use of ornament so that design could catch up with …