Before the Ouija board: William Rossetti’s diary gives an insight into Victorian séances
Death and disease are no strangers to the streets of Britain. By the late 19th century, tens of thousands of people had contracted fatal infections, such as cholera, smallpox and scarlatina, beginning with the first cholera epidemic of 1832, when…
Anxiety can often be a drag on creativity, upending the trope of the tortured artist
In the U.S., anxiety disorders affect about one-third of the population. So it’s no surprise that a good number of artists and writers also suffer from anxiety and depression. But whereas some critics see Vincent Van Gogh’s striking paintings and…
Nel Law stowed away on her husband’s ship to Antarctica. She was the first Australian woman to see its ‘crystalline strangeness’
I know many people born in 1961 – they are my contemporaries and friends. It doesn’t seem so long ago. Their lives and experiences seem modern to me. They don’t seem old: certainly, none of them have problems working their…
New book sheds light on surrealist artist Leonora Carrington’s extraordinary life and work
Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington, Joanna Moorhead’s latest book on the pioneering surrealist painter and writer who lived from 1917 to 2011, captures a wave of fascination for surrealist women artists. Carrington’s many selves dazzle at…
