Mehr als Frühstück
The article explores the enduring presence and symbolism of the egg as a motif throughout art history. It highlights works by artists from Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder to Salvador Dalí and Constantin Brâncuși, showing how the egg has been used in painting, sculpture, and photography to represent themes of origin, life, and perfect form.
Two new books examine the legacy of Johannes Vermeer from contrasting angles. Ruth Bernard Yeazell's "Vermeer's Afterlives" (Princeton University Press) explores how the artist's open-ended, figureless interiors have inspired later creators, from painter George Deem to novelist Tracy Chevalier. Andrew Graham-Dixon's "Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found" restores the historical and religious context of 17th-century Delft, arguing that modern readings have overlooked the original meanings of Vermeer's works.
The article recounts the author's personal rediscovery of Art Nouveau, sparked by encountering an iron doorknob shaped like a Belgian endive at the Bröhan Museum in Berlin. It explores the movement's history, its German variant Jugendstil, and the philosophical debate between Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno over its merits—Benjamin criticizing it as a superficial escape from industrial reality, Adorno defending its utopian desire to reconcile art, nature, and technology. The piece also notes a contemporary resurgence of interest in the style.
Anzia Yezierska, a Polish-Jewish immigrant who arrived in New York in 1890, defied traditional gender expectations to become a leading literary voice of the 1920s. Dubbed the 'Queen of the Ghetto,' she documented the raw struggles of immigrant women on the Lower East Side using a unique 'immigrant English' style that captured Yiddish idioms. After escaping a restrictive marriage and pursuing an education at Columbia University, she channeled her personal frustrations into stories of poverty, ambition, and the psychological toll of assimilation.
Elin Kling and Karl Lindman, the Swedish couple behind the womenswear brand Toteme, discuss their design philosophy and the opening of their first flagship store in mainland Europe, located on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. The article, accompanied by photography from Mikael Jansson, details how the brand has resisted trends like "quiet luxury" and minimalism labels, instead focusing on precision, restraint, and timeless essentials. The Paris store, designed by Stockholm-based Halleroed, features art-gallery-white walls, Italian limestone floors, and works by Marc Newson, Lucie Gottlieb, and Jansson, reflecting the brand's serene, uncluttered aesthetic.
Dolce Vita war gestern
Andrea Modica's new photobook "Italian Story" collects four decades of photographs taken in Italy, beginning with her first trip there in the late 1980s. Born in 1960 to a family with roots in Sicily and Naples, Modica received a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Sicily and photograph the origins of the Catholic imagery, gender roles, and family structures she experienced growing up in New York. The book, however, is not a documentary of her heritage; instead, it presents dreamlike, surreal images—motionless bodies in water, dead fish, figures behind mosquito nets, Madonna statues—that resist clear narrative or identity politics. Modica works with an 8x10 large-format analog camera and prints using the historic platinum-palladium process, giving the images a timeless, collaborative quality.
A new short film titled 'Silvesterchlausen' by writer and director Andrew Norman Wilson documents the centuries-old Swiss New Year's tradition of the same name. The film captures groups of men and boys in the Appenzell regions who don elaborate, handmade masks and headdresses made from natural materials like pinecones and moss, forming groups to yodel, ring bells, and visit homes over 18-hour days to mark the turn of the year on both the Gregorian and Julian calendars.
Navid Baraty's series "The Time Between" combines digital photographs of urban skylines like Manhattan and Chicago with dramatic natural landscapes such as desert dunes and snow-capped mountains. Using a double-exposure technique, the artist blends city lights and skyscraper outlines with geological features to explore contrasts between contemporary urban life and ancient, timeless terrains.
German acrobat-turned-photographer Isabelle Wenzel photographed Fall/Winter 2025 looks from Balenciaga, Loewe, Miu Miu, Alaïa, and other fashion houses for CULTURED's Art + Fashion issue. Her images capture models in sculptural garments—voluminous fabrics, reflective leather, silky fringe—as they tumble, leap, and contort, blending precision with play. The shoot features models Anneliek Heuvel and Akti Konstaninou wearing pieces by Vaquera, Acne Studios, Issey Miyake, Prada, Valentino, Gucci, Chanel, Givenchy, Saint Laurent, and more, with creative direction by Studio&.
The New York Times explores the enduring influence of Shaker design on contemporary artists and designers, highlighting how its principles of simplicity, utility, and spiritual integrity resonate in today's world. The article features creators like furniture maker Thomas Moser and ceramicist Mary Law, who draw directly from Shaker aesthetics of plainness, proportion, and honest craftsmanship.