Category Archive:

So Blue
If I could write Encyclopedia of the Exquisite all over again, I’d make room for Yves Klein and his IKB—that is, the ultramarine color he patented in 1956, International Klein Blue. Like Robert Rauschenberg, whose early 1950s monochromatic paintings do…

Deepest, Darkest Night
Granted, this is not my usual sort of post—but this is not your usual musical collaboration. Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and David Lynch have teamed up to put out the album Dark Night of the Soul, which was just released days…

Two Lillies
In the late 1800s, few women were as infamous as the two Lillies—Lillian Russell and Lillie Langtry. And with their curvaceous good looks, and shocking reputations, it seems likely that few had more fun. Lillian Russell (1861-1922) was a vaudevillian…

Rock On
It’s hammock season. The Victorians and Edwardians brought this 16th century maritime necessity to bourgeois backyard, where they swung with abandon. The item neatly enmeshes several threads running through Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: the illicit thrill of reclining, and of swinging,…
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