The Public Domain Review

This is just an automatic copy of Public Domain Review blog.

The Human Voice (1921)

Tuesday 21 September 2021 at 13:37

Educational film from Bray studios all about that “marvellous sound producing instrument, the voice box”.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-human-voice


Circassian Beauty in the American Sideshow

Thursday 16 September 2021 at 12:07

Among the “human curiosities” in P. T. Barnum’s American Museum was a supposed escapee from an Ottoman harem, a figure marketed as both the pinnacle of white beauty and an exoticised other. Betsy Golden Kellem investigates the complex of racial and cultural stereotypes that made the Circassian beauty such a sideshow spectacle.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/circassian-beauties


700 Years of Dante’s *Divine Comedy* in Art

Tuesday 14 September 2021 at 15:11

To celebrate Dante's 700th anniversary, a look at how illustrators have tackled his most enduring work.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dante-divine-comedy-in-art


Figure/Ground: Alphonse Allais’ *April Fools Album* (1897)

Thursday 9 September 2021 at 16:19

Long before Rauchenberg, Cage, or Malevich, Allais anticipated many of the innovations and experiments that would occupy 20th-century artists.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/alphonse-allais-april-fools-album


*A Treatise on Artificial Limbs* (1899)

Tuesday 7 September 2021 at 08:24

An attempt to parallel every possible case of amputation, allowing individuals to find a case identical to their own.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/treatise-on-artificial-limbs


Festooned: Martin Gerlach’s Decorative Groupings (1897)

Thursday 5 August 2021 at 15:38

At once a reference manual to inspire artists and artisans, and a series of proto-modernist photographic montages anticipating the work of Joseph Cornell.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/martin-gerlach-festons


The Spiralist

Thursday 5 August 2021 at 13:31

Why do helical seashells resemble spiralling galaxies and the human heart? Kevin Dann leads us into the gyre of James Bell Pettigrew’s Design in Nature (1908), a provocative and forgotten exploration of the world’s archetypal whorl.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-spiralist


Porch Memories

Wednesday 4 August 2021 at 16:36

In this affecting photo-essay, Federica Soletta invites us to sit with her awhile on the American porch.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/porch-memories


Astronomia Playing Cards (1829)

Thursday 29 July 2021 at 17:49

Transcending the earthly concerns of betting and regal motifs, this pack of cards focuses exclusively on the heavens.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/astronomia


Albert Millican’s *Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter* (1891)

Tuesday 27 July 2021 at 21:42

Millican's memoir of travels and exploits in the budding flower industry.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/orchid-hunter