Evelyn Nesbit (born Florence Evelyn Nesbit; December 25, 1884 or 1885 – January 17, 1967) was an American artists’ model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her years as a young woman in New York City, particularly her involvement in a deadly love triangle between railroad scion Harry Kendall Thaw and architect Stanford White, which resulted in White’s murder by Thaw in 1906.
In her day, Nesbit was a famous fashion model, being frequently photographed for mass circulation newspapers, magazine advertisements, souvenir items, and calendars. When in her early teens, she had begun working as an artist’s model in Philadelphia. Nesbit continued after her family moved to New York, posing for legitimate artists including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a “Gibson Girl”. She was an artists’ and fashion model when both fashion photography (as an advertising medium) and the pin-up (as an art genre) were beginning to expand.
Nesbit entered theater, first as a chorus line dancer. She was offered a contract as a featured star, and attracted attention from a variety of wealthy men, including Stanford White, nearly three times her age. In 1905, Nesbit married Harry Thaw, a multi-millionaire with a history of mental instability and abusive behavior. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and killed White at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden.
The press called the resulting court case the “Trial of the Century”, and coverage of these well-known figures was sensational. Nesbit testified that White had befriended her and her mother, but had sexually assaulted her when she was unconscious. Thaw was said to have killed White in retaliation, based on his own obsession with Nesbit.
Nesbit visited Thaw while he was confined to mental asylums. She toured Europe with a dance troupe, and her son, Russell Thaw, was born there. Later she took the boy with her to Hollywood, where she appeared as an actress in numerous silent films. Russell also acted in some of these. Nesbit wrote two memoirs about her life, published in 1914 and 1934. Her son later became a pilot, working as a test pilot for the Douglas Aircraft Company after World War II.
Nesbit died in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California, on January 17, 1967, at the age of 82. She had been a resident there for more than a year. She was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. (Wikipedia)
Wicker Park is a neighborhood of about 26,000 residents within the West Town community area in Chicago, Illinois. Situated west of the Kennedy Expressway, east of Humboldt Park, and south of the Bloomingdale Trail, Wicker Park is known for its local hipster culture, art community, nightlife, and food scene.
In recent years, Wicker Park has seen record real estate and commercial development, particularly along the CTA Blue Line subway. Wicker Park is home to many luxury boutique shops and several flagship stores including Adidas Originals, Champion, Arc’teryx, and Yeti. Located within the 60622 zip code, Wicker Park is home to some of Chicago’s most expensive real estate with median home prices over $550,000.
Below are 22 fascinating vintage photographs capture children’s life in France, Switzerland and the United States by LIFE photographer Yale Joel from the 1940s to 1960s:
Small flock of chickens in Swiss farmyard being fed by girl of the farm family, Switzerland, 1947.Elementary school music teacher playing F-Major chord on piano while corresponding keys light up on plastic keyboard model above him as do finger chart for L & R hand & notation for Treble a Bass clefs while student watch & immitate on dummy keyboards, 1947.A boy dancing while the French gypsies around him playing music and watching, France, 1948.Children watching circus show, Switzerland, 1948.Child actor Chet R. Allen mulls over his lines in a classroom in which boys’ choir used as a dressing room, 1952.A small boy playing in a tree during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953.Kids playing outdoors during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953.Children petting on of the winning dogs of the Mutt Derby, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953.Children petting a dog at a Mutt Derby event, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953.Group of boys club little league baseball players putting on their uniforms while sitting in classroom of school prior to playing a game, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1954.A boy playing catcher during a Little League baseball game, 1954.Children participating in a bicycle safety program run by the police, New York, 1954.Fathers and their children imitating giraffes during play period of special Father’s Day at co-op nursery school owned by parents, New York, 1955.Children looking out the window of a building in the neighborhood of the Mad Bomber, 1957.A father giving his children haircuts, 1958.Children playing on a playground, 1958.Second graders using abaci especially designed to teach them arithmetic, Columbus, Ohio, 1958.Children playing on a swing set, 1958.School children visiting the British aircraft carrier HMS ‘Ark Royal,’ 1961.Children wearing Batman costumes in a New York dance class, 1966.Two children, both dressed in Batman capes, jump in front of a studio mirror during a dance class, New York, 1966.A girl playing with a clown at the ‘HemisFair’ in San Antonio, Texas, 1968.
The series of stunning photographs show a young couple dressed in opulent clothing, teenage girls with their hair in ringlets and children all with a solemn look on their faces. Other breathtaking shots show a heavily bearded man and a young man casually leaning for his photo opportunity.
The images were expertly colorized by French bank technician Frédéric Duriez by using Gimp editing software. Duriez, who has been colorizing for three years, said he was attracted by the beauty of the clothes and especially the dresses of this period.
“I was fascinated by these portraits without expression because all the looks are frozen in time,” said Frederic. “It was very difficult to colorize these images because they are without relief and contrast… I was attracted by the beauty of the clothes and especially the dresses of this period.”
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, (6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country’s popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist. She is known for painting about her experience of chronic pain.
Born to a German father and a mestiza mother, Kahlo spent most of her childhood and adult life at La Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán – now publicly accessible as the Frida Kahlo Museum. Although she was disabled by polio as a child, Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until she suffered a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art with the idea of becoming an artist.
Kahlo’s interests in politics and art led her to join the Mexican Communist Party in 1927, through which she met fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The couple married in 1929, and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s travelling in Mexico and the United States together. During this time, she developed her artistic style, drawing her main inspiration from Mexican folk culture, and painted mostly small self-portraits which mixed elements from pre-Columbian and Catholic beliefs. Her paintings raised the interest of Surrealist artist André Breton, who arranged for Kahlo’s first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1938; the exhibition was a success, and was followed by another in Paris in 1939. While the French exhibition was less successful, the Louvre purchased a painting from Kahlo, The Frame, making her the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collection. Throughout the 1940s, Kahlo participated in exhibitions in Mexico and the United States and worked as an art teacher. She taught at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (“La Esmeralda”) and was a founding member of the Seminario de Cultura Mexicana. Kahlo’s always-fragile health began to decline in the same decade. She had her first solo exhibition in Mexico in 1953, shortly before her death in 1954 at the age of 47.
Kahlo’s work as an artist remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered by art historians and political activists. By the early 1990s, she had become not only a recognized figure in art history, but also regarded as an icon for Chicanos, the feminism movement and the LGBTQ+ movement. Kahlo’s work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and indigenous traditions and by feminists for what is seen as its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. (Wikipedia)
1967 Buick Riviera, Cadillac Eldorado, Ford Thunderbird, Pontiac Grand Prix and Oldsmobile Toronado1971 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser 4 Door Hardtop1981 Ford Escort SS Station Wagon and Hatchback1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser 4 Door Hardtop1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS1982 Cadillac Seville1977 Lincoln Continental Sedan1978 Chevrolet Impala Coupe1971 Buick Riviera1981 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta1971 Pontiac GTO Hardtop1968 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe1961 Lincoln Continental Sedan1974 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible1971 Ford LTD Convertible1971 Ford Galaxie 500 4 Door Sedan1972 Mercury Marquis Brougham 4 Door Hardtop1980 Amercian Motors Pacer DL Station Wagon1967 Ford Thunderbird Landau 4 Door Sedan1971 Jaguar XJ6 Sedan1970 Pontiac GTO Judge Convertible1981 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Station Wagon1981 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency CoupeFriday Night at the Drive-In1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham 4 Door1958 Buick Limited Convertible1973 Lincoln Continental and Continental Mark IV1974 Chevrolet Laguna S3 Colonnade Hardtop Coupe1976 Ford Thunderbird with Cream and Gold Luxury Group1978 Lincoln Versailles1967 Ford Mustang Convertible and Mercury Cougar Hardtop on assembly line1965 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass Convetible1965 Checker Marathon 4 Door Sedan1966 Studebaker Daytona 2 Door Sedan1969 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon1961 Chevrolet Nomad Station Wagon1970 Ford Maverick
Jacqueline BissetEric ClaptonMarlene DietrichFaye DunawayElizabeth Taylor and John WarnerMarianne FaithfullBrigitte BardotCharlotte RamplingUrsula AndressRichard Burton and Elizabeth TaylorPaul Newman and Lee MarvinMonica VittiPeter O’TooleHarrison FordSammy Davis Jr.Laurence OlivierMarianne FaithfullSharon TateRex HarrisonJacqueline BissetDavid Bowie and Elizabeth TaylorThe Rolling StonesMick JaggerJodie FosterOrson WellesStingBrigitte BardotRaquel WelchRobert MitchumClaudia CardinaleDavid BowieFrank SinatraThe wedding of Ringo Starr and Barbara BachAudrey HepburnBrigitte BardotRichard BurtonTwiggyDavid BowieJean Shrimpton and Terence StampRoger DaltryMia FarrowRaquel WelchClint EastwoodHonor BlackmanKeith RichardsGeorge HarrisonFrank SinatraDavid BowieElton JohnDean Martin
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus. In 1768, Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha’Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River. In 1770, he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a “circus”. Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The traditional format, in which a ringmaster introduces a variety of choreographed acts set to music, developed in the latter part of the 19th century and remained the dominant format until the 1970s.
As styles of performance have developed since the time of Astley, so too have the types of venues where these circuses have performed. The earliest modern circuses were performed in open-air structures with limited covered seating. From the late 18th to late 19th century, custom-made circus buildings (often wooden) were built with various types of seating, a centre ring, and sometimes a stage. The traditional large tents commonly known as “big tops” were introduced in the mid-19th century as touring circuses superseded static venues. These tents eventually became the most common venue. Contemporary circuses perform in a variety of venues including tents, theatres and casinos. Many circus performances are still held in a ring, usually 13 m (42 ft) in diameter. This dimension was adopted by Astley in the late 18th century as the minimum diameter that enabled an acrobatic horse rider to stand upright on a cantering horse to perform their tricks.
Contemporary circus has been credited with a revival of the circus tradition since the late 1970s, when a number of groups began to experiment with new circus formats and aesthetics, typically avoiding the use of animals to focus exclusively on human artistry. Circuses within the movement have tended to favour a theatrical approach, combining character-driven circus acts with original music in a broad variety of styles to convey complex themes or stories. Contemporary circus continues to develop new variations on the circus tradition while absorbing new skills, techniques, and stylistic influences from other performing arts. (Wikipedia)
The Civil War comes alive as never before in this extraordinary collection of colorized photographs from the era. Not only does it feature portraits of famous leaders and ordinary soldiers but also vignettes of American life during the conflict: scenes from urban and plantation life; destroyed cities; contested battlefields.
Here, TIME commissioned Sanna Dullaway, a photo editor based in Sweden, to colorize some of the most iconic images of the Civil War. The end result, which can take up to three hours to achieve per picture, offers a novel and contemporary perspective to history.
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865) (also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States fought between the Union (forces remaining loyal to the federal union, or “the North”), and the Confederacy (forces from southern states that voted to secede — “the South”).[e] The central cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican–American War. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, four million of the 32 million Americans (~13%) were enslaved black people, almost all in the South.
The practice of slavery in the United States was one of the key political issues of the 19th century. Decades of political unrest over slavery led up to the war. Disunion came after Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 United States presidential election on an anti-slavery expansion platform. An initial seven Southern slave states declared their secession from the country to form the Confederacy. Confederate forces seized federal forts within territory they claimed. The last minute Crittenden Compromise tried to avert conflict but failed; both sides prepared for war. Fighting broke out in April 1861 when the Confederate army began the Battle of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, just over a month after the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in eleven states (out of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861), and asserted claims to two more. The states that remained loyal to the federal government were known as the Union. Both sides raised large volunteer and conscription armies. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued.
During 1861–1862 in the war’s Western Theater, the Union made significant permanent gains, though in the war’s Eastern Theater, the conflict was inconclusive. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy by summer 1862, then much of its western armies, and seized New Orleans. The successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg. Western successes led to General Ulysses S. Grant’s command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions. This lead to the fall of Atlanta in 1864 to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his march to the sea. The last significant battles raged around the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capitol of Richmond.
The war effectively ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, after abandoning Petersburg and Richmond. Confederate generals throughout the Southern states followed suit, the last surrender on land occurring on June 23. By the end of the war, much of the South’s infrastructure was destroyed, especially its railroads. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in a partially successful attempt to rebuild the country and grant civil rights to freed slaves.
The Civil War is one of the most studied and written about episodes in the history of the United States. It remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Of particular interest is the persisting myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The American Civil War was among the earliest to use industrial warfare. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, the ironclad warship, and mass-produced weapons saw wide use. In total the war left between 620,000 and 750,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian casualties.[g] President Lincoln was assassinated just five days after Lee’s surrender. The Civil War remains the deadliest military conflict in American history.[h] It accounted for more American military deaths than all other wars combined until the Vietnam War. The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming World Wars.
Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand; at the main eastern theater of the war, Battle of Antietam, Sept.-Oct., 1862.Surgeons of the 3rd Division before hospital tent in Petersburg, Va., Aug. 1864.John L. Burns, the “old hero of Gettysburg,” with gun and crutches in Gettysburg, Penn., July, 1863.Washington, District of Columbia. Tent life of the 31st Penn. Inf. at Queen’s farm, vicinity of Fort Slocum in Washington, DC, 1861.Allan Pinkerton (“E. J. Allen”) of the Secret Service on horseback in Antietam, Md., Oct. 1862..Cock fighting at Gen. Orlando B. Willcox’s headquarters in Petersburg, Va., 1864.Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Camp of Captain [John J.] Hoff., July, 1865Robert Smalls, S.C. M.C. Born in Beaufort, SC, April 1839 Summary African American legislator.Portrait of Rear Adm. David D. Porter, officer of the Federal Navy, 1860Portrait of Maj. Gen. (as of Apr. 15, 1865) George A. Custer, officer of the Federal Army], 1865Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. 1863 President Lincoln on the battlefield.Antietam, Md. President Lincoln and Gen. George B. McClellan in the general’s tent, Sept. – Oct. 1862Capt. Custer of the 5th Cavalry is seen with Lt. Washington, a prisoner and former classmateBealeton, Virginia. Officer’s mess, Company E, 93d New York Volunteers, Aug., 1863Gettysburg, Pa. Three Confederate prisoners, June-July, 1863.Dead on battlefield at 1st Bull Run, 1862-1865Battle-field of Gettysburg–Dead Confederate sharpshooter at foot of Little Round Top, July, 1863Remembering the dead at Sudley Church near Bull Run, Va. March 1862.Veterans & Medical – Amputated arms BWPowder monkey by gun of U.S.S. New Hampshire off Charleston, S.C., 1860Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters, 1863-1865Mary Todd LincolnAbraham Lincoln, seated next to small table, in a reflective pose, May 16, 1861. Taken on May 16, 1861 at Mathew Brady’s studio in Washington, D.C. 1865: [Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lewis Payne, in sweater, seated and manacled] Summary Photograph of Washington, 1862-1865, the assassination of President Lincoln, April-July 1865. This photograph has background of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined.1865: [Washington Navy Yard, D.C. David E. Herold, a conspirator Frederick DouglassPortrait of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, officer of the Federal Army, 1860-1865The staff of Gen. Fitz-John Porter. Lieutenant William G. Jones and George A. Custer reclining at Falmouth, Va. 1863Soldiers bathing, North Anna River, Va.–ruins of railroad bridge in backgroundGettysburg, Pa. Alfred R. Waud, artist of Harper’s Weekly, sketching on battlefield, July 1863
