The art: Carleton Watkins, Three Chinese women wearing outfits and at their back walking, undated, though likely 1860s-1880s. From the album “San Francisco Views,” which features more photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown than any other single neighborhood.
The news: “The End of Chinatown,” by Bonnie Tsui in December’s The Atlantic.
The source: Collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, via Calisphere.
Related: America’s first great Chinatown was in San Francisco. Both Eadweard Muybridge and especially Watkins loved to photograph it, perhaps because it was different, even exotic. I’ll feature another Watkins later today.
The art: Carleton Watkins, A Chinese Man Sitting at a Table, undated, though likely 1860s-1880s. From the album “San Francisco Views,” which features more photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown than any other single neighborhood.
The news: “The End of Chinatown,” by Bonnie Tsui in December’s The Atlantic.
The source: Collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, via Calisphere.
Related: America’s first great Chinatown was in San Francisco. Both Eadweard Muybridge and especially Watkins loved to photograph it, perhaps because it was different, even exotic. I’ll feature another Watkins later today.
The art: Eadweard Muybridge, Chinese in San Francisco, undated.
The news: “The End of Chinatown,” by Bonnie Tsui in December’s The Atlantic.
The source: Collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, via Calisphere.
Related: America’s first great Chinatown was in San Francisco. Both Muybridge and especially Carleton Watkins loved to photograph it, perhaps because it was different, even exotic. I’ll feature a few more of their images throughout the day.
The art: Carleton Watkins, Big River from the Rancherie, City of Mendocino, 1863.
The news: “America’s Wild and Scenic Rivers: More than four decades after it became law, a little-known federal act safeguards hundreds of primordial waterways,” by Joel K. Bourne, Jr. for National Geographic Magazine.
The source: Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Other prints are in the collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif., and at the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
This Watkins is also included in “Carleton Watkins: The Complete Mammoth Photographs,” by Weston Naef and Christine Hult-Lewis with a team of contributors. This landmark book was just published by the J. Paul Getty Museum and Getty Publications.
The art: Sigmar Polke, Bunnies, 1966.
The news: “From ‘Playboy Club’ to ‘Pan Am,’ When ’60s-Era Nostalgia Isn’t Enough?” by Alyssa Rosenberg for TheAtlantic.com.
The source: Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Nota bene: Polke recognized that bunny-hood and its related presentations of women (including stewardesses) represented the use of women as sex-driven brand rather than as people. Note that the women in Bunnies are identifiable as commercially-defined bunnies, but their faces and other distinguishing characteristics are impossible to find.
The art: Randy Regier, Impending Future Bus, 2004.
The news: The theme of the new issue of Lapham’s Quarterly is “The Future.” Much of it is online, but you should really just buy a copy or subscribe.
The source: The 2008 Art Institute of Chicago/Renaissance Society exhibition “Black Is/Black Ain’t” and Regier’s Flickr stream, which I highly recommend perusing. The details in the piece can’t be seen in just one picture. Don’t miss the fellow in the very back. Of the bus.
The art: George R. Lawrence, General View, Opening Prayer of the 1904 Republican National Convention, 1904. Little remembered now, Lawrence was one of the most famous and technologically ambitious photographers of his time. The Wikipedia entry on him provides a quick backgrounder.
The news: “Is America Ready for ‘George W. Bush on Steroids?’” by Joshua Green on TheAtlantic.com. The post is a look at Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s weekend political/prayer meeting at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
The source: Collection of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
The art: Roy Lichtenstein, Look Mickey, 1961.
The news: Comic-Con 2011 opens in San Diego, by Nicole Sperling and Yvonne Villareal in the Los Angeles Times.
The source: Collection of the National Gallery of Art.
The art: Andy Warhol, Telephone, 1961.
The news: So much for the end of the humble telephone (winked at here by Warhol), right? As a phone-hacking scandal brings down leaders at No. 10 Downing Street, News Corporation, the Metropolitan Police and elsewhere around the UK, I’m glued to The Guardian’s coverage. This morning’s David Carr column in the New York Times is also recommended. Consider Warhol’s Telephone within the context of the scandal (as I am) by way of this 2008 write-up from the Los Angeles Times’ Christopher Knight.
The source: Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
![The art: Andy Warhol, Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box [Prototype], 1963-64.
The news: “The Indignity of Industrial Tomatoes,” by Barry Estabrook on Gilt Taste. Excerpted from Estabrook’s new book “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.”
The source: Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmwbhkZX091qe0into1_500.jpg)
