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March 13, 2019

Behind the lens of Frank Cancian, in his own words

Photographer and anthropologist Frank Cancian has been documenting international communities for more than fifty years. His recent contribution to JSTOR in collaboration with University of California Irvine Libraries, traces his fieldwork from the Italian hill town of Lacedonia during the 1950s to the Maya of Zinacantán, Chiapas during the ’60s and ’70s, and to domestic […]

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March 12, 2019

Frank Cancian Documentary Photograph Archive

What’s new in the Artstor Digital Library? Collection: Frank Cancian Documentary Photograph Archive Contributor: University of California Irvine Libraries, Photographer/anthropologist Frank Cancian, Professor Emeritus, UC Irvine Content: Approximately 175 photographs spanning Cancian’s career: The work documents communities in California, Mexico, and Italy, including house cleaners in Orange County (2001-2002); the Maya of Zinacantán, Chiapas (1960-1971), […]

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March 4, 2019

What’s in the box? The art of reliquaries

Relics—bits of bone, clothing, shoes or dust—from Christian martyrs became popular in Western Christianity in the Middle Ages. The cult of relics dates back to the second and third centuries, when martyrs were persecuted and often killed in ways that fragmented the body, which was taboo in Roman society. The intention was to desecrate the […]

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February 25, 2019

Walking the red carpet through history: Fashion in Artstor

It may come as a surprise that JSTOR is flush with fashion. For a dose of glamour, how about a stroll down the red carpet, exploring designs through the ages? Let’s begin with the ancients: In early dynastic Egypt, the beadnet sheath dress is often depicted in paintings and statuary. A faience (sintered-quartz ceramic) dress from […]

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January 31, 2019

Picturing the Little Ice Age

In the summer of 1675, Madame de Sévigné, a doyenne of letters, protested from Paris: “It is horribly cold… we think the behaviour of the sun and of the seasons has changed,” prescient witness to the phenomenon now referred to as the Little Ice Age. Over the last century, scientists and historians have gathered evidence […]

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November 26, 2018

Every dog has its 15 minutes: Andy Warhol’s dog photographs

When you see Andy Warhol’s name, his Pop Art paintings of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Campbell’s soup cans probably spring to mind. But Warhol’s interests extended beyond fame and commerce, as evidenced in the photos he took to record his daily life. “A picture means I know where I was every minute,” the artist […]

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