Opening the Archive
Impressionists, Victorians, Egyptians, and more.
The Crossroads archive is officially open! I have made the decision to indefinitely pause paid subscriptions and make this newsletter free to all readers.
As many of you know, I’ve been incredibly busy establishing my YouTube channel Fireside Fables, and I have a secret project I’ve been working on that will (hopefully) be ready to launch sometime this fall. While I have absolutely no intention of leaving Substack, I no longer have the time to publish weekly essays, and thus the closed archive doesn’t make sense.
It will take me some time to make sure all the links and pathways are working as they should, but for now, here are two series I published last summer that may interest you. First is my series on the life of Édouard Manet; you can read the first essay below:
And for the history buffs, this series on the eruption of Mount Tambora and its reverberations around the world, from the birth of Frankenstein to the invention of the bicycle:
Thank you as always for your continued support of Crossroads. More soon! -N
Recently on Fireside Fables: The Green Man
Have you seen the Green Man? All over the United Kingdom, tucked away in medieval churches, mysterious faces covered in leaves stare down at parishioners. Is the Green Man a legacy of Catholic architecture, or something far older? In this episode of Fireside Fables, we explore the shadowy history of the Green Man and all his manifestations over the centuries.
Wonderful news. Thank you for opening the archives.
Thank you for opening the archive, but I hope you don't stop posting! I really enjoy the art criticism you are writing.
I've just scheduled a post on the world landscape phenomenon - Joachim Patinir, Bruegel, etc. - to go up on June 22, and I hope you'll give me your thoughts, since it will be my first-ever post on art, as opposed to literature.