VENUS DE PARIS

French cover model earns her stripes.

This is the first issue of the Parisian art deco magazine Vénus we’ve had on the site. There’s a reason for that—they’re rare. And there’s a reason for that—they’re amazing. We think it’s the prettiest mid-century French art magazine ever made, and that’s really saying something, because plenty were published. This one survives from January 1937 and when we saw it at one of bouquinistes adjacent to the Seine it seemed to leap out from all the publications on offer. And no wonder—the cover photo-illustration of a woman dressed as a sort of theatre usher riding a carousel zebra is an instant classic.

We’ve made a high resolution scan of this brilliant piece and are thinking of having it framed. Our website (and other vintage websites) implicitly ask whether we are today living in a less artful age. Vénus answers that question definitively, especially when you consider that it was only one (but the best in our opinion) of a dozen or more French magazines of similar stripe (heh, because of the zebra). For a refresher on what was going on in Paris during the mid-century era check herehereherehere, and here, but only after you scroll down and enjoy the interior of Páris, including a stunning overleaf, a great rear cover, and photography from Schostal, Caillaus, and others.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanide—not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juice—resulting in his death in late 1937.

1933—Franklin Roosevelt Survives Assassination Attempt

In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but is restrained by a crowd and, in the course of firing five wild shots, hits five people, including Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds three weeks later. Zangara is quickly tried and sentenced to eighty years in jail for attempted murder, but is later convicted of murder when Cermak dies. Zangara is sentenced to death and executed in Florida’s electric chair.

1929—Seven Men Shot Dead in Chicago

Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s South Side gang, are machine gunned to death in Chicago, Illinois, in an event that would become known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Because two of the shooters were dressed as police officers, it was initially thought that police might have been responsible, but an investigation soon proved the killings were gang related. The slaughter exceeded anything yet seen in the United States at that time.

1935—Jury Finds Hauptmann Guilty

A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh. Hauptmann is sentenced to death and executed in 1936. For decades, his widow Anna, fights to have his named cleared, claiming that Hauptmann did not commit the crime, and was instead a victim of prosecutorial misconduct, but her claims are ultimately dismissed in 1984 after the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to address the case.

Cover art by Roswell Keller for the 1948 Pocket Books edition of Ramona Stewart's Desert Town.
Rare Argentinian cover art for The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

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