These photos from the Gulbenkian Art Library capture the men and women of Lisbon and the nearby towns of Ericeira and Nazaré as they haul in their boats, mend their nets and sell their catch. A visual testimony of a vanished way of life on the Iberian coast. …
These stunning photos of the Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe were captured by photographer John Florea during the 1950s. The mere name of Marilyn Monroe represents different images for different people. For some, it suggests the absolute standard of female se…
Tina Turner (born November 26, 1939, Brownsville, Tennessee, U.S.), was an American-born singer who found success in the rhythm-and-blues, soul, and rock genres in a career that spanned five decades. Widely referred to as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she r…
Elizabeth Taylor, born in 1932, was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the highest-paid movie star in the 1…
Jayne Mansfield (born in 1933) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer best known for her bombshell curves and film roles during the 1950s and 1960s. A sex symbol while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Mansfield was known for her well-publ…
Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (15 April 1938 – 25 September 2025) was an Italian film actress. She starred in several acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English-language productions. Born and r…
David Douglas Duncan was a renowned war photographer and photojournalist, who first encountered Picasso in 1956 when he infamously rang the doorbell of La Californie, the artist’s home in Cannes. At the time, Picasso was in the bathtub and allowed Duncan to…
The Messerschmitt KR200 microcar was, and remains, the most evocative example of the bubble car genre; a tiny, instantly recognizable, three-wheeled tandem-two-seater, bearing of the aviation’s most potent brand names. Targeting solid German citizens to…
The 1950s were a period of huge change for Hong Kong. The end of Japanese occupation, the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the U.S. and U.N. trade embargoes on China, and a mass influx of Mainland immigrants bringing low-cost labor to the city,…
Brigitte Bardot was born in September 1934 in Paris and is a French actress, singer, and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated personae with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best-known sex symbols of the late 1950s and 1960s. Bardot…
When an amateur inventor and designer named Earl Silas Tupper first invented Tupperware around 1942 (from a refined version of polyethylene that he referred to as “Poly-T: Material of the Future), he envisaged the total “Tupperization” of the American home…
Nowadays you can easily listen to new songs on your smartphone using your earphones, but this wasn’t the case in the past. Many music stores in the 1950s introduced special sound-isolating booths where customers could sample new sounds without having to…
In the grand scope of the history of medicine, the relationship between doctors and patients has changed quite a bit in recent decades. For a long time, physicians were the authority on health. Patients trusted in their doctors' education and expertise …
This is Afghanistan of 1950s and 1960s. Lots of people would think that they will see pictures of a wild, underdeveloped and medieval country with life conditions worse than now. Think again. Fractured by internal conflict and foreign intervention for c…
These vintage photographs capture a timeless energy and diversity that is characteristic of the sleepless streets of New York City. The recently discovered antique portraits showcase the city in the midst of the 1950s, as seen through the Rolleiflex len…
In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialized countries, paralyzing hundreds of thousands of children every year. A highly infectious disease, polio attacks the nervous system and can lead to paralysis, disabilit…
Air travel was once an experience shaped as much by style as it was by innovation, and few elements captured that spirit more vividly than the uniforms worn by early flight attendants. In an era when flying still felt unfamiliar to many Americans, presentat…
From the wreckage of the 1929 stock market crash, a new American obsession was born. As the economy crumbled, the companies that survived found themselves locked in fierce competition, and many turned to the power of design to stay relevant. Everyday object…
Hollywood has always been a place of illusion — carefully constructed personas, fabricated romances, and studio-engineered narratives designed to keep audiences captivated and ticket sales climbing. But behind the velvet ropes and the camera flashbulbs, cou…
The golden era of American organized crime unfolded not in shadowy back alleys alone, but in broad daylight—through police mugshots, courtroom photographs, and news images that captured mobsters with an audacity that would seem unthinkable today. These men …