Saturday Links

That “retro-Americana aesthetic,” in search of Amédée Ozenfant’s academy, a history of the turban, the early years of “Partisan Review,” and more.

Anonymous, Portrait of Lord Byron (1830). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Good morning! In Compact, Aaron Renn asks why the “retro-Americana aesthetic” is liberal in practice, not conservative: “There’s a genre of right-wing social media posting that’s dedicated to retro-Americana aesthetics: Norman Rockwell paintings, pictures of cute New England towns, preppy clothing, 1950s family scenes, Beach Boys-era Southern California, and similar things. The Trump administration has even gotten into the game, with the Department of Homeland Security posting a Thomas Kinkade painting of an idealized small-town scene. But to the extent that any such aesthetics or lifestyles are actually practiced today, it’s usually by liberals, not conservatives.”