Manet and Bell Labs

The Uses And Abuses Of Manet’s Olympia

Todd Cronan | Nonsite | 3rd January 2025

Édouard Manet's Olympia caused a "firestorm" when first exhibited in 1865. Its subject matter — white model Victorine Meurent formally poses on a bed in the nude while her black maid Laure brings her flowers — provoked over a century of commentary, primarily about the nudity, not the racial dynamics. The "staging and artifice" of Olympia prevents the viewer indulging in false empathy for its figures (2,900 words)

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The Boring Part Of Bell Labs

Elizabeth Van Nostrand | 19th November 2025

What did Bell Labs do in between the moonshot projects like inventing the transistor and solar cells? The writer interviews her father, who was in the applied division, working on things like improving inventory control and designing "slide rulers so salesmen could estimate costs". Interesting throughout. This mundane, industry-applicable work enabled the expensive experimental research (4,400 words)