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Seeing Spots
From lepers to paranoia: The twisted history of the polka dot.
By Jude Stewart
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CREDIT: "Polka Dots" by Flickr user Atiqah Aekman W. under Creative Commons 3.0. -
Granulomatous Orchitis, © 2008 CREDIT: WebPathology.com. All rights reserved. -
Medieval lepers rang bells to warn others of their supposedly contagious arrival. -
CREDIT: Ceremonial caftan with long sleeves associated with Murat IV (1623-40), satin with three circle pattern and stripes made of gold stitches, 17th century, courtesy of the Turkish Cultural Foundation. -
CREDIT: Mouche Packets by Bell'occhio. -
Roller-printed cotton polka-dot dress, 1830, courtesy the CREDIT: Cora Ginsburg Gallery, New York City. -
"Impromptu Polka" by Julius Schulhoff, 1864, from the CREDIT: Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. -
CREDIT: Pussy's Polka by Kitty, from the 19th-Century American Sheet Music Collection, Music Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. -
"Too Fat Polka" by Ross Mac Lean and Arthur Richardson, 1947, from the CREDIT: Templeton Digital Sheet Music Collection, Mississippi State University Libraries. -
Vespa advertisement, via Flickr user CREDIT: x-ray delta one under Creative Commons 3.0. -
"She's a WOW. Woman Ordnance Worker," by Adolph Treidler for the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps, 1942, via Flickr user CREDIT: michal_hadassah under Creative Commons 3.0. -
Album cover, CREDIT: The Very Best of Brian Hyland. -
Photograph of a Yayoi Kusama art installation by Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty Images.
Click here to read a slide-show essay on the history of polka dots.
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Special thanks to Leigh Wishner of Cora Ginsburg Gallery, NYC; Jen Colman of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum; and Professor Steven Connor of Birkbeck College, London.