More Accomplished People Were Born Today Than You Can Shake a Stick At-

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 15, 1452: Leonardo da Vinci was born. "Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer, Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci points out, however, that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time."

April 15, 1489: Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect, was born. "Koca Mimar Sinan Ağa was the chief Ottoman architect and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman I, Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures, and other more modest projects. His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Constantinople (Istanbul). He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves, including Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa, architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He is considered the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman architecture, and has been compared to Michelangelo, his contemporary in the West."

April 15, 1741: Charles Willson Peale, American painter, soldier and naturalist, was born. "Finding that he had a talent for painting, especially portraiture, Peale studied for a time under John Hesselius and John Singleton Copley, and he traveled to England to take instruction from Benjamin West. Peale was quite prolific as an artist. While he did portraits of scores of historic figures (such as John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton), he is probably best known for his portraits of George Washington. The first time Washington ever sat for a portrait was with Peale in 1772, and there would be six other sittings; using these seven as models, Peale produced altogether close to 60 portraits of Washington. "

"Peale had a great interest in natural history, and organized the first U.S. scientific expedition in 1801. These two major interests combined in his founding of what became the Philadelphia Museum, and was later renamed the Peale Museum. He had expertise not only in painting, but also in other diverse fields, such as carpentry, dentistry, optometry, shoemaking, and taxidermy. In 1802, John Hawkins patented the second official physiognotrace, a mechanical drawing device, and partnered with Peale to market it to prospective buyers. Peale sent a watercolor sketch of the physiognotrace, along with a detailed explanation, to Thomas Jefferson. Peale named all of his sons for artists or scientists, and taught them to paint. Three of them, Rembrandt, Raphaelle, and Titian, became noted artists in their own right."

April 15, 1889: Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and muralist, was born. "Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States. Though his work is perhaps best associated with the Midwest, he created scores of paintings of New York - where he lived for over 20 years, Martha’s Vineyard - where he summered for much of his adult life, the American South and the American West."

April 15, 1894: Bessie Smith, American blues singer, was born. "Sometimes referred to as "The Empress of the Blues," Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.

April 15, 1900: Wilhelm Wagenfeld, noted industrial designer, was born in Bremen. "Wilhelm Wagenfeld was an important German industrial designer of the 20th Century, a disciple of the Bauhaus. He designed glass and metal works for the Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen., the Vereinigte Lausitzer Glaswerke in Weißwasser, Rosenthal, Braun GmbH and WMF. Some of his designs are still produced until these days. One of his classics is a table lamp, known as Wagenfeld Lampe, 1924, which he designed together with Karl J. Jucker.

April 15, 1904: Arshile Gorky, Armenian Artist, was born. "Gorky's contributions to American and world art are difficult to overestimate. The painterly spontaneity of mature works like "The Liver is the Cock's Comb". "The Betrothal II", and "One Year the Milkweed" immediately prefigured Abstract expressionism, and leaders in the New York School have acknowledged Gorky's considerable influence. When Gorky showed his new work to André Breton in the 1940s, Breton declared the painting to be "one of the most important paintings made in America". His paintings and drawings hang in every major American museum including the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (which maintains the Gorky Archive), and in many worldwide, including the Tate in London."

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"Charles Willson Peale and His World"

By Edgar P. Richardson, Brooke Hindle & Lillian B. Miller.

Published by Harry N. Abrams in 1983.

This fine monograph includes biographical essays by Edgar P. Richardson and Lillian B. Miller and a study of Peale's science and technology by Brooke Hindle, as well as a foreword by Charles Sellers and a catalog of Peale’s known paintings.

$45.00

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Rococo Cathedral Sharks Show Movie of Lightbulb!

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 14, 1434: The foundation stone of Cathedral St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes, France is laid. "The Cathédrale St-Pierre-St-Paul (Nantes Cathedral), in the region of Brittany, is one of France's last Gothic cathedrals, built well after most other medieval cathedrals had been completed. Begun in 1434, the cathedral wasn't finished until the end of the 19th century, but it remained amazingly architecturally harmonious. After a 1972 fire destroyed the roof, the interior was restored."

April 14, 1688: Paul de Lamerie, famous English silversmith and Rococo master, is baptized in Hertogenbosch, Holland. The best-known English silversmith of his generation, his Huguenot parents had left France following the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685). They initially settled in the United Provinces, where Paul was born, moving to London in 1691. de Lamerie is notable for working in the Rococo style from the 1730s. He opened his shop in 1712 and was appointed goldsmith to King George I in 1716.

April 14, 1894: Thomas Edison demonstrates the kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flip in sequence, a precursor to movies. "Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video: it creates the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter.

Instrumental to the birth of American movie culture, the Kinetoscope also had a major impact in Europe; its influence abroad was magnified by Edison's decision not to seek international patents on the device, facilitating numerous imitations of and improvements on the technology. In 1895, Edison introduced the Kinetophone, which joined the Kinetoscope with a cylinder phonograph. Film projection, which Edison initially disdained as financially nonviable, soon superseded the Kinetoscope's individual exhibition model."

April 14, 1868: Peter Behrens, German architect and designer for AEG, is born. "In 1907, AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft -the German electric company) retained Behrens as artistic consultant. He designed the entire corporate identity (logotype, product design, publicity, etc.) and for that he is considered the first industrial designer in history. Peter Behrens was a pioneer in everything he did in the first half of the 20th century and his ideas were spread around the world by his students, especially by Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier."

IN THE NEWS-

A taxi driver was given a doodle on a scrap of paper as an unusual tip, but as the customer was artist Damien Hirst it could be worth £5,000. Jon Horsley, 40, gave the drawing to his son LJ, who hopes to become a film-maker. The 15-year-old has decided to sell it to fund his ambition. Read the full story


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"1929 Foire de Paris -Universelle & Internationale Reconnue d'Utilite Publique -Catalogue Officiel"

Published in Paris in 1929.

The directory to the 1929 Fair of Paris, a grand assemblage of stores, manufacturers and services, held annually in its own grand multi-building exhibition hall. The Foire de Paris is still held in May, the 2009 edition hosting 2,700 exhibitors (which seems about what the 1929 edition had as well).

$50.00

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Jefferson, Blasphemy, Messiahs, Timekeepers, Museums & Memorials

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 13, 1743: Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (though not at that time), was born. "A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, political leader, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. When President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

IN THE NEWS-

- Ireland's Blasphemy Law: Worse Than Blasphemy? There could perhaps be no better (or worse, depending on your religious inclination) day to open a blasphemous art exhibition than Good Friday. As many Irish Catholics were dutifully attending church, a group of young, well-dressed Dubliners gathered in the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art to view an exhibition inspired by the country's new — and much loathed — antiblasphemy law. The first artwork to greet the visitors to "Blasphemous" is a grotesque variation on Michelangelo's Pieta, with the Virgin Mary transformed into a malicious giant rat... Read the full story


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April 13, 1742: George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland. "Messiah (HWV 56) is an English oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel, and is one of the most popular works in the Western choral literature. The libretto by Charles Jennens is drawn entirely from the King James and Great Bibles, and interprets the Christian doctrine of the Messiah. Messiah, often incorrectly called The Messiah, is one of Handel's most famous works. Composed in London during the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin, Ireland on 13 April 1742, it was repeatedly revised by Handel, reaching its most familiar version in the performance to benefit the Foundling Hospital in 1754. In 1789 Mozart orchestrated a German version of the work, and his added woodwind parts, and the edition by Ebenezer Prout, were commonly heard until the mid-20th century and the rise of historically informed performance. The Messiah sing-alongs now common at Christmas often consist of only the first of the oratorio's three parts, with the Hallelujah Chorus (originally concluding the second part) replacing His Yoke is Easy in the first part."

April 13, 1772: Eli Terry, American clockmaker and an innovator in mass production, was born. "An inventor and clockmaker in Connecticut, Terry received a United States patent for a shelf clock mechanism. He introduced mass production to the art of clockmaking, which made clocks affordable for the average American citizen. Terry occupies an important place in the beginnings of the development of interchangeable parts manufacturing, and became one of the most accomplished mechanics in New England during the early part of the nineteenth century. The village of Terryville, Connecticut is named for his son, Eli Terry Jr.

April 13, 1860: James Ensor, Belgian painter, was born. "James Ensor is considered to be an innovator in 19th century art. Although he stood apart from other artists of his time, he significantly influenced such 20th century artists as Paul Klee, Emil Nolde, George Grosz, Alfred Kubin, Wols, Felix Nussbaum, and other expressionist and surrealist painters of the 20th century."

April 13, 1870: The Metropolitan Museum of Art founded. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, often referred to simply as "the Met", is one of the world's largest art galleries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

April 13, 1943: The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth. The neoclassical building was designed by John Russell Pope. It was built by Philadelphia contractor Tyler Nichols. Construction began in 1939, the building was completed in 1943, and the bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947.

April 13, 1958: Van Cliburn is the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

April 13, 1964: At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for Lilies of the Field.


IN OUR STORE-

"Thomas Jefferson’s Travels in Europe, 1784-1789"

By George Green Shackelford.

Published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1995.

Jefferson’s five years abroad as ambassador to France had a profound affect not only on him, but through him on American life, letters, architecture and culture.

$35.00

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Flowers & Nudes, Ceramics & Sex, & Too Much Whitney?

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 12, 1883: Imogen Cunningham, American portrait & plant photographer, was born. Cunningham "is renowned as one of the greatest American women photographers. In 1901, having sent away $15 for her first camera, she commenced what would become the longest photographic career in the history of the medium. Cunningham soon turned her attention to both the nude as well as native plant forms in her back garden. The results were staggering; an amazing body of work comprised of bold, contemporary forms. These works are characterized by a visual precision that is not scientific, but which presents the lines and textures of her subjects articulated by natural light and their own gestures. Her refreshing, yet formal and sensitive floral images from the 1920’s ultimately became her most acclaimed images.

Cunningham also had an intuitive command of portraiture but her real artistic legacy was secured though her inclusion in the "F64" show in San Francisco in 1932. With a small group of photographers which included Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, she pioneered the renewal of photography on the West Coast. Awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, Cunningham’s work continues to be exhibited and collected around the world."

IN THE NEWS-

- Rift in Family as Whitney Plans a Second Home : "When the cosmetics heir Leonard A. Lauder gave $131 million to the Whitney Museum of American Art two years ago, it was the biggest donation in the institution’s history, and it came with one important stipulation: The Whitney could not sell its popular but cramped home on Madison Avenue in the foreseeable future. Now an expansion plan that involves building a second museum downtown has opened a rift on the museum’s 45-member board, which includes some of the wealthiest art patrons in New York." Read the full story


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April 12, 1705: William Cookworthy, English porcelain pioneer, was born. Cookworthy was the son of a poor Quaker weaver who walked 200 miles to apprentice to a druggist and eventually became a successful apothecary. In the 1740s Cookworthy came across Jesuit missionary Pere Entrecolles' account of porcelain manufacturing in China. He experimented with imported china clay from Virginia, before searching for, and locating, a source of good porcelain clay in Cornwall (which supplies good quality clay to this day). In 1766 he opened a small porcelain factory in Plymouth and in 1768 he patented his porcelain-making process. He eventually took his cousin, Richard Champion into partnership and founded the famous pottery at Bristol (which Champion, after Cookworthy's retirement, would run into the ground through financial mismanagement -but that's another story).

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"Sex Pots. Eroticism in Ceramics"

By Paul Mathieu.

Published by the Rutgers University Press in 2003.

A sweeping survey heavily oriented, as might be expected, to 20th century work, but there were racy potters throughout history. The sections of erotic pottery from ancient South and Central America and ancient Greece and Rome are no surprise; the eye-opening chapter written by Catherine Hess devoted to erotic Renaissance maiolica may startle a few people.

$50.00

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Not a Picasso? The 1st Modern Woman, Sculptors & Concert Halls...

IN THE NEWS-

- Met Will Finally Show a Picasso He Disowned : "Picasso denied having painted “Erotic Scene” (known as “La Douleur,” or “The Pain”) a sexually charged canvas of a naked woman with her head buried in a young man’s lap. “I’ve done worse,” Picasso told Pierre Daix, one of his pals and the author of several books about him. “But it was a joke by friends.” In 1982 the painting was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which promptly put it in storage, never to hang on the Met’s walls. Until now. On April 27 “Erotic Scene” will be making its American debut as part of a splashy exhibition of the Met’s collection of some 300 works... Read the full story


ARTS ALMANAC-

April 11, 1492: Marguerite de Navarre- patron of arts, poet, and the first "Modern Woman", was born. Also known as Marguerite d'Angoulême, Marguerite de Valois, or Marguerite de France, she was "the queen consort of King Henry II of Navarre; as patron of humanists and reformers, and as an author in her own right, she was an outstanding figure of the French Renaissance. Samuel Putnam called her "The First Modern Woman". Her salon became famously known as the "New Parnassus"...Marguerite wrote many poems and plays and the classic collection of stories, the Heptameron. As a generous patron of the arts, Marguerite befriended and protected many artists and writers, among them François Rabelais, Clément Marot, and Pierre de Ronsard."

Historian Will Durant wrote: "In Marguerite the Renaissance and the Reformation were for a moment one. Her influence radiated throughout France. Every free spirit looked upon her as protectoress and ideal .... Marguerite was the embodiment of charity. She would walk unescorted in the streets of Navarre, allowing any one to approach her and would listen at first hand to the sorrows of the people. She called herself 'The Prime Minister of the Poor'. Henri, her husband, King of Navarre, believed in what she was doing, even to the extent of setting up a public works system that became a model for France. Together he and Marguerite financed the education of needy students."

April 11, 1869: Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, was born. In Paris the young Vigeland "frequented Auguste Rodin's workshop, while in Italy he experimented with ancient and Renaissance artworks. Back in Oslo, he obtained from the town an abandoned studio in which to work. In 1905 Norway became independent from Sweden: Vigeland, considered the most talented Norwegian sculptor, received numerous commissions for statues and busts celebrating renowned compatriots like Henrik Ibsen and Niels Henrik Abel."

April 11, 1888: The Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam was officially opened. "The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building". Because of its highly regarded acoustics, the Concertgebouw is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with places such as Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.


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"Les Proportions du Corps Human, Mesurees sur les plus belles Figures de l’Antiquite"

By Gerard Audran.

Printed in Paris by Chez Joubert in 1801.

A reissue of the 1683 edition. Gerard Audran [1640-1701] came from an artistic family in Lyon and was taught engraving by his father, Claude. He worked for Le Brun in Paris, and gained favor with the patron J. B. Colbert, through whose efforts he was appointed engraver to Louis XIV. This work is an interesting study of ideal human proportions for artists, based on ancient sculpture he studied while in Rome.

$375.00

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Great Ships, Great Bindings, Great Gatsbys, & Great Decorating!

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 10, 1912: The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England for her first and only voyage. "Titanic surpassed all her rivals in luxury and opulence. The First-class section had an on-board swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, Turkish bath, Electric bath and a Verandah Cafe. First-class common rooms were adorned with ornate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other decorations. In addition, the Café Parisien offered cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with trellis decorations. There were libraries and barber shops in both the first and second-class. The third class general room had pine panelling and sturdy teak furniture."

Among the physical objects lost when the great ship went down was a fabulous copy of The Rubáiyát by Omar Khayyám, bound by the famous Sangorski and Sutcliffe bindery, "The book was undoubtedly the most ambitious bookbinding ever undertaken by any bookbinder at any period in history. It boasted over a thousand precious and semi-precious jewels, thousands of separate leather onlays and it took the firm two years of continuous work to finish. Finally completed in 1911, the book was on voyage to America when it was tragically lost in the Titanic disaster. A few months later its creator Francis Sangorski drowned in a bathing accident. The book and its creator have passed into bookbinding legend."

Among the arts-related figures who perished were Benjamin Guggenheim, Harry Elkins Widener, author Jacques Futrelle (above), and writer and painter Francis Davis Millet.

April 10, 1925: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published. "Set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922 and is a critique of the American Dream. It is considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The novel chronicles the chaos of World War I, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime. Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamor of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that went with it, a kind of decadence."

April 10, 1932: Omar Sharif (born Michael Demitri Shalhoub), was born in Alexandria, Egypt. Sharif has starred in Hollywood films, most famously in Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won three Golden Globe Awards.

IN THE NEWS-

- Archaeologists dig up Shakespeare's 'cesspit' : Archaeologists believe they are on the cusp of shedding new light on the life of William Shakespeare – by digging up what may have been the playwright’s cesspit. Read the full story


- Ancient Indian Village in Rhode Island Pits Preservation Against Property Rights : NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — "Long before this town existed, there were Indians of that name who lived, camped, hunted, fished and grew maize in the woods and fields along the shoreline. Now, archaeological evidence of the Narragansetts’ early presence in Rhode Island has ignited a debate over private development on a site that some consider to be culturally and historically significant. The state maintains it has the regulatory authority to stop development on the site. The developer says this amounts to a taking of his land, for which he is constitutionally entitled to compensation, a claim the state denies." Read the full story


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A few years after the death of its’ founder, Aldam Heaton & Co. would go on to design much of the interior of the Titanic.

"A Record of Work. Being Illustrations of Printing, Stencilling and Painting, Stained Glass, Cabinet-Work and Marquetry, Embroidery, Woven fabrics and Other Decorative Works Designed and Executed by Aldam Heaton, With Notes by the Designer"

By [John] Aldam Heaton.

Published in London by Aldam Heaton; probably about 1890.

DISCUSSION: J. Aldam Heaton [1830-1897] was a noted London designer and a leading member of the “Neo Classical Arts & Crafts Movement”. A member of William Morris’s circle, he was also a friend of Dante Gabriel Rosetti, who painted Heaton’s wife. Most of his designs fall well within the style of the English Arts & Crafts movement, including his stained glass, wallpapers, textile designs, ceilings and friezes. When he designed furniture, though, he veered more toward the classic English 18th century.

This is book is in fact a trade catalog, with each item described and priced. The first 26 items are Arts & Crafts overmantels, ceilings and mantels, followed by a dozen wallpapers and carpets; there are then a half-dozen carved and decorated altar panels, wall pieces and such, followed by more than 30 stained glass window designs. The catalog is completed with marquetry panels, furniture, screens and several window draperies.

This is an interesting association copy, with the small bookplate of “Maurice B. Adams – Chiswick”. Maurice B. Adams [1849-1933] was an eclectic English architect who lived in and helped promote Bedford Park, the pioneering London ‘garden suburb’. From 1872 to 1923 he was the editor of ‘Building News’. Uncommon.

$650.00

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Munsters, Funsters, Singers & Photographers

IN THE NEWS-

Addams exhibit showcases the art that started it all : "The Museum of the City of New York is putting its extensive collection of Addams' artwork on display through June 8 in the "Charles Addams' New York" exhibition . This is the museum's first solo exhibition of Addams' work in five decades. It also includes pieces on loan from the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation and Joan Fontaine's private collection..." Read the full story

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 9, 1830: Eadweard Muybridge, English-born photographer and motion picture pioneer, was born. "An English photographer, Muybridge is known primarily for his important pioneering work, with use of multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip that is used today."

April 9, 1860: The oldest audible sound recording of a human voice is recorded, using a device known as the phonautograph. Invented by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, it transcribed sound to a visible medium, but had no means to play back the sound after it was recorded. One recording, created on April 9, 1860, was deciphered by computer and when played back in 2009 was revealed to be a 10-second recording of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune".

April 9, 1898: Paul Robeson, American singer and activist, was born. Robeson was an internationally renowned American bass-baritone concert singer, scholar, actor of film and stage, All-American and professional athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator and lawyer who was also noted for his wide-ranging social justice activism.

April 9, 1906: Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French artist whose work pioneered Op-Art, was born.

April 9, 1906: Antal Dorati, Hungarian-born American conductor, was born. Dorati was principal conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic.


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"Disciples of Light. Photographs in the Brewster Album"

By Graham Smith.

Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum: 1990.

An examination of an album acquired by the Getty Museum- Sir David Brewster's own album of photographs made between 1839 and 1850 by the principal Scottish practitioners of William Henry Fox Talbot's new "art".

$60.00

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Great Gardens, Great Houses, Great Actresses & Great Statues-

ARTS ALMANAC-

April 8, 1820: The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos. "Aphroditē tēs Mēlou), better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) high. Its arms and original plinth have been lost. From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch; it was earlier mistakenly attributed to the master sculptor Praxiteles. It is at present on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris...The Venus de Milo's great fame in the 19th century was not simply the result of its admitted beauty, but also owed much to a major propaganda effort by the French authorities. In 1815, France had returned the Medici Venus to the Italians after it had been looted from Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Medici Venus, regarded as one of the finest Classical sculptures in existence, caused the French to consciously promote the Venus de Milo as a greater treasure than that which they had recently lost. It was duly praised by artists and critics as the epitome of graceful female beauty; however, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was among its detractors, labeling it a "big gendarme".

April 8, 1783: John Claudius Loudon, Scottish botanist, garden and cemetery designer, author and garden magazine editor, was born. "Loudon was the first major advocate of the provision of public parks for the burgeoning cities of 19th century England. Throughout most of his adult life he conducted a sporadic crusade for more public open spaces, largely through his prolific literary output of articles, books, and magazines. He began his career as an advocate for public open space in 1803 with an article entitled ‘Hints of Laying Out the Ground in Public Squares’. In the early 1820s his Encyclopedia of Gardening (1822: 1826) became his forum for voicing concerns about the state of public open space in Britain"

April 8, 1892: Richard Neutra, one of modernism's most important architects, was born. "eutra was born in Vienna on April 8, 1892. He studied under Adolf Loos at the Technical University of Vienna, was influenced by Otto Wagner, and worked for a time in Germany in the studio of Erich Mendelsohn. He moved to the United States by 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1929. Neutra worked briefly for Frank Lloyd Wright before accepting an invitation from his close friend and university companion Rudolf Schindler to work and live communally in Schindler's Kings Road House in California. In California, he became celebrated for rigorously geometric but airy structures that represented a West Coast variation on the mid-century modern residence. In the early 1930s, Neutra's Los Angeles practice trained several young architects who went on to independent success, including Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris, and Raphael Soriano."

April 8, 1892: Mary Pickford, Canadian actress, was born. "Mary Pickford was a motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known as "America's Sweetheart," "Little Mary" and "The girl with the curls," she was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood. Her influence in the development of film acting was enormous. Because her international fame was triggered by moving images, she is a watershed figure in the history of modern celebrity. And as one of silent film's most important performers and producers, her contract demands were central to shaping the Hollywood industry. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute named Pickford 24th among the greatest female stars of all time."

April 8, 1896: Yip Harburg, lyricist, was born. "Edgar Yipsel Harburg, known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", "April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs in The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow"...From about 1951 to 1962, Yip Harburg was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist when movie studio bosses blacklisted industry people for suspected involvement or sympathy with the American Communist Party. No longer able to work in Hollywood, he nevertheless continued to write musicals for Broadway, among which was Jamaica, which featured Lena Horne."


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Disarmed. The Story of the Venus de Milo"

By Gregory Curtis.

Published in New York by Alfred A. Knopf: 2003.

“The Venus de Milo is both a great work of art and a popular icon, and from the moment of her discovery in 1820 by a French naval ensign, she has been an object of aesthetic and archeological controversy. Using memoirs, letters, and official accounts, Gregory Curtis introduces readers to Venus as she was unearthed by a farmer, digging for marble building blocks on the Aegean island of Melos at the moment a young officer and amateur archeologist looking for classical relics happened by. Curtis tells how the island's elders fought with their Turkish overlords over who owned Venus, and how the French pressed their claim, outwitting other suitors to bring her to the Louvre, where she became an immediate celebrity.

Curtis's depiction of Europe in the early 19th century, caught in the grip of a classical art mania, reveals just how far the Louvre was prepared to go to prove it had the greatest classical find of the era, and how the French scholar Salomon Reinach and the German Adolf Furtwängler battled over the statue's origins and authenticity for decades. Curtis also presents competing theories about the statue's original appearance.”

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