Author Archives: ArtLark

March 03

Beatrice Wood: The real Rose of the Titanic

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On the 3rd of March 1893, the American artist and studio potter, Beatrice Wood, was born in San Francisco, California. Her eventful and 105-years-long life would later serve as an inspiration for the character of ‘Rose’ in James Cameron’s 1997 film, Titanic. Rebellious, uncompromising and ever so romantic, she lived her life to the fullest, avidly pursuing […]

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March 02

Dr. Seuss: Politics in Children’s Literature

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On the 2nd of March 1904, the famous writer and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as ‘Dr. Seuss’, was born in Footloose, Springfield, MA, USA. An Oxford University graduate, Geisel published 46 children’s books, characterized by imaginative characters and the use of anapestic meter – a breezy melodic rhythm for comic verse. His most celebrated books […]

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March 01

Frederic Chopin: Child Prodigy and Master of the Pedal

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On the 1st of March 1810, Frederic Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, the Duchy of Warsaw (now Poland). The great Polish composer, associated with passionate love and physical suffering, and, in an indirect way, with Polish insurrection, has gained the status of a leading symbol of the Romantic period in music. According to A. […]

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February 28

Class and Violence in Henry Fielding’s ‘Tom Jones’

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On the 28th of February 1749, Henry Fielding’s novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, was first published in London by Andrew Millar, who offered Fielding the sum of £700 for its exclusivity. It is generally seen as a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age or character-building novel) as well as a Picaresque novel (satirical or comic depictions of […]

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February 27

Elizabeth Taylor and the Holocaust: The Story of Montage by Jean-Luc Godard

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On the 27th of February 1932, Elizabeth Taylor was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, England. She was born with a rare condition called distichiasis, which in her case manifested itself as double rows of eyelashes around her eyes. She was blessed by nature with something that most women would normally dream of – a […]

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February 26

Silent Cinema Gems: ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’

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On the 26th of February 1920, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the first German Expressionist film and one of the earliest horror movies in history, had its première in Berlin. The film was directed by Robert Wiene and based on a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. “In film history, few films have cast a […]

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February 25

Bullfighting: Art vs Moral Dilemma

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On the 25th of February 1906, the Spanish bullfighter Domingo Ortega was born in Borox, Toledo, Spain. His career as a bullfighter had been prompted by a spectacular incident, which took place in the summer of 1928 during a novillada – a bullfight of young bulls. Ortega, witnessing the bullfighter being dangerously injured, jumped into […]

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February 24

Pico della Mirandola on Magic, Astrology and Religion

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On the 24th of February 1463, the Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was born at Mirandola, near Modena in Italy. In 1486, at the young age of 23, he famously offered to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy and magic, in spite of opposition from theologians and Pope Innocent VIII  (the public […]

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February 23

Malevich, Suprematism and the ‘Black Square’

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On the 23rd of February 1878, the Russian painter Kazimir Malevich was born in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine), to parents of Polish descent. In terms of his influence on the development of modern art, he can be placed alongside such ground-breaking artists as Picasso, Matisse and Duchamp. Between 1895 and […]

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February 22

Andy Warhol’s Love Affair with Television

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On the 22nd of February 1987,  Pop artist Andy Warhol suddenly died in his sleep at the age of 59 in NYC – the cause was an undiagnosed arrhythmia following a routine gallbladder operation. In addition to his iconic multimedia work which generally gets all the exposure, Warhol was a highly prolific filmmaker. Between 1963 […]

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