Author Archives: ArtLark

November 22

The Forgotten Caricatures of Miguel Covarrubias

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On the 22nd of November 1904, artist, art historian and anthropologist J. M. Covarrubias Duclaud (d. 1957) was born in Mexico City. Being offered a special government grant from his country at the age of 19, Covarrubias  was able to move to New York in 1924 where his talent was quickly discovered by his compatriot […]

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November 21

Voltaire: The Father of Sci-Fi?

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On the 21st of November 1694, François-Marie Arouet, known under the pen name Voltaire, was born in Paris. This French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher, who was also a great enthusiast of science and empirical knowledge, was probably one of the most prolific authors of all times. Throughout his life he produced about 2,000 books […]

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November 20

Selma Lagerlöf’s Literary Lesbian Liaisons

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On the 20th of November 1858, Selma O. L. Lagerlöf was born in Östra Emterwik Värmland, western Sweden. In 1909, she was famously the first ever female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and is perhaps best known for her children’s book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson (1906).  In 1914, she also […]

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November 19

Nicolas Poussin: The Master of Intellect

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On the 19th of November 1665, Nicolas Poussin, aged seventy one, died in Rome. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, and in 1830 was commemorated with a monument donated by Chateaubriand. Despite the fact that most of his working life was spent in Italy, Poussin is considered the leading painter […]

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November 18

Caxton’s First Printed Book In English

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On the 18th of November 1477, William Caxton (1415/1422 – 1492) finished printing Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, the first incunabulum (from the Latin “incunabula” which meant “swaddling clothes” or “cradle”) : the earliest printed book in English, which bore a clear publication date, but also, for the first time, a printer’s colophon/logotype which […]

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November 17

Deviation and Art: The Eric Gill Case

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The urine of the stallion fertilises the fields more than all the chemicals of science. So, under Divine Providence, the excess of amorous nature fertilises the spiritual field. (Eric Gill) On the 17th of November 1940, British artist Eric Gill died of lung cancer in Hillingdon, UK. During his lifetime he was recognised for his […]

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November 16

Disney’s Architectural Aspirations in EPCOT

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On the 16th of November 1965, Walt Disney announced that his company had acquired 27,443 acres of a Florida swampland, twice the size of Manhattan, where he had plans to build the utopian Epcot Center: Experimental Prototypical Community/City of Tomorrow. In his own words, “EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies […]

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November 15

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

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On the 15th of November 1959, Mr. and Mrs. Clutter, their son Kenyon and daughter Nancy, were murdered in their farm house in Holcomb, Kansas. The two men responsible for their deaths, Richard ‘Dick’ Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, were executed by hanging five and a half years later. The gallows from which they were […]

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November 14

Pioneer Journalist Globetrotter Nelly Bly

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On the 14th of November 1889, journalist Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran (1864 – 1922), at just 25 years of age, began her solo travel around the world. A year earlier, Bly had suggested to her editor Pulitzer at the New York World that she was to be despatched on a trip which would turn […]

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November 13

David ‘Carbine’ Williams: From Prison to Hollywood

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There are quite a few stories of criminals, whose exceptional intelligence gets them out of prison. We are talking here about characters such as, for example, Frank Abagnale, whose life story is probably best known from the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can. However, today, on the 114th anniversary of his birth, we recall […]

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