On the 23rd of October 1957, Christian Dior died in Montecatini, Italy. His death was as sudden as his entry into the world of haute couture ten years earlier. At the beginning of 1947, Dior’s first collection changed the entire fashion world. After years of war asceticism, scarcity and rationing this collection brought hope for […]
Category Archives: Architecture
September
15
Grand Designs: André Le Nôtre and the Gardens of Versailles
posted by ArtLark
On the 15th of September 1700, French landscape architect, and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France, André Le Nôtre died in Paris. Regarded as one of the greatest landscape designers of all time, Le Nôtre was responsible for the design and construction of such famous French gardens as Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud, Saint-Germain, […]
August
03
Architectural Wonders: Melnikov’s House
posted by ArtLark
On the 3rd of August 1890, Russian architect and painter Konstantin Melnikov was born in Moscow. A pious Orthodox Christian from a peasant family, Melnikov had managed to gain admission to the prestigious Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and study with Russia’s greatest neoclassical painters and architects on the eve of the October […]
July
01
Buckminster Fuller on Childhood and Education
posted by ArtLark
On the 1st of July 1983, American neo-futuristic architect, system theorist, designer and inventor Buckminster Fuller died in Los Angeles, California. The man who used to launch his lectures by introducing himself as “the world’s most successful failure” was in fact one of the most brilliant and nonconformist minds of the twentieth century. Expelled from […]
June
03
Josephine Baker: Muse of Modern Architecture
posted by ArtLark
On the 3rd of June 1906, the American dancer, singer, and actress Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her life story is a typical ‘rags to riches’ tale. Born in poverty, having lived in the slums of St. Luis, where she slept in cardboard shelters and searched for food in garbage bins, she […]
May
28
The Larssons’ Handmade, Homemade Bliss: Swedish Arts and Crafts
posted by ArtLark
On the 28th of May 1853, artist and designer Carl Larsson was born in Stockholm. Following a difficult childhood spent in poverty, Larsson got a break when an art teacher recognised his talent and directed him towards a creative career. He started off working as an illustrator of books, magazines, and newspapers, then moved to […]
May
05
The Skylon and Churchill Gardens: Contrasting Architectural Visions in Postwar Britain
posted by ArtLark
On the 5th of May 1920, John Hidalgo Moya was born in Los Gatos, California. Some 83 years later, on the 5th of May 2003, Sir Arnold Joseph Philip Powell died in London. The two men were architects and founders of the Powell & Moya Architect Practice responsible for the design of Churchill Gardens in […]
April
28
Yves Klein’s Art: Into the Void
posted by ArtLark
On the 28th of April 1928, the early postmodernist Yves Klein was born in Nice, France, to an Impressionist painter father and an Art Informel artist mother. From a young age, Klein was fascinated with space. Allegedly, at the age of nineteen, him and his friends lay on a beach in the south of France, […]
April
09
Hiroshima: The Struggle for National Memory
posted by ArtLark
On the 9th of April 1880, the Czech architect Jan Letzel was born in the town of Náchod, Bohemia. After succeeding as a prolific architect in Bohemia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Cairo, in 1907, he moved to live and work in Japan, where together with his friend, Karl Hora, he established his own Tokyo-based architectural […]
March
22
Brinkman and The International Style in Architecture
posted by ArtLark
On the 22nd of March 1902, Dutch architect and exponent of Nieuwe Bouwen, (modern architecture in the Netherlands), Johannes Andreas Brinkman was born in Rotterdam. He is perhaps best known for the design of the former Van Nelle Factory, a prime example of the International Style, which his architectural office, Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, […]
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