Category Archives: Art History

February 15

Art and Science: Galilean Influences in Artemisia’s ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’

posted by

On the 15th of February 1564, the Italian astronomer, philosopher, mathematician and physicist Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. Often considered the father of science, Galileo established a new perception of the physical world. Fascinated by the invention of telescope, he constructed one himself and conducted observation of such celestial bodies as the Moon, […]

»»
February 14

Artist Nina Hamnett, Jazz Age’s Wildest Party Girl

posted by

On the 14th of February 1890, Welsh artist, writer and bohemian party girl Nina Hamnett was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Her emerging artistic skill helped her escape an unhappy childhood. She moved to London where she studied at Pelham Art School, then the London School of Art and in 1914 she went to Montparnasse, […]

»»
February 13

Landscape Painting in Postwar Britain

posted by

February 1954 is one of Roger Hilton’s non-figurative works held in the Tate Collection, London. The artist made a number of such paintings claiming to have been influenced by the work of Piet Mondrian whose abstractions in primary colours within black and white grids he had seen in Amsterdam. The difference was though that Hilton’s work […]

»»
February 11

Elizabeth Siddal: The Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel

posted by

On the 11th of February 1862, Elizabeth Siddal, an English artists’ model, died in London of a self-administered overdose of laudanum. In the early 1850s, as a young woman, Siddal was painted extensively by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She sat for Walter Deverell’s Viola in Twelfth Night (1850), for William Holman Hunt’s British Girl in A […]

»»
February 10

Roy Lichtenstein: When Mickey Went Pop

posted by

On the 10th of February 1962, American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein showed his first solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, selling out before the opening. From an artist struggling with aesthetic and financial difficulties Lichtenstein was turned into an instant success, hunted by collectors and featured in the major media. Some […]

»»
February 08

Inverting the Female Nude: Paula Modersohn-Becker

posted by

On the 8th of February 1876, German Expressionist artist Paula Modersohn-Becker, the first recognised European modern female artist to paint the female nude, was born in Dresden-Friedrichstadt, Germany. Becker grew up in a well-to-do, cultured family in Dresden, was privately art tutored in Worpswede, London, Bremen and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris, trained under […]

»»
February 06

Antoni Tàpies: Art Between Void and Substance

posted by

On the 6th of February 2012, Catalan artist and art theorist Antoni Tàpies i Puig died in Barcelona at the age of 88. Following a heart attack at the young age of 17, Tàpies spent time recuperating in the mountains, which is where he first started pursuing his passion for art. He lived on and […]

»»
January 29

Vito Acconci’s ‘Seedbed’: Art and Pornography

posted by

On the 29th of January 1971, the American performance artist, mostly known for his landscapes and architectural designs, Vito Acconci, finished his installation/performance piece, Seedbed. The installation took place in the Sonnabend Gallery in New York, where a special floor was constructed in the form of a ramp, over which the viewers walked. For two […]

»»
January 19

Ginsberg’s Visionary Illuminations under Cézanne

posted by

Today we celebrate the 175th anniversary of Paul Cézanne’s birthday. The famous Post-Impressionist was born on the 19th of January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, France. His life-long adventure with painting resulted in a breakthrough theory on the modes of perception of reality. His phenomenological approach towards nature, and its impact on the creative process, has inspired […]

»»
January 11

Alberto Giacometti: The Walking Man

posted by

On the 11th of January 1966, the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti died in Chur, Switzerland. Born as the eldest son of Italian Protestant refugees, later favoured by his painter father, Giacometti was very fortunate with his upbringing. “I can’t imagine any happier childhood,” he said, “or youth than those I passed with my father and […]

»»