Category Archives: Art History

January 06

Romanian and East European Modern Art

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On the 6th of January 1868, the Romanian painter Stefan Luchian was born in Ștefănești, a village in Botoșani, Romania. When he was still young, he moved to Bucharest, where he trained under Nicolae Grigorescu at the National University of Art. He studied a short spell at the Munich Fine Arts Academy where he copied […]

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January 01

Alfred Stieglitz: Sexism at the Heart of Modern Art?

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On the 1st of January 1864, seminal photographer Alfred Stieglitz was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. Modern art historians believe that the equally prolific editor and art dealer did more than anyone else to bring European avant-garde art to the American public during the first two decades of the 20th century. The son of a […]

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December 22

Jean-Étienne Liotard’s Soulful Portraits

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Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789) was born on the 22nd of December 1702 into a refugee French Protestant family living in Geneva. His father, Jean-Antoine Liotard, was from Montelimar and a merchant tailor by trade. In Geneva, Liotard trained with Gardelle and Petitot, skilfully copying their enamels and miniatures. In France, he was an apprentice to Massé and […]

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December 14

Paths to Modernism: Puvis de Chavannes’ Murals

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On  the 14th of December 1824, the Symbolist painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was born in Lyon, France. Considered a ‘painter’s painter’, he was a great influence on artists, amongst which Matisse and Picasso and universally popular in his time. “Virtually all the artists and critics of the day admired Puvis de Chavannes. His admirers […]

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December 13

Wassily Kandinsky: Architect of the Future of Art

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On the 13th of December 1944, Wassily Kandinsky, an influential Russian painter and art theorist, died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He has been credited with painting the first purely abstract work in the history of modern art. In the summer of 1922 he began teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where in the same year he […]

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November 10

The Lewd, the Crude and the Ugly: Epstein’s Sculpture

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On the 10th of November 1880, sculptor Jacob Epstein was born in New York, yet he is best known as an English artist, having settled in Britain in 1905. As a Jewish American in Edwardian London working in a rough, stylised modernist manner, the critical reception of his work was far from friendly. Epstein has […]

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November 03

Matisse’s Joy of Life versus Picasso’s Fear of Death

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On the 3rd of November 1954, Henri Matisse died in Niece, France. He was an exceptional artist with a unique and brave vision that allowed him to break away from all artistic conventions of his time. Yes, he did have a short liaison with Impressionism, but the impact of his later achievements on art could […]

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November 01

The Cracking Story of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling

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On the 1st of November 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was first unveiled for public view. Michelangelo, and his five assistants, worked on this gigantic artistic enterprise for about four years, yet they managed to include three hundred and thirty-six figures on this 40.5-metre long and 14-metre wide ceiling. According to certain mathematical […]

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October 20

Princess Rákóczi by Nicolas de Largillière

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On the 20th of October 1656, the French Rococo painter Nicolas de Largillière was born in Paris. Brought up in Antwerp and Paris, he also lived and worked in London, gaining the admiration of kind Charles II, then James II, as well as the French king Louis XIV, all of whom he painted, alongside various […]

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October 19

Quincunx, Electricity, Computer… The Mastermind of Sir Thomas Browne

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Sir Thomas Browne was an English author of numerous medical, religious, scientific and esoteric works. He was born on the 19th of October 1605 and died exactly 77 years later on the 19th of October 1682. This numerological symmetry seems in his case more of a necessity than a coincidence for it supports his theory […]

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