Category Archives: Art History

September 13

Richard Hamilton: The British Roots of Pop Art

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On the 13th of September 2011, English painter and collage artist Richard William Hamilton died in London, England. Commonly referred to as ‘the father of pop art’, he began his artistic career attending painting evening classes at Saint Martin’s School of Art, after which he enrolled at the Royal Academy in London. During World War II […]

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September 12

The Lascaux Cave Paintings: Human Desire into Art

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On the 12th of September 1940, prehistoric paintings were discovered in Lascaux, France on cave walls and ceilings seen today as some 17,000 years old. “The cave was discovered by four teenage boys in September 1940 and was first studied by the French archaeologist Henri Breuil. It consists of a main cavern (some 66 feet [20 metres] […]

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September 11

Paintings of a Writer: Obscenity in the Art of D. H. Lawrence

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On the 11th of September 1885, English novelist, poet, dramatist, essayist, and critic D. H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. He was the fourth of five children born to a passionate but uneducated father and a serious, intellectually alive, and religiously devout mother. Her Congregationalist views were most influential on young Lawrence – […]

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September 10

Elsa Schiaparelli: The Couturière and the Avant-Garde

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On the 10th of September 1890, fashion pioneer Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome, Italy. She is remembered for her witty accessories, such as a purse in the shape of a telephone and reoccurring motifs such as masks, cages, and butterflies. She was also famous for creating garments with multiple uses, such as a skirt […]

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September 09

Sol LeWitt: Art as Concept

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On the 9th of September 1928, American Conceptual artist Solomon “Sol” LeWitt was born in Hartford Connecticut. LeWitt was pivotal in the creation of the new radical aesthetic of the 1960’s that was a revolutionary contradiction to the ‘Abstract Expressionism’ current in the 1950’s and 60’s New York school. He had no interest in inherent […]

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September 08

Body-Consciousness in the Art of Maria Lassnig

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On the 8th of September 1919, artist Maria Lassnig was born in Kappel am Krappfeld, Carinthia, Austria and died in May 2014 aged 94. She is remembered for her daring self-portraits and her theories of ‘body sensation’ and ‘body awareness’ which she explored in her painting. Seeing the innovations of expressionism and surrealism in her […]

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September 07

Grandma Moses’ Emancipation Through Art and Duty

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On the 7th of September 1860, American folk artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, was born in Greenwich, New York, the US. Little in her early years indicated the artistic path that her life would eventually follow. As a farmer’s daughter she was expected to do her chores, learn how to […]

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September 05

John Cage’s Music of Chance and Change

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On the 5th of September 1912, American composer, theorist, writer, and the pioneer of indeterminacy in music John Cage was born in Los Angeles, California. After having studied piano in LA and Paris, he came under the influence of such musical innovators as Richard Buhling, Henry Cowell, Adolph Weiss, and Arnold Schönberg. By the late […]

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September 04

Victorian Idyllism and Social Realism in Lionel Smythe’s Art

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On the 4th of September 1839, Royal Academician Lionel Percy Smythe, an English artist and etcher, was born in London. Smythe painted rural landscapes, genre and maritime scenes, people and animals in both oils and watercolours. He became associated with a group of artists called The Idyllic school (or the Idyllists), a 19th-century art movement […]

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September 03

American Concentration Camps in Masumi Hayashi’s Photoramas

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On the 3rd of September 1945, Japanese-American photographer Masumi Hayashi was born in Rivers, Arizona, in the Gila River War Relocation Camp, an internment camp built by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) for the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Shortly after the end of the war, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she began her education, […]

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