On the 29th of August 1956, British-American artist and the pioneer of underwater painting Zarh Pritchard died in Austin, Texas. ”Zarh Prichard was the first painter to compose based on observations en pleine mer. …In the 1910s and ‘20s, Pritchard’s works were internationally acclaimed as the first windows on the underwater frontier, and they were […]
Category Archives: Art
Peggy Guggenheim: The Woman Behind the Art
posted by ArtLark
On the 26th of August 1898, American matron and collector of the arts Peggy Guggenheim was born in New York. “Peggy Guggenheim was one of ten children-the second of three daughters-born to Benjamin Guggenheim and Florette Seligman, both second-generation members of German-Jewish families that had built their wealth in America. Two of her uncles, Solomon […]
Sixteenth-Century Feminist: Lavinia Fontana
posted by ArtLark
On the 24th of August 1552, Italian painter Lavinia Fontana was born in Bologna. She is considered the first ever woman artist to work within the same sphere as her male counterparts, independently and outside a royal court or convent. “The most significant and prolific female artist of the 16th century, Lavinia Fontana opened up opportunities […]
The Impermanence of Constructivist Sculpture: Naum Gabo
posted by ArtLark
On the 23rd of August 1977, Russian Constructivist sculptor, and pioneer of Kinetic Art, Naum Gabo died in Waterbury, Connecticut. Whilst his real name was Naum Neemia Pevsner, he ended up changing it to avoid confusion with his brother and fellow Constructivist artist Antoine Pevsner. While visiting Pevsner in Paris in 1913–14, Gabo met the […]
Cartier-Bresson’s Street Photography: The Perfect Take
posted by ArtLark
On the 22nd of August 1908, painter and pioneering photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France. By self-admission, his first true love of photography was inspired by a 1930 photograph of Hungarian photojournalist Martin Munkacsi showing three naked young African boys, caught in near-silhouette, running into the surf of Lake Tanganyika. The picture captured the very essence […]
Apollinaire and the Theft of the Mona Lisa
posted by ArtLark
On the 21st of August 1911, the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, was stolen from the Louvre. The absence of the painting was first noticed by the painter Louis Beroud, who in the morning of the 22nd of August made his way to the Salon Carré where the Mona Lisa had […]
Argentinian Social Realism: Pío Collivadino
posted by ArtLark
On the 20th of August 1869, post-impressionist and social-realist painter Pío Collivadino was born in Buenos Aires. Trained at the Italian Argentine cultural society and the Societá Nazionale de Buenos Aires, he travelled to Rome in 1889, where two years later he became part of the Accademia di San Luca. After his return to Buenos […]
The Art of Alfred Wallis, Naïve St Ives Genius
posted by ArtLark
On the 18th of August 1855, fisherman and artist Alfred Wallis was born in Devonport, Devon, England. The son of Penzance parents, Alfred was an apprentice to a basketmaker before becoming a mariner in the merchant service by the early 1870s. He sailed on schooners across the North Atlantic between Penzance and Newfoundland. He married […]
Simeon Solomon, Infamous Jewish Pre-Raphaelite
posted by ArtLark
On the 14th of August 1905, English Pre-Raphaelite painter Simeon Solomon died in London. He is famous for his dreamy paintings with subjects which often included scenes from the Hebrew Bible and genre paintings depicting Jewish life and rituals. Infamously, in 1873, at the age of 32, his career was cut short when he was […]
Gluck: Art, Cross Dressing and Women’s Emancipation
posted by ArtLark
On the 13th of August 1895, British painter Hannah Gluckstein was born in London. She is best known by her self-given name, Gluck, chosen for the purpose of avoiding gender connotations. “The reason she gave for choosing to be known by this austere monosyllable was that the paintings mattered, not the sex of the painter.” (Diana Souhami, […]