On the 5th of August 1862, John Merrick, commonly known by his stage name ‘The Elephant Man’, was born in Leicester, England. Merrick suffered from a rare condition, which has not been conclusively identified yet. Some doctors believed his condition to be neurofibromatosis type I, others, Proteus syndrome and it caused severe deformities of Merrick’s body. At […]
Category Archives: Morality
June
21
Jacqueline Livingston: Male Nudity Against the System
posted by ArtLark
On the 21st of June 2013, American photographer Jacqueline Louise Livingston (nèe Barrett) died in Ithaca, New York. Born in August 1943, Jacqueline Louise Barrrett, grew up in Chandler, Arizona, where her father worked on the Air Force base as chief of the Fire Dept. He died when she was 12 years old, leaving her […]
June
17
The Guillotine: Does death by decapitation equal instant death?
posted by ArtLark
On the 17th of June 1939, Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, was guillotined in Versailles outside Saint-Pierre prison. He was the last person to be guillotined in public. Since then, until the 10th of September 1977 and the last ever execution by guillotine performed on Hamida Djandoubi, all executions by guillotine were done in private. […]
May
24
‘Pink Narcissus’: Gay Fantasy vs Reality
posted by ArtLark
On the 24th of May 1971, the American arthouse drama film by James Bidgood, Pink Narcissus, was released in New York City. The film focuses on the life of a handsome male prostitute, played by Bobby Kendall, immersed in his erotic fantasies. Like the mythological character of Narcissus, he is obsessed by his own beauty […]
April
16
Adler’s Bordello: Jewish Female Paths in America
posted by ArtLark
On the 16th of April 1900, Pearl (Polly) Adler was born in Ivanava (Yanow), Belarus, as the oldest of 9 siblings in a traditional Jewish family. When she was 12, her father, a successful travelling tailor, decided to send her ahead as the first link in the Russian “chain emigration” to the United States to […]
April
11
Chris Burden: The Artist Who Shot Himself
posted by ArtLark
On the 11th of April 1946, the American performance artist Chris Burden was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the US. “ Among other things, Burden has been described as a masochist; an avant-garde novitiate; a social therapist; an existential populist; a hero; the alter ego of the biblical Samson; a helpless, passive victim; a heroic victim; […]
March
09
Furs and Female Domination in Sacher-Masoch’s Writing’s
posted by ArtLark
On the 9th of March 1895, the Austrian writer and journalist Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (the term ‘masochism’ is derived from his name) died in Lindheim, the German Empire; although, there is some discrepant information about him having died in an insane asylum in Mannheim in 1906. Leading his life on the verge of reality […]
March
02
Dr. Seuss: Politics in Children’s Literature
posted by ArtLark
On the 2nd of March 1904, the famous writer and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as ‘Dr. Seuss’, was born in Footloose, Springfield, MA, USA. An Oxford University graduate, Geisel published 46 children’s books, characterized by imaginative characters and the use of anapestic meter – a breezy melodic rhythm for comic verse. His most celebrated books […]
February
28
Class and Violence in Henry Fielding’s ‘Tom Jones’
posted by ArtLark
On the 28th of February 1749, Henry Fielding’s novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, was first published in London by Andrew Millar, who offered Fielding the sum of £700 for its exclusivity. It is generally seen as a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age or character-building novel) as well as a Picaresque novel (satirical or comic depictions of […]
January
29
Vito Acconci’s ‘Seedbed’: Art and Pornography
posted by ArtLark
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 […]
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