On the 4th of May 1826, American landscapist Frederic Edwin Church was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, combining natural sciences with a spiritual dimension in his works. Early on, Church dropped his teacher Thomas Cole’s predilection for allegory, in favour of a […]
Category Archives: Movies
‘Raja Harischandra’, the First Indian Feature Film
posted by ArtLark
On the 3rd of May 1913, the first all-Indian feature film, Raja Harischandra, was first shown to the public at Bombay’s Coronation Cinema, Girgaon. This 40-minute silent film, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, was so successful that more copies had to be soon produced and sent out to rural areas, where the public could experience for […]
‘Heart of Darkness’ in ‘Citizen Kane’
posted by ArtLark
On the 1st of May 1941, the American drama film Citizen Kane, had its premiere in New York City. The film co-written, directed, produced by, and starring Orson Welles, has been considered by many of the fans and film critics one of the best, if not the best, motion pictures of all time. The day […]
In the Footprints of Hollywood Fame
posted by ArtLark
On the 30th of April 1927, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford became the first celebrities to leave their footprints in the concrete of the Grauman Chinese Theater forecourt at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard (Walk of Fame). During construction, the owner Grauman ordered an extremely hard concrete to be laid by Jean Klossner, who later became known […]
Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho and the Question of Madness
posted by ArtLark
On the 29th of April 1980, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock died aged 80 in Bel Air, California. Justifiably crowned with the title of the master of suspense, he produced and directed some of the most iconic films in the history of world cinema. The magazine MovieMaker, for example, has described him as the most influential […]
Elizabeth Taylor and the Holocaust: The Story of Montage by Jean-Luc Godard
posted by ArtLark
On the 27th of February 1932, Elizabeth Taylor was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, England. She was born with a rare condition called distichiasis, which in her case manifested itself as double rows of eyelashes around her eyes. She was blessed by nature with something that most women would normally dream of – a […]
Silent Cinema Gems: ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’
posted by ArtLark
On the 26th of February 1920, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the first German Expressionist film and one of the earliest horror movies in history, had its première in Berlin. The film was directed by Robert Wiene and based on a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. “In film history, few films have cast a […]
“Blue is Darkness Made Visible”: Derek Jarman’s Descent into Death
posted by ArtLark
Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of English film director, stage designer, artist, gardener, author, and active advocate for gay rights, Derek Jarman. Considered one of Europe’s greatest independent film-makers, he died on the 19th of February 1994, after a six-year battle with AIDS. In his films Jubilee (1977) – arguably the first […]
Kim Ki-young and His Korean Femme Fatales
posted by ArtLark
On the 5th of February 1998, Korean film director Kim Ki-young and his wife Kim Yu-bong were killed in a house fire in Seoul, South Korea. The death came unexpectedly and in the moment of Kim Ki-young’s artistic ‘resurrection’ and rehabilitation as one of the most significant Korean film directors. In fact, after a period […]
Godzilla: The Nuclear Monster
posted by ArtLark
On the 25th of January 1970, Eiji Tsuburaya, the Japanese special effects director, died in Sukagawa, Fukushima, Japan. Known for his immaculate experimentation in the field of cinematic special effects in his time, Tsuburaya brought new quality into the Japanese science-fiction genre. He began his career in filmmaking as a cinematographer at the Nippon Cinematograph […]