April 12

Jim Gary’s Junk Yard Animals

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On the 12th of April 1990, Jim Gary (1939 – 2006) opened his exhibition Twentieth Century Dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Gary was the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition at the prestigious museum; he became known for his large, colourful creations of dinosaurs […]

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April 11

Chris Burden: The Artist Who Shot Himself

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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; […]

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April 10

The Titanic in Myth and Popular Culture

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On the 10th of April 1912, RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage began from Southampton in England to New York City. Five days later, the passenger liner sank within less than 3 hours in the North Atlantic Ocean, after colliding with an iceberg. It caused the deaths of more than 1,500 people in one of the deadliest […]

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April 09

Hiroshima: The Struggle for National Memory

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On the 9th of April 1880, the Czech architect Jan Letzel was born in the town of Náchod, Bohemia. After succeeding as a prolific architect in Bohemia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Cairo, in 1907, he moved to live and work in Japan, where together with his friend, Karl Hora, he established his own Tokyo-based architectural […]

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April 08

Classicism to Surrealism: Dali’s Venus with Drawers

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On the 8th of April 1820, the statue of Venus de Milo was discovered by a peasant called Yorgos Kentrotas within a buried niche in the ancient city ruins of Milos (currently Tripiti) in the Aegean. Between 130 and 100 BC when the work was created, Milos was still part of the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps […]

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April 07

Was El Greco Astigmatic?

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On the 7th of April 1614, the famous painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance El Greco, née Doménikos Theotokópoulos, died in Toledo, Spain. Adored by many and criticised by some, during his lifetime he had undergone a long journey starting with Crete, the place of his birth, through Venice, then Rome where he […]

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April 06

Surreal Memories: Leonora Carrington’s Trip Down Below

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On the 6th of April 1917, the Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington was born in Clayton-le-Woods, Lancashire, England. The artist and writer lived most of her adult life in Mexico City, and was one of the last surviving participants of 1930s Surrealism. Carrington had a famous love affair with the German artist Max Ernst whose work […]

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April 05

The Art of Swinging According to Jean-Honoré Fragonard

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  On the 5th of April 1732, the French painter and printmaker Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born in Grasse, France. He was one of the greatest French painters in the two brilliant and productive pre-Revolution decades; although, due to his highly individual style, he was officially less recognised than, for example, his teacher, Boucher. In his […]

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April 04

Quaker Ideals in Edward Hicks’ Painting

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On the 4th of April 1780, American painter and minister Edward Hicks was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania to Anglican parents, but was raised in the Quaker faith by one of his mother’s friends after she passed away when Hicks was still a baby. Trained as a coach painter, he later became a Quaker preacher. […]

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April 03

Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya: Love in the Creative Partnership

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On the 3rd of April 1950, German composer Kurt Weill died of a heart attack in New York City. His highly innovative and eclectic works for the theatre, such as the Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene, but also numerous popular songs and instrumental music, have secured him lasting fame and a […]

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