Minstrels, or traveling thespians, thrived throughout Europe in medieval times. The term minstrel referred to a professional entertainer of any kind from the 12th century to the 17th century. Minstrels were instrumentalist, but were also often jugglers, acrobats, and storytellers. Although minstrels no longer exist, they played an important role in medieval history and, at…
“Marlene Dietrich”… the name alone makes a statement. However, every legend has a beginning. She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich, but by the end of WW 1 Dietrich´s first name was shortened to “Marlene”. Marlene Dietrich always was much more than simply a “star”, more than only an actress or singer – since the beginnings…
In 1883, the romantic artist, Martin Johnson Heade visited Florida. Impressed with St. Augustine, Heade settled there and worked in a studio in the Ponce De Leon Hotel made available to the artist by Henry Flagler, railroad magnate and developer of Florida’s east coast. The combination of St. Augustine’s Old World atmosphere, tropical vegetation, and…
Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Mortenson) was born on the first of June, 1926, in the charity ward of the Los Angeles General Hospital to Gladys Baker. Due to the identity of her father being undetermined, she was later baptized Norma Jeane Baker. Most of the childhood of Norma Jeane was spent in foster homes and…
Man Ray was born on August 27, 1890, in Philadelphia, and moved to New York with his family seven years later. From 1909 to 1912 he studied at the Francisco Social Center Academy of Art, New York while frequently visiting Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery “291”. He attended classes at the Ferrer Center in 1912 for drawing…
Ask anyone to name a great modern architect and a few names will come up repeatedly. One of these people is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. As one of the brilliant architects of the twentieth century, he made huge strides in the field of architecture and opened many doors for future designers. Never meaning to…
The novel, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, focuses on a 17-year-old teenager who has an Italian background called Josephine Alibrandi. Josephine is really two different people at the beginning and the end of the book. In the beginning, Josephine is overdramatic, poised to react to her Italian background and her illegitimacy. At the end…
Les Miserables known in English as “The Terrible” is a musical portrayal of the French Revolution. It is a musical tragedy, which served as a major powerhouse competitor for Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals in the early eighties and nineties. When first debuting on Broadway in 1987 it traveled a long hard road to compete with…
Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrenceville, Massachusetts on August 25, 1918. He was the first born child of Samuel and Jennie Bernstein, who lived in Boston, but had gone to Lawrenceville to visit some relatives. Bernstein’s parents had little knowledge of, or interest in classical music. The only records Leonard remembers hearing on his family…
Famous American silent movie actor was Douglas Fairbanks was born in Denver, Colorado on May 23, 1889. His father Charles Ulman escaped his responsibility of fatherhood by separating with his wife and leaving his two sons Douglas and Robert with their mother. However, his sons had some happy memories about their father. Their mother Ella…
Kathe Kollwitz was born in 1867 and died in 1945. She was a powerful, intense artist who produced works of great tenderness. Her two artworks ‘Woman with dead child’ and ‘Unemployment’ revel the suffering of humanity and social working class. Kathe Kollwitz was greatly influenced by the hardships of humanity, her main subjects being body…
Many of you know her as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. But there was much more trouble behind Judy Garland than just a pair of ruby slippers. At the young and innocent age of 17, she starred in her 7th film, “The Wizard of Oz”. The same year she had her hand and shoe…
Juan Gris (born Jose Victoriano Gonzalez) was brought up in Madrid 1887; in 1906 he fled to France to avoid military conscription, where he joined the circle of avant-garde poets and artists (which included Braque). His first works were post-impressionist still life but he soon eagerly followed the path towards abstraction right behind Picasso and…
Jean Basquiat was brought into this world in 1960 and grew up in New York. His mother was Afro-Puerto Rican, his father was Haitian, and both were middle-class citizens. He didn’t try to keep his background from the public and did not exhibit shame or the need to reverse negative stereotypes about African-Americans, but rather…
Jan Van Eyck was a Flemish painter born 1390 in Maaseik, Belgium and died 1441 in Bruges, Belgium. Eyck was associated with the Renaissance, Flemish School (Ars Nova) movement. Famous paintings and artwork of this artist include Arnolfini et sa femme and Vierge au chancelier Rolin. Jan van Eyck is considered to be a founder…
Jackson Pollock was a revolutionary painter and took his methods to new heights so that he could work more directly with the canvas to show pure emotion within his art work. In 1938, Jackson Pollock went to see a psychoanalysis to help him get over a drinking problem, but he couldn’t express himself well enough…
People all around the world know the voice of James Earl Jones. From Star Wars fans listening to the voice of Darth Vader to news junkies who hear a voice that dramatically intones “This is CNN” just before all the cable network’s station breaks to children who hear the stately voice of the majestic Mufasa,…
Helena P. Blavatsky was born H elene Petrovna von Hahn on August 12, 1831 (new style calendar), in Ekaterinoslav, now Dnepropetrovsk, Russia. Her father, Peter von Hahn, a captain in the horse artillery of the Russian army, was a direct descendent of Count von Rottenstern-Hahn of Mecklenburg, Germany, who had emigrated to Russia in the…
Gustave Caillebotte was the first impressionist that painted realistic, photo paintings. Caillebotte was born in 1848, he was a French painter that was really influenced by impressionism. Mostly all of Caillebotte’s work was, oil on canvas style. He painted Paris Street; Rainy Day in 1877. Caillebotte was one of the less known impressionist painter during…
In the movie, many things portrayed are the same as what really happened in Roman history. Some things though, are a little different in the actual history of Rome than in the movie. Scenes were changed in the movie too, to make the plot more interesting. Maximus was the general of Rome and a really…