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Modigliani revival at the Tate Modern

What a creative life and a tragic death Amadeo Modigliani (1884–1920) had. He left home in Livorno Italy in 1906, at 21, with money from his mother, and moved to the centre of the art world: Paris. He...

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Princes St Synagogue Auckland, built in 1885 by architect Edward Barley

The first Jewish settler in New Zealand was Joel Samuel Polack in 1831. Born in London to Dutch parents, he established a successful retail business and later branched out into shipping, mainly to...

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Can a doctor be a mass murderer? Dr H.H.Holmes

In 1861 Herman Webster Mudgett was born to a respected New Hamp­sh­ire family. In childhood he was fascinated with skeletons and soon became obsessed with death. Mudgett changed his name to H.H Holmes...

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Can a lonely butcher become a mass murderer? Dennis Nilsen in North London

Dennis Andrew Nilsen (b1945) was born in Aberdeenshire. His father was an alcoholic and his parents divorced early, so Dennis was sent to his adored grand­parents. Sadly when grandpa died, the...

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Moulin Rouge, cancan and Paris' belle epoque - oh la la

La Belle Epoque in Paris was time of peace, scientific prog­ress, prosperity and leisure, at least for those with money. Four events in the later C19th led to si­g­nificant chan­ges in how Parisians...

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Vincent van Gogh and his love of Japanese art

When trade with Japan resumed in 1854 after cent­uries of isol­ation­ism and cul­t­ur­al blockade, a craze for its culture swept across France. But the French concept of Japon­is­me was not invented...

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Butlin's fun holiday camps in Britain 1936 - 1970

I had enjoyed Australian holiday camps every summer throughout high school and university. Wonderful memories and activities!! But 1971 was my first year in Europe and Britain, so I was very keen to...

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Childe Hassam in Canton Ohio - American watercolourists and Impressionists

The Canton Museum of Art in Ohio began as the Little Civic Art Gal­lery above Canton's Carnegie Library in 1935. In time the gall­ery brought 3 works into its permanent collection, includ­ing their...

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Vlad III Dracula 1431-1476 - national hero or brutal war lord?

The 1400s was the peak of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, when Wal­lachia in Southern Romania was one of Hungary's strongest rivals. Sit­uated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman...

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Martello towers and maritime forts across the globe

The first Martello Tower I ever saw was on a tour of Saint John in Canada, as we will see. But I have relied on LW Cowie for more detailed information.These curved forts first spread across Europe,...

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Sydney's first proper church, Rev Marsden & Grace Cossington Smith

I like Grace Cossington Smith’s art very much, but was surprised to see a historical scene, rather than her more usual images of contemporary life. More about her later. Soon after the first load of...

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Celebrating the founding of Czechoslovakia 1918-2018

Independence came at the end of WWI when the Austro-Hungarian Emp­ire fell apart. It marked the first time since the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 that Bohemia was not under foreign rule. The First...

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The Guern­sey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - a wonderful film

Britain’s Channel Islands (pop 160,000) are self-governing crown depend­en­cies, off the French coast of Normandy. They comp­rise two separate self-governing bailiwicks: Guernsey and Jersey.In 1940 a...

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Cafe Pushkin in Moscow - literature, arts, food and drinks!

In the 1780s a St Petersburg nobleman serving Empress Cat­h­erine the Great retired from the Royal Household and moved to Moscow. There he decided to build a house and invited architects from Italy....

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John Singer Sargent wowed Britain with society portraits

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was born in Florence and spent his childhood travelling across Europe with his wealthy ex-pat American par­en­ts who followed the changing social seasons. Young Sargent...

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Architecture in Monet's art.... at the National Gallery London.

A fine show, The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Monet & Architecture, is running until late July 2018 at the National Gallery London. Until now, most people thought of Claude Monet as a paint­er of...

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Hitler's favourite hotel - from Mein Camp (1936-9) to deluxe (2016-8)

During the Third Reich, of the five complexes planned for the bene­fit of the German working classes under the auspices of the Streng­th Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude or KdF) leisure movement, only...

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Isfahan & the Silk Route - architecture, trade and the Europe-China link

China’s old cities were thriving commercial centres, especially in silk production. In the later C13th, during the rule of Kublai Khan, China’s silk industry reached a great level of soph­is­tication....

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A very special parliamentary building - the Bundestag in Berlin

When a large parliamentary building was required in Berlin, the Reichstag building was proposed and debated. The fights bet­ween Otto von Bis­marck and Reichstag mem­bers delayed construction so an...

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MoMA New York art exhibition at the NGV in Melbourne

For the 2017 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces, the National Gallery of Victoria/NGV put on a fine exhibition called Van Gogh and the Seas­ons. This exhibition featured works lent by intern­ational...

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