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...
View ArticlePrinces 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...
View ArticleCan 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...
View ArticleCan 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...
View ArticleMoulin 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...
View ArticleVincent 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...
View ArticleButlin'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...
View ArticleChilde 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...
View ArticleVlad 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...
View ArticleMartello 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,...
View ArticleSydney'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...
View ArticleCelebrating 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...
View ArticleThe 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...
View ArticleCafe 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....
View ArticleJohn 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...
View ArticleArchitecture 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...
View ArticleHitler'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...
View ArticleIsfahan & 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....
View ArticleA 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...
View ArticleMoMA 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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