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Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, better known by his pseudonym Wols, is an eminent German artist whose work has had a significant influence on modern art. He was known for his abstract paintings, graphics and photography.
Wols' oeuvre was marked by an experimental approach and a distinctive style. The artist used unusual techniques such as spatula, drop, splatter and graphic elements to create an atmosphere of abstraction and unreality. His work was filled with emotional tension and intense effects of light and shadow.
Wols experimented with shapes and structures, creating paintings that at times seemed mystical and mysterious. He worked masterfully with contrasts and unusual compositions, which gave his works a unique and energetic quality. His work was an important contribution to the development of abstract art in post-war Germany.
Wols also showed a talent for photography, creating remarkably expressive and intriguing black and white images. He skillfully played with light and shadow to capture the moment and convey emotion.
Marc Chagall (Russian: Марк Заха́рович Шага́л), born Moishe Shagal in 1887 near Vitebsk, Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire), was a Belarusian and French artist celebrated for his pivotal role in the avant-garde movement and his unique integration of Eastern European Jewish culture into modern art. His contributions spanned several artistic formats including painting, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries, and fine art prints. Chagall's early modernist tendencies were enriched by his experiences across Saint Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin before World War I, leading to a distinctive style that melded Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism with his Jewish heritage.
Chagall's work is recognized for its emotional depth, often exploring themes of love, memory, and Jewish folklore through vibrant colors and dreamlike imagery. Notably, art critic Robert Hughes described him as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century," a sentiment echoed by art historian Michael J. Lewis who regarded Chagall as a significant figure within European modernism and as the world's preeminent Jewish artist of his time.
Among Chagall's famed contributions are his stained-glass windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, the UN, and the Jerusalem Windows in Israel. His monumental paintings include parts of the ceiling of the Paris Opéra and works that explore biblical themes, a hallmark of his oeuvre that underscores his enduring engagement with spiritual and religious motifs.
For art collectors and antiques experts, Chagall's works are notable not only for their artistic innovation but also for their rich cultural and historical significance. His art is housed in many prestigious museums worldwide, including the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice, France, which focuses on his works inspired by religion and houses the series of paintings illustrating the biblical message.
For those interested in exploring Chagall's legacy and the vibrant intersection of culture, art, and history his work represents, signing up for updates on new product sales and auction events related to Marc Chagall can provide invaluable insights and opportunities. This is an invitation to engage more deeply with the world of art and culture that Chagall so uniquely encapsulated in his work.
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet, a pioneering French painter and sculptor, revolutionized the post-war art scene with his radical Matterism movement. He defied the conventional aesthetics of his time, championing "low art" and propelling a more genuine, humanistic image-making approach.
Dubuffet, born in Le Havre, France, in 1901, was a prominent figure at the Ecole de Paris and an advocate for Art Brut, or "raw art", which sought to capture art's purest form. His works were characterized by a rough, unrefined aesthetic, which eschewed academic norms in favor of spontaneity and authenticity.
Art enthusiasts and experts can view Dubuffet's innovative works at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, where his legacy as a groundbreaking artist continues to be celebrated. His Matterism philosophy has left an indelible mark on the art world, inspiring generations of artists to embrace the beauty in the unconventional.
For those interested in the avant-garde and the legacy of Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet, sign up for our exclusive updates. This service is designed for connoisseurs and professionals in the art and antique sector, promising alerts on new insights and events strictly related to Dubuffet's profound influence.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, a Spanish artist renowned for his revolutionary contributions to the 20th-century art scene, is a figure that resonates profoundly with collectors and art experts. His unique blend of talents in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramic art, infused with his time in France, positioned him as a pivotal character in modern art history.
Picasso's artistic journey was marked by distinct periods, each showcasing his evolving style and genius. His early years were characterized by the Blue Period (1901-1904), followed by the Rose Period (1904-1906), and then the African-influenced Period (1907-1909). Picasso's name is synonymous with Cubism, a movement he co-founded, which significantly altered artistic perspectives and methods. Works like "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907) and "Guernica" (1937) are emblematic of his cubist legacy, the latter being a poignant anti-war statement that remains influential.
His later years saw a return to more traditional styles, with neoclassical and surrealist influences becoming evident. Works from these phases reflect a deep engagement with mythological themes, as seen in "Faun with Stars" (1955), symbolizing his late-life romance with Jacqueline Roque, his second wife.
Picasso's prolific output and innovative spirit made him a legend in his own time, a status that only grew after his death. His works, housed in major museums and private collections worldwide, continue to captivate and inspire.
As a collector or expert in art and antiques, staying informed about Picasso's works, their auction events, and sales is essential. To stay updated on the latest developments and opportunities related to Pablo Picasso, sign up for our specialized updates. Rest assured, this subscription will focus solely on new product sales and auction events pertaining to Picasso's art, ensuring that you receive only the most relevant and valuable information.
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Julia Ward Howe is an American writer and poet, philosopher, abolitionist, and feminist.
Born into a well-to-do family and privately educated, Julia Ward married educator Samuel Gridley Howe and settled in Boston. She published her first collection of poems, Passionate Flowers, in 1854.Julia's early poems were praised by Hawthorne, Whittier, and Longfellow for their intellectual intensity. For a time Howe published the abolitionist newspaper Commonwealth with her husband. And in February 1862, The Atlantic Monthly published her poem "Battle Hymn of the Republic," which became the semi-official Civil War song of the Union Army, and Howe gained fame.
After the war, Howe began fighting for women's rights. In 1868, she was elected the first president of the New England Women's Suffrage Association. In 1868, she helped found the New England Woman's Club and became its president in 1871, the same year she became the first president of the American branch of the International Women's Peace Association. She was later active in the International Federation of Women's Clubs. Howe continued to write throughout her life, publishing travel books, poems, collections of essays, and biographies.
In 1870, she co-founded Woman's Journal and then served as its editor for 20 years. She traveled extensively until her advanced old age. In 1908, she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American writer and author.
Hawthorne is a recognized short story writer and a master of allegorical and symbolic narrative. One of the first fiction writers in American literature, he is best known for his works The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851). Hawthorne's artistic works are considered part of the American Romantic movement and, in particular, of so-called dark Romanticism, a popular mid-19th-century fascination with the irrational, the demonic, and the grotesque.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American writer and author.
Hawthorne is a recognized short story writer and a master of allegorical and symbolic narrative. One of the first fiction writers in American literature, he is best known for his works The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851). Hawthorne's artistic works are considered part of the American Romantic movement and, in particular, of so-called dark Romanticism, a popular mid-19th-century fascination with the irrational, the demonic, and the grotesque.
Rabindranath Tagore was a South Asian Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful" poetry of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Referred to as "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore was known by sobriquets: Gurudev, Kobiguru, Biswakobi.
Bret Harte, born Francis Bret Harte, is an American poet and writer, one of the founders of the Western genre in literature.
From his youth, Bret worked in various professions in California, published a newspaper and a magazine, collaborating for a time with Mark Twain. He wrote several novels and many short stories about the Gold Rush era, of which the best known is the later trilogy "The Steppe Finder", "Susie" and "Clarence", set during the American Civil War.
In 1878 Harte began working at the consulate in Krefeld, Germany, and then in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1885 Harte settled in London and lived there until the end of his days, continuing to write short stories, parodies, and other works of enduring success.
Harte's works about Californian life became popular in Russia, thanks to N.G.Chernyshevsky, who was engaged in their translations from the early 1870s. Russian venerable writers M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and N.S. Leskov spoke very flatteringly of him. And in 1895 in St. Petersburg published a collection of works by Bret Harte in six volumes. Already in the USSR in 1977 the movie "Armed and Very Dangerous" was filmed based on his stories. Alexey Rybnikov's musical "Juno and Avos", the most popular for decades, is based on Bret Harte's ballad "Concepcion de Arguello".
Igor Fedorovich Stravinskii (russian: Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) was a Russian composer, a citizen of France and the United States. One of the greatest representatives of the world musical culture of the 20th century.
The future composer was born into a creative musical family. Igor Stravinskii's father was an opera singer, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Fedor Stravinskii, and his mother was a pianist Anna Kholodovskaya. Igor studied music at home, the Stravinskiis were often visited by their friends: composers Caesar Cui and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, critic Vladimir Stasov and writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. For five years from 1902 Igor Stravinsky studied with the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. At the same time he became close to the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and the artists of the "World of Art" association.
Stravinskii 's first works were created under the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov and the French Impressionists, and his music bears a vivid imprint of the Russian cultural tradition. Igor Stravinskii's first ballet, The Firebird, was performed in June 1910 at the Paris Grand Opera House, and he later wrote music for Diaghilev's ballets Petrushka (1911) and Sacred Spring (1913). It was after the premiere of his ballets at Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons in Paris that Stravinskii gained worldwide fame. The sets for his ballets were created by the artists Alexander Benois and Nikolai Roerich, the choreography was prepared by the famous dancers Vaclav Nijinsky and George Balanchine, and the costumes were designed by Coco Chanel herself.
In 1920 Stravinskii moved to France and in 1934 he took French citizenship. In Paris, the composer composed many works that became world-famous. In 1939 Igor Stravinskii moved to the United States and in 1945 he took American citizenship. During this period, he began to turn more to biblical themes and music of the pre-Brahmsian period.
From 1924 Stravinskii also performed as a pianist and conductor of his own works. In 1962, at the invitation of the USSR Ministry of Culture, Igor Stravinsky gave several concerts in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
Critics believe that in recent years Stravinskii was moving further and further away from the Russian style, but the composer himself believed otherwise. On the basis of Russian folk songs, in 1965 he created a canon for orchestra, "Not a Pine Tree at the Gate Rocked". A year before his death, in 1966, the composer wrote the requiem "Funeral Chants", which he considered to be one of the major works of his life.
James Madison was an American politician and statesman, the fourth President of the United States (1809-1817).
Madison attended Princeton and studied history, government, and law. He participated in the drafting of the Virginia Constitution in 1776, and in 1780 was chosen to represent Virginia in the Continental Congress (1780-83 and 1786-88). James Madison contributed greatly to the ratification of the Constitution, writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, The Federalist (1788). He was later called the "father of the Constitution."
In 1792, Madison and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) founded the Democratic-Republican Party, which has been called America's first opposition political party. When Jefferson became the third president of the United States, Madison served as his secretary of state. In Congress, he was involved in drafting the Bill of Rights and passing the first revenue legislation. As Secretary of State to President Jefferson (1801-1809), Madison protested to warring France and Great Britain that their seizure of American ships was contrary to international law.
Madison was elected president in 1808, succeeding Jefferson. Continued British interference in shipping, as well as other grievances, led to the War of 1812. During Madison's second term as president, the war was still ongoing, and he and his wife were even forced to flee in the face of advancing British troops who set Washington, D.C. on fire. Despite this, in 1815, the United States declared its victory in the war.
After the end of his second term, Madison remained active in public affairs. He edited his Journal of the Constitutional Convention, was co-chairman of the Virginia Constitutional Convention from 1829-1830, and chancellor of the University of Virginia from 1826-36. He was also Monroe's foreign policy advisor. Although Madison was a slave owner all his life, in the last years of his life he was active in the American Colonization Society, whose mission was to resettle slaves in Africa. James Madison died at the age of 85 in 1836.
