Poetry, stories and strange odds and ends from the desk of a writer
Structural Constellation by Josef Albers, 1913. Machine-engraved Vinylite mounted on wood. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Op Art1964 onwards The nature of perception and optical effects and illusions has intrigued artists for many centuries. They have been the central focus of art, just as much as themes of history or literature. In … Continue reading Open to Interpretation
Poet: Christina Georgina RossettiBorn: 5 December 1830, London, UKNationality: EnglishDied: 29 December 1894, London, UK Pic Rossetti was a poet who wrote romantic, devotional, and children’s poetry. She is best known for her poems ‘Goblin Market’ and ‘Remember’. Rossetti also wrote the lyrics to two well-known Christmas carols, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, set to music … Continue reading A Singing Bird
The Artistic Priests Movement: Les Nabis Started: 1880 Ended: 1910
Carl Sandburg I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness. And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men....
Utrillo’s life could not have been a more Bohemian one. For many the romantic concept of la vie bohème was living a life in Paris of the late-19th and early-20th century but far less dazzling in its reality. The son of Suzanne Valadon, a former circus performer turned artist model and avant garde artist Utrillo never knew his father. Rumours abound that it could have been anyone from Puvisde Chavannes to Renoir to Boissy...
Kinetic art is the expression of the fascination with movement and describes a whole swathe of modern art from Impressionism to the present day. Works of art which move, or give the impression of movement – from mobile, mechanical sculpture to Op art paintings which trick the eye into seeing rotation or vibration ...
Carrying bouquet, and handkerchief, and gloves, Proud of her height as when she lived, she moves With all the careless and high-stepping grace, And the extravagant courtesan's thin face...
Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream. In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live. I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am...
Owen, a poet and soldier. was one of leading poets of the First World War, his war poetry on the horrors of the trenches and gas warfare stood in stark contradiction to the public perception of war at the time. His best-know works, most published after his death, include Insensibility, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility, Dulce et Decorum est, and Spring Offensive....
Unwillingly Miranda wakes, Feels the sun with terror, One unwilling step she takes, Shuddering to the mirror....
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was a poet. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a prominent family with strong ties to the local community. She studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years before briefly attending the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary...
John Constable by Ramsay Richard Reinagle, 1799. Oil on canvas. The National Portrait Gallery, London, UK Artist: John ConstableBorn: 11 June 1776, Suffolk, EnglandNationality: EnglishMovement: Romanticism, The Sublime in Art, Landscape Painters, British ArtDied: 31 March 1837, London, England Constable, along with JMW Turner, revolutionized landscape painting of the 19th century. His paintings had a … Continue reading Landscape is my Mistress
It appeared inside our classroom at a quarter after ten, it gobbled up the blackboard, three erasers and a pen. It gobbled teacher's apple and it bopped her with the core. “How dare you!” she responded. “You must leave us . . . there's the door.”...
Artist: Victor Vasarely Born: 9 April 1906, Pécs, Hungary Nationality: Hungarian-French Movement: Op Art, Kinetic Art, Modernism, Modern Art Died: 15 March 1997, Paris, France...
Artist: Frida Kahlo Born: 6 July 1907, Mexico City, Mexico Nationality: Mexican Movement: Naïve art, Modern art, Surrealism, Magical Realism, Symbolism, Naturalism, Primitivism, Social realism, Cubism Died: 13 July 1954, Mexico City, Mexico...
Artist: Fernand Léger Born: 4 February 1881, Argentan, France Nationality: French Died: 17 August 1955, Gif-sur-Yvette, France...
FauvismStarted: 1899Ended: 1908 Luxe, Calme et Volupte by Henri Matisse, 1904. Oil on canvas. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France The first movement in modern art of the 20th century, the examples of Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and Georges Seurat inspired Fauvism. A loosely allied group of French painters with shared interests … Continue reading Serenity Through the Significance of Ideas
Achille-Etna MichallonBorn: 22 October 1796, Paris, FranceNationality: FrenchMovement: RomanticismDied: 24 September 1822, Paris, France Michallon was a prodigiously talented artist who tragically died at the very young age of 25. He was the son of a sculptor and studied under Jacques-Louis David and Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. In 1817, he won the Prix de Rome for … Continue reading The Prodigious Painter
Poet: Shel SilversteinDate of Birth: 25 September 1930, Illinois, USANationality: AmericanDate of Death: 10 May 1999, Florida, USA Silverstein was a writer known for cartoons, songs, and children’s books. He appeared as Uncle Shelby in some of his work. His books have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold more than 20 million … Continue reading Now Here’s My Plan…
Poet: Edgar Albert GuestBorn: 20 August 1881, Birmingham, EnglandNationality: English-AmericanDied: 5 August 1959, Michigan, USA Guest was a poet, popular in the first half of the 20th century. He became known as the People’s Poet well-known for poetry with an optimistically inspirational view on everyday life. He was born in Birmingham, UK in 1881, later … Continue reading Failure Is Ceasing to Try
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:...
Shakespeare was a poet, playwright, and actor. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. Referred to as ‘the Bard’ his works include 39 plays, 154 sonnets, narrative poems and other verses. His plays have been translated into all major languages...
Robert Burns, better known as Rabbie Burns, is was a poet and lyricist. Regarded as the national poet of Scotland, he is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language. A pioneer of the Romantic Movement Burns was a source of inspiration to the founders of both socialism and liberalism...
John Keats was an English Romantic poet and one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantics alongside Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley...
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, better known as Lord Byron was a poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence...
Matthew Arnold was a poet and cultural critic who also worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Rugby School’s famed headmaster, Thomas Arnold he has been characterized as sage writer who chastises and instructs the reader on social issues of the day....
Robert Lee Frost was a poet. Initially published in England, his work was soon published and renowned internationally...
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley Date of Birth: 4 August 1792, Horsham, UK English Date of Death: 8 July 1822, Lerici, Italy
Artist: Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo Born: 12 December 1851 Nationality: English Movement: Art Deco Died: 18 March 1942
Poet: Irwin Allen Ginsberg Date of Birth: 3 June 1926, New Jersey, USA American Date of Death: 5 April 1997, New York, USA Buried: Gomel Chesed Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey, USA
Artist: Édouard Manet Born: 23 January 1832, Paris, France Nationality: French Movements: Impressionism, Realism, Modern Art, Modernism Died: 30 April 1883, Paris, France
Poet: Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall Date of Birth: 14 September1883, London, UK Canadian Date of Death: 22 April 1922, Vancouver, Canada
Poet: Heinrich Heine Date of Birth: 13 December 1797, Düsseldorf, Germany German Date of Death: 17 February 1856, Paris, France
Poet: William Blake Date of Birth: 28 November 1757, London, England English Date of Death: 12 August 1827, London, England
Poet: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Born: 24 March 1919, New York, USA American
Poet: William Cullen Bryant Date of Birth: 3 November 1794, Massachusetts, USA American Date of Death: 12 June 1878, New York, USA
Artist: Gustav Klimt Born: 14 July 1862, Baumgarten, Austro-Hungarian Empire Nationality: Austrian Movement: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Died: 6 February 1918, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire Gustav Klimt is remembered as one of the greatest decorative painters of the 20th century, while also producing the century’s most significant body of erotic art. Initially he found success in his … Continue reading All Art is Erotic
Artist: James Collinson Born: 9 May 1825, Mansfield, England English Movement: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Died: 24 January 1881, London, UK
Poet: Louisa May Alcott Born: 29 May 1832, Pennsylvania, USA American Died: 6 March 1888, Massachusetts, USA
John Keats 14 October 1795 – 23 February 1821 English Poet John Keats was an English Romantic poet and one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantics alongside Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. John was born on 14 October 1795 in London, the son of Thomas Keats, a hostler at … Continue reading The Nightingale Poet
About the Jez of It 