Category Archives: History

Art Lecture Videos: The History Of Hollywood “Horror Movie Posters” (Columbia Museum Of Art)

Recorded February 14, 2020 at the Columbia Museum of Art.

Daniel Finamore, curator of It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection talks about the exhibition and where these posters fit into the canon It's Alive Columbia Museum of ART History of Horror Movie Posters video Feb 20 2020of art history. Finamore is the curator of Maritime Art and History at the Peabody Essex Museum. Best known as lead guitarist of the famed rock band Metallica, Kirk Hammett is also an obsessive collector of visually arresting horror and sci-fi film art and has dedicated the last three decades to creating one of the world’s most important collections.

It’s Alive! features more than 100 pieces of graphic art, many hailing back to the days of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, that have seeped into the public imagination and reflected society’s deepest fears and anxieties for nearly a century. Not only do these objects explore the power of graphic art in its own right, they have inspired Hammett’s work throughout his own artistic career.

Organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

History Of Cinema: How Italian Director Federico Fellini’s Love Of Comic Books Shaped His Films

Federico Fellini’s films were bright, surprising and above all, fun. His films are a testament to an extraordinary imagination, but also a deep love of an art form that is often overlooked: comics!

Federico Fellini comic book superfan BFI Video Feb 20 2020

In this video essay, BFI producer Nic Wassell speaks to Fellini experts to draw out the links between the great director’s love of American and Italian comics and the surreal, joyful imagery found in his films.

More information on Fellini at the BFI: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/def…

Landmarks: Finland’s History Since 1930’s At Helsinki’s Hotel Torni

Monocle 24 The UrbanistHotel Torni (“Hotel Tower”) is a historical hotel located in Helsinki, Finland, and a part of the Sokos Hotels hotel chain. When opened in 1931, it became the tallest building in Finland, a position it maintained until the completion of the new Neste headquarters in neighboring Espoo in 1976. 

It remained the tallest building in Helsinki until 1987. The interior of the building was completely renovated in 2005. It is located in central Helsinki, the so-called Helsinki Design District.

The hotel was designed by architects Jung & Jung in 1928, and has 14 stories. It is allegedly the place where the murder of the Mata Hari-like Minna Craucher was planned in 1932.

Hotel Website

The hotel served the needs of air defense during the Second World War, when members of the Finnish women’s paramilitary organization Lotta Svärd kept watch for enemy bombers. Immediately after the cessation of the war, Hotelli Torni served as the headquarters of the Allied Control Commission monitoring Finnish compliance with the obligations of the Moscow Armistice. It became known as a center of culinary excellence.

From Wikipedia

Entertainment: The “Moulin Rouge” In Paris, In Films And On The Stage

The Moulin Rouge, the famous cabaret with a windmill that opened in the Montmartre section of Paris 130 years ago, is still drawing crowds to its spectacular shows featuring a chorus line of often-topless dancers. And it’s now Moulin Rouge Poster from 1889the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical. Correspondent Alina Cho visits the landmark that has inspired artists and writers (and even marriage proposals), and talks with its artistic director and dancers, along with the Tony Award-winning set designer of the new Broadway show, “Moulin Rouge!: The Musical.”

Moulin Rouge (“Red Mill”) is a cabaret in Paris, France.

The original house, which burned down in 1915, was co-founded in 1889 by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.

Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. The club’s decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle France.

Website

From Wikipedia

Tributes: Nobel Prize-Winning Philosopher And Writer Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)

Bertrand Russell Public IntellectualBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. At various points in his life, Russell considered himself a liberal, a socialist and a pacifist, although he also confessed that his sceptical nature had led him to feel that he had “never been any of these things, in any profound sense.” Russell was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom.

In the early 20th century, Russell led the British “revolt against idealism”. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege, colleague G. E. Moore and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is widely held to be one of the 20th century’s premier logicians. With A. N. Whitehead he wrote Principia Mathematica, an attempt to create a logical basis for mathematics, the quintessential work of classical logic. His philosophical essay “On Denoting” has been considered a “paradigm of philosophy”. His work has had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science (see type theory and type system) and philosophy, especially the philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics.

Russell was a prominent anti-war activist and he championed anti-imperialism.  Occasionally, he advocated preventive nuclear war, before the opportunity provided by the atomic monopoly had passed and he decided he would “welcome with enthusiasm” world government. He went to prison for his pacifism during World War I.[75] Later, Russell concluded that war against Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany was a necessary “lesser of two evils” and criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament. In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”.

From Wikipedia

Podcast Interviews: 66-Year Old Economist And Writer Paul Krugman On American Societal Issues

Bloomberg Opinion Masters in Business Barry Ritholtz podcastBloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews economist, bestselling author and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, whose most recent book is “Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future.” 

 

Paul Krugman The Return of Depression EconomicsPaul Robin Krugman (born February 28, 1953) is an American economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography. The Prize Committee cited Krugman’s work explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic distribution of economic activity, by examining the effects of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services.

Krugman was previously a professor of economics at MIT, and later at Princeton University. He retired from Princeton in June 2015, and holds the title of professor emeritus there. He also holds the title of Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics. Krugman was President of the Eastern Economic Association in 2010, and is among the most influential economists in the world. He is known in academia for his work on international economics (including trade theory and international finance),economic geography, liquidity traps, and currency crises.

Krugman is the author or editor of 27 books, including scholarly works, textbooks, and books for a more general audience, and has published over 200 scholarly articles in professional journals and edited volumes. He has also written several hundred columns on economic and political issues for The New York TimesFortune and Slate. A 2011 survey of economics professors named him their favorite living economist under the age of 60.[13] As a commentator, Krugman has written on a wide range of economic issues including income distribution, taxation, macroeconomics, and international economics. Krugman considers himself a modern liberal, referring to his books, his blog on The New York Times, and his 2007 book The Conscience of a Liberal. His popular commentary has attracted widespread attention and comments, both positive and negative. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Krugman is the second most frequently cited author on college syllabi for economics courses.

From Wikipedia

New Photography Books: “Neon Road Trip” By John Barnes (March 2020)

John Barnes Neon Road Trip book March 2020The vivid photographs are arranged according to the signs’ imagery, with sections such as Spirit of the West, On the Road, Now That’s Entertainment, and Ladies, Diving Girls & Mermaids. Sixteen of the most iconic landmark signs include brief histories on how that unique sign came to be. A resource section includes a photography index by location and a Neon Museums Visitor’s Guide.

Take to the road to discover the history and artistry of North America’s disappearing neon signs.

Neon Road Trip chronicles the history of the commercial neon sign with a curated collection of photographs capturing the most colorful and iconic neon still surviving today.

John Barnes studied art, graphic design, sculpture and photography, earning a BFA degree in documentary photography from the University of Delaware 1984. He worked as a commercial advertising photographer for over fifteen years both on the east coast and in San Francisco, and has been a fine art photographer for the last 30 years. He recently spent the last two years traveling around the United States and Canada photographing iconic neon signs. John resides in Seattle but spends most of his time traveling taking photographs.

Artists: Inside Story Of Andy Warhol’s “Athletes” Paintings (Christie’s)

From a Christie’s Magazine online article (February 2020):

Christie's Magazine logo‘The sports stars of today are the movie stars of yesterday,’ proclaimed the artist. It was true; thanks to rapid advances in TV broadcasting, sporting champions in the 1970s were starting to achieve the same level of popularity as other entertainers.

Andy Warhol Athletes paintngs Muhammad Ali & Pele Christie's Magazine February 2020

In 1977, Richard L. Weisman approached his friend Andy Warhol with the idea for a new series: a set of silkscreen portraits of the day’s leading sports stars. Called ‘Athletes’, these pictures have come to be regarded as some of the standout works of Warhol’s later years.

Andy Warhol Athletes paintngs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Tom Seaver Christie's Magazine February 2020

Weisman (1940-2018) was a dedicated collector, and the two men bonded mostly over art, although they also crossed paths regularly at social gatherings across New York. On some occasions, these gatherings were held at Warhol’s Factory studio; on others, at Weisman’s apartment on United Nations Plaza.

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