Friday, December 24, 2010

Vincent Van Gogh


Today in History:

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Zundert, The Netherlands and is considered one of the greatest painters of all time. As a young man, van Gogh was very interested in religion and helping the poor, and though he started studying theology in 1877, he dropped out a year later. After dropping out, van Gogh became a layman preacher in a mining region of Belgium. After 6 months, he was dismissed, though he went on without pay. It was in this region that he started producing charcoal sketches. 1n 1880, van Gogh took lessons from Anton Mauve at the Hague, due to the suggestion of his brother, Theo. Although these lessons helped van Gogh in his loose brush strokes and use of lighting, van Gogh favored dark-toned colors, unlike Mauve. Van Gogh's failed marriage proposal to his cousin and dismissal from the art academy of Antwerp drove van Gogh into depression. To try to help, Theo allowed van Gogh to move in with him, in Paris. In Paris, Vincent met painters such as Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In Paris, van Gogh learned the technique known as pointillism, or use of small, colored dots that merge in the eyes of the beholder into a full picture. In 1888, van Gogh left Paris and moved to Arles, where he hoped to found an art colony. Paul Gauguin came to work with van Gogh for two months, where they painted much, but as time went on, there friendship deteriorated, and on Christmas Eve of 1888, van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor, and after failing to wound Gauguin, Van Gogh ran off, cut off his left earlobe and sent it to a prostitute friend of his. The next year, at his own request, van Gogh was admitted into a psychiatric center. He left the clinic a year later, and after a fit of painting activity, van Gogh shot himself in the Chest, dying two days later, at the age of 37. His work started to become famous at a large exhibition in Paris in 1901. His paintings, such as The Starry Night, his Self Portrait, and Dr. Paul Gachet, have become some of the most famous paintings of all time.

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Jose Rizal

Person of the Day:

Jose Rizal (1861-1896) is known by many as the national hero of the Philippines. Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna as Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda and was the seventh of 11 children. Rizal attended Ateneo Municipal de Manila, and graduated at the age of 16 with honors, taking a post-graduate course in land surveying. In 1878, Rizal enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas as a medical student, but quit the school because of discrimination against Filipino students by Dominican professors. In 1882, without informing his parents, Rizal left on a ship for Spain and enrolled at the Universidad Central de Madrid.In 1884, Rizal received his medical degree and graduated from the Philosophy and Letters department the next year. Inspired by the increasing blindness of his mother, Rizal went to the University of Paris and later to the University of Heidelberg to study ophthalmology. While on his travels of Europe and Asia, Rizal learned 22 different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Sanskrit, Latin, French, and English. Rizal hoped to secure political and social reforms for the Philippines, published works with nationalistic and revolutionary tendencies. In March of 1887, Rizal published Noli Me Tangere, a satirical novel on the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy. In 1891, El Filibusterismo, the sequel to Noli Me Tangere, was published. These works and others provoked the Spanish officials in the Philippines into imprisoning Rizal in Fort Santiago in Manila. Rizal was exiled to Dapitain, on the island of Mindanao, for four years. During those four years, Rizal taught school and encouraged agricultural reform While on Dapiatn, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine Braken, who brought her father to him for a cataract operation. When the two applied for a marriage
license, the Church denied the application due to Rizal's excommunication. The Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896. Rizal denounced the violence and received permission to travel to Cuba to tend to yellow fever victims. On the way, the Spanish arrested him, then took Rizal to Barcelona then Manila for trial. Tried by court martial, Rizal was charged with conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion. Although there was a lack of evidence, Rizal was given the death sentence. Rizal was allowed to marry Josephine two hours before his execution by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. He was 35 years old. Rizal's last literary work was a poem entitled Mi Ultimo Adios ("My Last Goodbye"). Spurred on by the death of Rizal, the Revolution continued until 1898, and with the help of the United States, the Philippines defeated the Spanish and declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, creating the first democratic republic in Asia.

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Antonio Stradivari


Note: The picture has nothing to do with the article.
Today in History:

Amazing things have happened on this day. Most importantly, today is the first day of Christmas vacation for my two sisters and I. That's right. I will use bad grammar in celebration. Along with being the first day of Christmas break, today, or December 18th, was the day that Antonio Stradivari died 273 years ago. Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) was an Italian violin maker during the Baroque Period. Although Stradivari is virtually unknown among non-violin players, he is widely considered as the best violin maker of all times. Stradivari was born in Cremona, Italy and is believed to have been mentored by Nicolo Amati, who came from a famous family of violin makers. As a violin maker, Stradivari would experiment on how to make the perfect instrument by experimenting with factors including wood type, varnish, shape, size, and wood thickness. Most instruments made by Stradivari are signed, "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonesis Faciebat Anno [insert year here]", or , in English, "Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, made in the year [insert year here]". This inscription is a Latin phrase, and it is because if this inscription that his violins are referred to as 'Stradivarius violins'. Stradivari's best instruments are said to have been made between 1700 and 1725, and these violins are preferred by world-class musicians over any other type of violin and tend to have a better tone than other violins. In 1737, on this day, Stradivari died at age 93. Over his lifetime, he made over 1100 instruments, including harps, guitars, violas, cellos, lutes, and mandolins in addition to his violins. Of these many instruments, only about 650 survive to this day.

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