Modernism in Europe
We are living in a very singular moment of history. It is a moment of crisis, in the literal sense of that word. In every…
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Bauhaus
In 1919 a young architect named Walter Gropius initiated one of the most modern art schools of the twentieth century in the city of Weimar…
Cubism
Cubism is an influential modernist art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the twentieth century. The term was established by Parisian…
Surrealism Overview
Soupault’s publication of Manifeste du Surréalism in 1924. Rising in the wake of the First World War, Surrealism revolted against a world that had become…
Cubism [REVISED AND EXPANDED]
Cubism is an art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the 20th century. It was a key movement in the birth…
Shelem Yankev Abramovitsh 1835–1917
Above, Shelem Yankev Abramovitsh (1835–1917), commonly known by his literary persona Mendele Moykher-Sforim (Mendele the Book Peddler), is considered to be the founding father of…
Oppenheim, Meret Elisabeth (1913–1985)
Meret Oppenheim was a Swiss artist primarily known as a maker of Surrealist objects. Born in Berlin-Charlottenburg to a German father and Swiss mother, Oppenheim…
Zinovieva-Annibal, Lydia Dmitrievna (1866–1907)
A Russian prose writer and dramatist, Zinovieva-Annibal (with her second husband, Viacheslav Ivanov) hosted the influential literary salon known as The Tower. Born in St…
Painlevé, Jean (1902–1989)
Jean Painlevé was a French scientist who was particularly well known for his documentary films about science and the natural world. He was the only…
Pudovkin, Vsevolod Illarionovich (1893–1953)
Vsevolod Pudovkin was a Soviet actor, director, and film theorist working during the first half of the 20th century. He studied chemistry at Moscow State…
Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl (1884–1976)
The German expressionist painter, printmaker, and sculptor Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was born into a miller’s family in Rottluff near Chemnitz in Saxony. Like Emil Nolde and…
Zabolotsky, Nikolai Alexeevich (1903–1958)
Nikolai Alexeevich Zabolotsky was a Russian poet and translator, and a member of the avant-garde absurdist group Oberiu (a modified acronym for Obedinenie Realnogo Iskusstva…
Cardew, Cornelius (1936–1981)
Cornelius Cardew was a leading figure in British experimental music in the 1960s and a committed political activist in the 1970s. His earlier music, particularly…
Santayana, George (1863–1952)
George Santayana—philosopher, poet, novelist, memoirist, and critic—was born in Madrid, the son and grandson of diplomats, and was brought to America by his mother in…
Synge, John Millington (1871–1909)
J. M. Synge (pronounced “Sing”) is best known for his plays, first staged at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, that vividly depicted rural life in Ireland. His…
Kollwitz, Käthe (1867–1945)
Käthe Kollwitz (née Schmidt) was born in Königsberg, East Prussia in 1867, the fifth child of Karl and Katharina Schmidt. In 1884 she entered the…
Krenek, Ernst (1900–1991)
Ernst Krenek, twentieth-century composer, was born in Vienna in 1900. Krenek composed over 240 works from 1917 until 1989, and his career includes works in…
Molodowsky, Kadya (1894–1975)
Known as ‘the first lady of Yiddish literature,’ Kadya Molodowsky published continuously between 1927 and 1974. Molodowsky earned renown as a prolific poet, prose writer,…
Gill, Eric (1882–1940)
Eric Gill was a sculptor, typeface designer, printmaker and craftsman associated with the Arts and Crafts movement whose greatest influence was on the development of…
Claussen, Sophus (1865–1931)
Sophus Claussen is considered one of the foremost Danish poets of the period spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. As a regular contributor to the…
Camden Town Group
Founded in 1911 and active in London before World War I, the Camden Town Group played an important role in the development of a distinctively…
Brandt, Marianne (1893–1983)
Best remembered for her metal designs, Marianne Brandt created the small tea extract pot that set a record in 2007 for the highest sum ever…
Fantômas
The first and most famous of many films based on the eponymous villain created by writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, the silent crime serial…
Stephenson, Sam (1933–2006)
Sam Stephenson was a controversial Irish architect whose work throughout the 1970s and 1980s sparked debates about brutalist architecture and planning regulations. His best-known works…
Schapiro, Meyer (1904–1996)
Art historian Meyer Schapiro was born in Šiauliai [Shavley], Lithuania, on September 23, 1904, but soon immigrated to the United States with his family in…