Frank Gehry

Happy Birthday Frank Gehry!! Vanity Fair has dubbed the Canadian born architect the “most important architect of our age”. He was born in Toronto in 1929 and named Frank Goldman. As a young boy, he began building miniature cities out of scrap wood and bits of metal, wire, etc. at his grandfather’s hardware store. He moved to California, graduating from the University of Southern California School of Architecture in 1954. Many of his structures are in the Deconstructivist style, or a movement interested in advancing modern architecture away from restricting rules. His home in Santa Monica, in the this style is pictured below.

Marino Marini

Happy Birthday Marino Marini!! Italian artist, born today in 1901, Marino Marini originally studied to be a painter but then by 1922 became primarily a sculptor. His work shows Etruscan influences and he was associated with artists Arturo Martini, Giorgio de Chirico and Alberto Giacometti, among others. After traveling to Paris, Switzerland and Rome, in 1940 Marini settled in Milan where he was professor of sculpture at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. He is best known for his life sized, stylised horses with riders’ arms outstretched or thrown above.

Tex Avery

Happy Birthday Tex Avery!! Creator of familiar characters such as Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the character Bugs Bunny, obviously Avery was a cartoonist who was born in Texas, in 1908. Interested in animation early on, Avery created comics in high school and studied art at the Chicago Art Institute for a summer before moving to California to work as an animation field painter. He later became a storyboard artist and went to work for Warner Brothers, where he eventually created his popular characters. Later he worked for MGM, enjoying the artistic freedom he was given and creating slapstick humor changed the cartoon industry. His beloved character Droopy is his most endearing. Later the Frito Bandito was born in the realm of TV commercials.

Jacques Philippe Caresme

Happy Birthday Jacques Philippe Caresme!! Born on my birthday, Caresme was from France, 1734, and the son of painter Claude-Francois Caresme. He was a painter, engraver and illustrator. He studied with his cousin, Charles-Antoine Coypel before being accepted into the Royal Academie and exhibiting regularly at the Salon. Caresme painted commissions for the Bayonne Cathedral and in Versailles, but after neglecting to complete one commissioned by the Academie, he was expelled. Caresme continued to paint and create engravings after his paintings until his death in 1796. The Guitar Player is pictured below.

Royal Academie of Painting and Sculpture-An institution in Paris modeled after like foundations in Rome, for artists of the Royal Court. It was intended to give them the necessary education, “stamp of approval” and permission to exhibit at the Salon.

Mattia Preti

Happy Birthday Mattia Preti!! Italian painter, from a small town Taverna Calabria, Preti was born in 1613 during the Baroque period. Caravaggio (1573-1610) also from that region, was a great influence. Preti traveled to Rome, doing easel paintings as well as frescoes. He was also in Naples and finally Malta, where he lived the remaining 40 years of his life. In 1659 he was deemed Knight of Grace in the order of St. John and perhaps his most remarkable work is his contribution to the church of St. John, in Malta, where his vault painting, a narrative of the life of St. John the Baptist has been called the purest form of High Baroque decoration. The portion below is an image of St. John the Baptist preaching; note the great emotion, even fear, on the listeners in the lower section, as the angel peaceably strums his harp.

George Frederick Watts

Happy Birthday George Frederick Watts!! Englishman born in 1817, Watts painted primarily portraits and historical allegories (symbolic works describing love, death, chaos, etc). He studied at the Royal Academy and after winning a mural design contest, traveled to Italy on the prize money, to work there for a time. He returned to Britain to stay, earning his living by painting portraits. The allegorical work pictured today is Hope, showing a young woman sitting atop the earth playing a lyre with only one remaining string.

Horace Pippin

Happy Birthday Horace Pippin!! Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1888, Horace Pippin was an African-American painter. He was self-taught, and working in a simplistic, naïve style rose from poverty to fame. He worked in menial jobs, and then fought in World War I where he was injured and received a pension for the rest of his life. This allowed him to pursue his art, painting his family and other genre scenes. Considered a Folk Artist, since he lacked formal training, his work was brightly colored, flat shapes without depth or value shading. The painting included here, is titled The Domino Players.