1.
Carl Van Vechten
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Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was the youngest child of Charles and he graduated from Washington High School in 1898, and later the University of Chicago in 1903. In 1906, he moved to New York City and he was hired as the assistant music critic at The New York Times. His interest in opera had him take a leave of absence from the paper in 1907, while in England he married his long-time friend from Cedar Rapids, Anna Snyder. He returned to his job at the New York Times in 1909, at that time, Isadora Duncan, Anna Pavlova, and Loie Fuller were performing in New York City. The marriage to Anna Snyder ended in divorce in 1912 and he wed actress Fania Marinoff in 1914 and their marriage lasted until the end of his life, even while his relationships with men were an open secret. They continued corresponding for the remainder of Steins life, and at her death she appointed Van Vechten her literary executor, several books of Van Vechtens essays on various subjects such as music and literature were published between 1915 and 1920. Van Vechtens controversial novel Nigger Heaven was published in 1926 and his essay Negro Blues Singers was published in Vanity Fair in 1926. Biographer Edward White suggests Van Vechten was convinced that Negro culture was the essence of America, by the start of the 1930s and at age 50, Van Vechten was finished with writing and took up photography, using his apartment at 150 West 55th Street as a studio. After the 1930s Van Vechten published little writing, though he continued writing letters to many correspondents, Van Vechten died in 1964, at the age of 84, in New York City. Most of Van Vechtens personal papers are held by the Beinecke Rare Book, the Beinecke Library also holds a collection titled Living Portraits, Carl Van Vechtens Color Photographs Of African Americans, 1939–1964, a collection of 1,884 color Kodachrome slides. The Library of Congress has a collection of approximately 1,400 photographs, there is also a collection of Van Vechtens photographs in the Prentiss Taylor collection in the Smithsonians Archives of American Art, and a Van Vechten collection at Fisk University. The Museum of the City of New Yorks collection includes 2,174 of Carl Van Vechtens photographs, brandeis Universitys department of Archives & Special Collections holds 1,689 Carl Van Vechten portraits. Van Vechten also donated materials to Fisk University to form the George Gershwin Memorial Collection of Music, the album ’O, Write My Name’, American Portraits, Harlem Heroes was completed in 1983. That year, the National Endowment for the Arts transferred the Eakins Press Foundation’s prototype albums to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, dust Tracks on a Road, An Autobiography. Guide to the Carl Van Vechten papers, 1833–1965, manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library. Carl Van Vechten collection of papers, 1911–1964, berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library
2.
Cherbourg-Octeville
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Cherbourg-Octeville is a city and former commune situated at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It is a subprefecture of its department, and was formed when the commune of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville on 28 February 2000. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the city is a Maritime prefecture and sub-prefecture of la Manche. Cherbourg-en-Cotentin is protected by Cherbourg Harbour, between La Hague and Val de Saire, and the city has been a position over the centuries. A stopping point for prestigious transatlantic liners in the first half of the 20th century, limited by its geographical isolation from being a great commercial port, it is nonetheless an important shipbuilding centre, and a working-class city with a rural hinterland. Cherbourg-en-Cotentin is located at the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, in the department of Manche. At the time of the 1999 census the city of Cherbourg had an area of 6.91 square kilometres, the largest city in the Department of Manche, it is the result of the merger of the communes of Cherbourg and Octeville. The amalgamated city today has an area of 14.26 km2. Cherbourg is situated at the mouth of the Divette and at the south of the bay between Cap Lévi to the east and Cap de La Hague to the west, Cherbourg-Octeville is 120 km from the English coast. Cherbourg and Octeville-sur-Cherbourg once belonged to the deanery of La Hague, in 1786, a part of Equeurdreville joined Cherbourg, during the construction of the port, and then in 1802, a portion of Octeville. Thus, Cherbourg-Octeville lies both in La Hague and in the Val de Saire, like all Chantereyne and the area of the Mielles, the Cherbourg territory was reclaimed from the sea. Built at the level of the sea, the town developed at the foot of the Roule mountain and these folds result in layers of sandstone tilted 45° towards the north-east on la Fauconniere and the Montagne du Roule. These two cliffs are due to sea erosion in the Quaternary, the retreat of the sea then gave way to sand dunes and tidal marshes, destroyed by the urbanisation of the 17th and 19th centuries, identical to those of Collignon in Tourlaville. The greenschist, whose colour comes from chlorite and sericite, are used mainly for roofing in Nord-Cotentin, the Armorican sandstone of the Montagne du Roule is used for rubble and rockfill. Most of the quarries, which opened in the metropolitan area for building the harbour wall, are now closed. Cherbourg-en-Cotentin is bordered by the sea, the construction of the port of trade, from 1769, accompanied by the diversion of the Divette and the Trottebec gathered in the canal de retenue, along the Avenue de Paris and Rue du Val-de-Saire. The streams of the Bucaille and the Fay, which watered the Croûte du Homet, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin has a temperate oceanic climate. Its maritime character causes high humidity and a strong sea wind, commonly stormy but also low seasonal variations of temperature and few days of frost
3.
Cannes
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Cannes is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune of France located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, the city is known for its association with the rich and famous, its luxury hotels and restaurants, and for several conferences. On 3 November 2011 it also played host to the G20 organisation of industrialised nations, by the 2nd century BC, the Ligurian Oxybii established a settlement here known as Aegitna. Historians are unsure what the name means, the area was a fishing village used as a port of call between the Lérins Islands. In 69 AD, it became the scene of violent conflict between the troops of Otho and Vitellius, in the 10th century, the town was known as Canua. The name may derive from canna, a reed, Canua was probably the site of a small Ligurian port, and later a Roman outpost on Le Suquet hill, suggested by Roman tombs discovered here. Le Suquet housed an 11th-century tower which overlooked swamps where the city now stands, most of the ancient activity, especially protection, was on the Lérins Islands and the history of Cannes is closely tied to the history of the islands. An attack by the Saracens in 891, who remained until the end of the 10th century, the insecurity of the Lérins islands forced the monks to settle on the mainland, at the Suquet. Construction of a castle in 1035 fortified the city by then known as Cannes, one took a century to build. Around 1530, Cannes detached from the monks who had controlled the city for hundreds of years, during the 18th century, both the Spanish and British tried to gain control of the Lérins Islands but were chased away by the French. The islands were controlled by many, such as Jean-Honoré Alziary. They had many different purposes, at the end of the 19th century, henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux bought land at the Croix des Gardes and constructed the villa Eleonore-Louise. His work to improve living conditions attracted the English aristocracy, who built winter residences. At the end of the 19th century, several railways were completed, in Cannes, projects such as the Boulevard Carnot and the rue dAntibes were carried out. After the closure of the Casino des Fleurs, an establishment was built for the rich winter clientele. This casino was demolished and replaced by the new Palace in 1979, in the 20th century, new luxury hotels such as the Carlton, Majestic, Martinez, and JW Marriott Cannes were built. The city was modernised with a centre, a post office. There were fewer British and German tourists after the First World War, winter tourism gave way to summer tourism and the summer casino at the Palm Beach was constructed
4.
Jean Cocteau
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Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles, and the films Blood of a Poet, Les Parents Terribles, Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus. Cocteau was born in Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, a town near Paris, to Georges Cocteau and his wife, Eugénie Lecomte and his father was a lawyer and amateur painter who committed suicide when Cocteau was nine. From 1900–1904, Cocteau attended the Lycée Condorcet where he met and he published his first volume of poems, Aladdins Lamp, at nineteen. Cocteau soon became known in Bohemian artistic circles as The Frivolous Prince, edith Wharton described him as a man to whom every great line of poetry was a sunrise, every sunset the foundation of the Heavenly City. In his early twenties, Cocteau became associated with the writers Marcel Proust, André Gide, in 1912, he collaborated with Léon Bakst on Le Dieu bleu for the Ballets Russes, the principal dancers being Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky. During World War I Cocteau served in the Red Cross as an ambulance driver and this was the period in which he met the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, artists Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, and numerous other writers and artists with whom he later collaborated. Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev persuaded Cocteau to write a scenario for a ballet and it was produced by Diaghilev, with sets by Picasso, the libretto by Apollinaire and the music by Erik Satie. The piece was expanded into a full opera, with music by Satie, Francis Poulenc. If it had not been for Apollinaire in uniform, wrote Cocteau, with his skull shaved, the scar on his temple and he denied being a Surrealist or being in any way attached to the movement. Cocteau wrote the libretto for Igor Stravinskys opera-oratorio Oedipus rex, which had its performance in the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on 30 May 1927. An important exponent of avant-garde art, Cocteau had great influence on the work of others, in the early twenties, he and other members of Les six frequented a wildly popular bar named Le Boeuf sur le Toit, a name that Cocteau himself had a hand in picking. The popularity was due in no small measure to the presence of Cocteau, in 1918 he met the French poet Raymond Radiguet. They collaborated extensively, socialized, and undertook many journeys and vacations together, Cocteau also got Radiguet exempted from military service. Some contemporaries and later commentators thought there might have been a component to their friendship. Cocteau himself was aware of this perception, and worked earnestly to dispel the notion that their relationship was sexual in nature, there is disagreement over Cocteaus reaction to Radiguets sudden death in 1923, with some claiming that it left him stunned, despondent and prey to opium addiction. Opponents of that point out that he did not attend the funeral. Cocteau himself much later characterised his reaction as one of stupor and his opium addiction at the time, Cocteau said, was only coincidental, due to a chance meeting with Louis Laloy, the administrator of the Monte Carlo Opera
5.
Muses
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The Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs and they were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their pantheon. In current English usage, muse can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, writer, the earliest known records of the Nine Muses are from Boeotia, the homeland of Hesiod. Some ancient authorities thought that the Nine Muses were of Thracian origin, there, a tradition persisted that the Muses had once been three in number. They were again called Melete or Practice, Mneme or Memory, three ancient Muses were also reported in Plutarchs Quaestiones Convivales. According to Pausanias in the second century AD, there were three original Muses, worshiped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Aoidḗ, Melétē, and Mnḗmē. Together, these three form the picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshiped as well, but with other names, Nḗtē, Mésē, and Hýpatē, alternatively they later were called Kēphisṓ, Apollōnís, and Borysthenís, which names characterize them as daughters of Apollo. In later tradition, a set of four Muses were recognized, Thelxinóē, Aoidḗ Archē, one of the people frequently associated with the Muses was Pierus. By some he was called the father of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ, Tritṓnē, Asōpṓ, Heptápora, Achelōís, Tipoplṓ, and Rhodía. According to Hesiods Theogony, they were daughters of Zeus, the second king of the gods. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from the deities, Uranus. Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and it was said that the winged horse Pegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the muses were born. Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the muses, classical writers set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetēs. In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and Marsyas and they also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them. In a later myth, Thamyris challenged them to a singing contest and they won and punished Thamyris by blinding him and robbing him of his singing ability. He thus challenged the Muses to a match, resulting in his daughters, Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses, the first are the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia, some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as Kallichore, Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope
6.
Montmartre
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Montmartre is a large hill in Pariss 18th arrondissement. It is 130 m high and gives its name to the surrounding district, Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district. The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films. This site is served by metro, with line 2 stations at Anvers, Pigalle, and Blanche and line 12 stations at Pigalle, Abbesses, Lamarck - Caulaincourt, texts from the 8th century cite the name of mons Mercori, and a 9th-century text speaks of Mount Mars. Excavations in 1975 north of the Church of Saint-Pierre found coins from the 3rd century, earlier excavations in the 17th century at the Fontaine-du-But found vestiges of Roman baths from the 2nd century. According to Hilduin, Denis collected his head and carried it as far as the fontaine Saint-Denis, then descended the slope of the hill. Hilduin wrote that a church had built in the place formerly called Mont de Mars. In 1134, king Louis VI purchased the Merovingian chapel and built on the site the church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre and he also founded The Royal Abbey of Montmartre, a monastery of the Benedictine order, whose buildings, gardens and fields occupied most of Montmartre. He also built a chapel, called the Martyrium, at the site where it was believed that Saint Denis had been decapitated. It became a pilgrimage site. In the 17th century, a priory called abbaye den bas was built at that site, the abbey was destroyed in 1790 during the French Revolution, and the convent demolished to make place for gypsum mines. The church of Saint-Pierre was saved, at the place where the chapel of the Martyrs was located, an oratory was built in 1855. By the 15th century, the north and northeast slopes of the hill were the site of a surrounded by vineyards, gardens and orchards of peach. The first mills were built on the slope in 1529, grinding wheat, barley. The siege eventually failed when a relief force approached and forced Henry to withdraw. In 1790, Montmartre was located just outside the limits of Paris and that year, under the revolutionary government of the National Constituent Assembly, it became the commune of Montmartre, with its town hall located on place du Tertre, site of the former abbey. The main businesses of the commune were wine making, stone quarries, the mining of gypsum had begun in the Gallo-Roman period, first in open air mines and then underground, and continued until 1860. The gypsum was cut into blocks, baked, then ground, sold as montmartarite, it was used for plaster, because of its resistance to fire and water
7.
The Smiths
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The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. The NME named the Smiths the most influential artist ever in a 2002 poll, four of their albums appeared on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They have also released several compilations, and numerous non-LP singles, the Smiths had several singles reach the UK top twenty and all four of their studio albums reached the UK top five, including one which topped the charts. They won a significant following and remain cult favourites, although they had limited success outside the UK while they were still together. The band broke up in 1987 and have turned down offers to reunite. The bands focus on a guitar, bass, and drum sound, Marrs guitar-playing on his Rickenbacker often had a jangly sound reminiscent of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds. Marrs guitar-playing influenced later Manchester bands, including the Stone Roses, Morrissey and Marrs songs combined themes about ordinary people with complex, literate lyrics delivered by Morrissey with a mordant sense of humour. In 2014 and 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock, on 31 August 1978, Morrissey was briefly introduced to the 14-year-old Johnny Marr by mutual acquaintances Billy Duffy and Howard Bates at a Patti Smith gig held at Manchesters Apollo Theatre. According to Morrissey, We got on absolutely famously and we were very similar in drive. Conversing, the two found that they were fans of many of the same bands, the next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him. A few days later, Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marrs rented attic room in Bowdon, the next song that they worked on was titled The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, which again was based on lyrics produced by Morrissey. Marr included a tempo which was based on the Patti Smith song Kimberly, the third track that the duo worked on was Suffer Little Children. Around the time of the formation, Morrissey decided that he would be publicly known only by his surname. In 1983 he forbade those around him using the name of Steven. After remaining with the band for rehearsals, Pomfret departed un-amicably. He was replaced by the bass player Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchesters Decibel Studios and it was through Hibbert that the Smiths were able to record their first demo at Decibel, doing so one night in August 1982. Aided by drummer Simon Wolstencroft, whom Marr had worked with in Freak Party, meanwhile, Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but Factorys Tony Wilson wasnt interested
8.
Stunt performer
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A stunt performer, often referred to as a stuntman, stuntwoman, or daredevil, is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career. A stuntman typically performs stunts intended for use in a picture or dramatized television. Stunts seen in films and television include car crashes, falls from height, drags. There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work, the most risk exists when performing stunts in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing, in live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury or death, most often stunts are choreographed or mechanically-rigged so that, while they look dangerous, despite their well-choreographed appearance, stunts are still very dangerous and physically testing exercises. From its inception as a skill in the early 1900s to the 1960s. This allows them to break down and plan an action sequence, physically prepare themselves. However, even when executed perfectly, there is still strain, daredevils are distinct from stunt performers and stunt doubles, their performance is of the stunt itself, without the context of a film or television show. Daredevils often perform for an audience, live stunt performers include escape artists, sword swallowers, glass walkers, fire eaters, trapeze artists, and many other sideshow and circus arts. They also include motorcycle display teams and the once popular Wall of Death, the Jackass films and television series are well-known and prominent recorded examples of the act in modern cinematography. Some people, such as Buster Keaton, Harry Houdini, Jackie Chan, Akshay Kumar, Pawan Kalyan, Tony Jaa, the earliest stunt performers were travelling entertainers and circus performers, particularly trained gymnasts and acrobats. This acrobatic discipline required long training in the ring and perfect body control to present a performance to the public. The word stunt was more formally adopted during the 19th century travelling vaudeville performances of the early Wild West Shows, in North America, the first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bills, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913. The shows which involved simulated battles with the firing of both guns and arrows, were a romanticized version of the American Old West. Egerton Castle and Captain Alfred Hutton were part of a wider Victorian era group based in London, by the early 1900s, the motion picture industry was starting to fire-up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but had no need for professional stunt performers. Firstly, motion pictures were so new that even if the producer had a budget for performers, there were more than enough applicants willing to do the scene for free. For instance, if you needed a shot of someone on a steel beam 1,000 feet up on a New York skyscraper, then there was always willing to do the scene for real
9.
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
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Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. The plot of Cocteaus film revolves around Belles father who is sentenced to death for picking a rose from Beasts garden, Belle offers to go back to the Beast in her fathers place. Beast falls in love with her and proposes marriage on a basis which she refuses. Belle eventually becomes more drawn to Beast, who tests her by letting her return home to her family and telling her if she doesnt return to him within a week. Beauty and the Beast is now recognized as a classic of French cinema, while scrubbing the floor at home, Belle is interrupted by her brothers friend Avenant who tells her she deserves better and suggests they get married. Belle rejects Avenant, as she wishes to stay home and take care of her father, who has suffered much since his ships were lost at sea and the family fortune along with them. Belles father arrives home announcing he has come into a fortune that he will pick up the next day, along with gifts for his daughters, Belles shrewish sisters Adelaide. Belles roguish brother Ludovic signs a contract from a moneylender allowing him the ability to sue Ludovics father if he cant pay. Later, Belles father finds on his arrival that his fortune has been seized to clear his debts, Belles father gets lost in the forest and finds himself at a large castle whose gates and doors magically open themselves. On entering the castle, he is guided by an enchanted candelabra that leads him to a dinner table where he falls asleep. Awakened by a roar, he wanders the castles grounds. Remembering that Belle asked for a rose, he plucks a rose from a tree which makes the Beast appear, the Beast threatens to kill him for theft but then suggests that one of his daughters can take his place. The Beast offers his horse Magnificent to guide him through the forest home, Belles father explains the situation to his family and Avenant. Belle agrees to go and take her fathers place and she rides Magnificent to the castle, finding the Beast. Belle faints at the sight of him and is carried to her room in the castle, Belle awakens to find a magic mirror which allows her to see anything. The Beast invites Belle to dinner, where he tells her shes in equal command to him. Days pass as Belle grows more accustomed to and fond of the Beast, using the magic mirror, Belle finds her father deathly ill. The Beast grants her permission to leave for a week and he gives Belle two magical items, a glove that can transport her wherever she wishes and a golden key that unlocks Dianas Pavilion, the source of the Beasts true riches
10.
Vallauris
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Vallauris is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. It is located in the metropolitan and is effectively an extension of the town of Antibes. In 1948 Picasso came to live in Vallauris, where he stayed until 1955, during his time in the town, he created a great many sculptures and paintings including War and Peace, one of the major artworks of the period. He also developed a fascination for the techniques of ceramics and linocuts, many inhabitants still evoke his presence and that of his contemporaries, the bullfights, exhibitions and visits by all kinds of famous people. Golfe-Juan is a town, part of the commune of Vallauris. Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department INSEE Official website
