1.
Nice
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Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the city limits. Nice is about 13 kilometres from the principality of Monaco, the city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912. The area of todays Nice contains Terra Amata, a site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength, for centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860. The citys main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort, for decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but also those seeking inspiration. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western cultures most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities and it also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the capital city of the County of Nice. Nice was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massalia, the ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice. In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens, but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, during the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, during the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence, but it regained its independence even though related to Genoa. The medieval city walls surrounded the Old Town, the landward side was protected by the River Paillon, which was later covered over and is now the tram route towards the Acropolis. The east side of the town was protected by fortifications on Castle Hill, another river flowed into the port on the east side of Castle Hill. Engravings suggest that the area was also defended by walls
2.
Performance art
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Performance art is a performance presented to an audience within a fine art context, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated. The performance can be live or via media, the performer can be present or absent and it can be any situation that involves four basic elements, time, space, the performers body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any type of venue or setting, the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. Performance art is a contested concept, any single definition of it implies the recognition of rival uses. As concepts like democracy or art, it implies productive disagreement with itself, the meaning of the term in the narrower sense is related to postmodernist traditions in Western culture. The ideal had been an ephemeral and authentic experience for performer, the widely discussed difference, how concepts of visual arts and concepts of performing arts are utilized, can determine the meanings of a performance art presentation. It therefore can include action or spoken word as a communication between the artist and audience, or even ignore expectations of an audience, rather than following a script written beforehand, some kinds of performance art nevertheless can be close to performing arts. Performance artists often challenge the audience to think in new and unconventional ways, break conventions of traditional arts, and break down conventional ideas about what art is. Some artists, e. g. the Viennese Actionists and neo-Dadaists, prefer to use the terms live art, action art, actions, as genres of performance art appear body art, fluxus-performance, happening, action poetry, and intermedia. Performance art activity is not confined to European or American art traditions, notable practitioners can be found in Asia, Performance artists and theorists point to different traditions and histories, ranging from tribal to sporting and ritual or religious events. There are also accounts of Renaissance artists such as itinerant poets putting on performances that could be said to be ancestors of performance art. Western cultural theorists often trace performance art activity back to the beginning of the 20th century, to the Russian constructivists, Futurists, Dada provided a significant progenitor with the unconventional performances of poetry, often at the Cabaret Voltaire, by the likes of Richard Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara. Russian Futurist artists could be identified as precursors of performance, such as David Burliuk, abstract expressionism and Action painting preceded the Fluxus movement, Happenings and the emergence of Performance Art. Performance art was anticipated, if not explicitly formulated, by Japans Gutai group of the 1950s, in the late 1960s Earth artists as diverse as Robert Smithson, Dennis Oppenheim, Michael Heizer and Carl Andre created environmental pieces that predict the performance art of the 1970s. Works of conceptual artists in the early 1980s, like Sol LeWitt, who converted mural-style drawing into an act of performance by others, were influenced by Yves Klein and the Earth artists as well. In the 1960s a variety of new works, concepts and the number of artists led to new kinds of performance art. Kaprow had coined the term Happening describing a new artform, at the beginning of the 1960s, a Happening allows the artist to experiment with body motion, recorded sounds, written and spoken texts, and even smells
3.
Pierre Restany
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Pierre Restany, was an internationally known French art critic and cultural philosopher. Restany was born in Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, Pyrénées-Orientales, and spent his childhood in Casablanca, on returning to France in 1949 he attended the Lycée Henri-IV before studying at universities in France, Italy and Ireland. From their first meeting in 1955, Restany maintained a strong tie with Yves Klein, in 1960 Pierre Restany created the idea and coined the term Nouveau Réalisme with Yves Klein during a group show in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. It was an idea that united a group of French and Italian artists, Nouveau Realisme was the European answer to the American Neo-Dada of Fluxus and Pop Art. Restany defined this group of artists as sharing new perceptual approaches to reality, the first exhibition of the Nouveaux réalistes took place in November 1960 at the Paris Festival davant-garde. Their work was an attempt at reassessing the concept of art, from 1963 onwards, Restany edited the art and architectural magazine Domus and divided his time between Montparnasse, Paris and Milan, Italy. In the early 1970s he took interest in the work of the Sociological art collective, in 1982 he co-founded Domus Academy, the first postgraduate design school. From the early 1990s up to his death, Restany took a keen and growing interest in working in the areas of computer art, new media art, digital art. In 1992, he was director of the group show Art & Tabac, in Rome, Vienna, Pierre Restany died in Paris in 2003 and is buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery. Décollage Ultra-Lettrist César Mimmo Rotella Niki de Saint Phalle Christo Yves Klein Carlos Ginzburg Laurence Gartel Pierre Restany, manifeste des Nouveaux Réalistes, Editions Dilecta, Paris,2007. Voyages de Ginzburg, Editions Julien Blaine, Paris, France,1980, la vie este belle, n’est-ce-pas, cher Vostell. Wolf Vostell, Galerie Lavignes Bastille, Paris,1990
4.
Minimalism
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In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is a style that uses pared-down design elements. Minimalism began in post–World War II Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s, prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, John McCracken, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism. Minimalism in music often features repetition and iteration such as those of the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, the term minimalist often colloquially refers to anything that is spare or stripped to its essentials. It has accordingly been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the automobile designs of Colin Chapman. The word was first used in English in the early 20th century to describe a 1913 composition by the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich of a square on a white ground. Guggenheim Museum curated by Lawrence Alloway also in 1966 that showcased Geometric abstraction in the American art world via Shaped canvas, Color Field, in the wake of those exhibitions and a few others the art movement called minimal art emerged. Minimal art is inspired in part by the paintings of Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Josef Albers, and the works of artists as diverse as Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio Morandi. Minimalism was also a reaction against the painterly subjectivity of Abstract Expressionism that had been dominant in the New York School during the 1940s and 1950s. The philosopher or art historian who can envision me—or anyone at all—arriving at aesthetic judgments in this way reads shockingly more into himself or herself than into my article. They very explicitly stated that their art was not about self-expression, in general, minimalisms features included geometric, often cubic forms purged of much metaphor, equality of parts, repetition, neutral surfaces, and industrial materials. Robert Morris, a theorist and artist, wrote a three part essay, Notes on Sculpture 1-3, originally published across three issues of Artforum in 1966. In these essays, Morris attempted to define a conceptual framework and formal elements for himself and these essays paid great attention to the idea of the gestalt - parts. Bound together in such a way that create a maximum resistance to perceptual separation. Morris later described an art represented by a marked lateral spread, the general shift in theory of which this essay is an expression suggests the transition into what would later be referred to as postminimalism. Stellas decisions about structures on the front surface of the canvas were therefore not entirely subjective, in the show catalog, Carl Andre noted, Art excludes the unnecessary. Frank Stella has found it necessary to paint stripes, there is nothing else in his painting. Because of a tendency in art to exclude the pictorial, illusionistic and fictive in favor of the literal, there was a movement away from painterly
5.
Pop art
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Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising. In pop art, material is sometimes removed from its known context, isolated. Pop art employs aspects of culture, such as advertising, comic books. One of its aims is to use images of popular culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any culture and it is also associated with the artists use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques. Pop art is interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism. Due to its utilization of found objects and images, it is similar to Dada, Pop art and minimalism are considered to be art movements that precede postmodern art, or are some of the earliest examples of postmodern art themselves. Pop art often takes imagery that is currently in use in advertising, product labeling and logos figure prominently in the imagery chosen by pop artists, seen in the labels of Campbells Soup Cans, by Andy Warhol. Even the labeling on the outside of a box containing food items for retail has been used as subject matter in pop art. The origins of pop art in North America developed differently from Great Britain, in the United States, pop art was a response by artists, it marked a return to hard-edged composition and representational art. They used impersonal, mundane reality, irony, and parody to defuse the personal symbolism, in the U. S. some artwork by Larry Rivers, Alex Katz and Man Ray anticipated pop art. By contrast, the origins of pop art in post-War Britain, while employing irony, early pop art in Britain was a matter of ideas fueled by American popular culture when viewed from afar. Similarly, pop art was both an extension and a repudiation of Dadaism, among those artists in Europe seen as producing work leading up to pop art are, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Kurt Schwitters. During the 1920s, American artists Gerald Murphy, Charles Demuth and Stuart Davis created paintings that contained pop culture imagery, the Independent Group, founded in London in 1952, is regarded as the precursor to the pop art movement. They were a gathering of young painters, sculptors, architects, writers and their group discussions centered on pop culture implications from elements such as mass advertising, movies, product design, comic strips, science fiction and technology. This material of found objects such as advertising, comic characters, magazine covers. One of the collages in that presentation was Paolozzis I was a Rich Mans Plaything, following Paolozzis seminal presentation in 1952, the IG focused primarily on the imagery of American popular culture, particularly mass advertising. Nevertheless, Alloway was one of the critics to defend the inclusion of the imagery of mass culture in the fine arts
6.
Alpes-Maritimes
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Alpes-Maritimes is a department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in the extreme southeast corner of France. The inhabitants of the department are called Maralpins, but are referred to as Azuréens. The Alpes-Maritimes department is surrounded by the departments of Var in the southwest, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the north-west, Italy, and it surrounds the Principality of Monaco on the west, north, and east. The highest point of the department is the Cime du Gélas on the Franco-Italian border which dominates the Vallée des Merveilles further east, in fact the summit of Monte Argentera is certainly higher at 3297 m above sea level but it is located in Italian territory. There is also Mount Mounier which dominates the south of the vast Dôme de Barrot which is formed of a mass of more than 900 m thick red mudstones deeply indented by the gorges of Daluis and Cians. Except in winter, four passes allow passage to the north of the Mercantour/Argentera mountain range whose imposing 62 km long barrier covered in snow which is visible from the coast. From the west the Route des Grandes Alpes enters the Cayolle Pass first on the way to the Alps, then the route follows the Col de la Bonette - the highest pass in Europe at 2715 m - to connect to the valley of the Tinée then the Ubaye. Further east, the Lombard pass above Isola 2000 allows access to the shrine of Saint-Anne de Vinadio in Italy, finally, at its eastern end, the Col de Tende links with Cuneo in Italy. The rivers in order are, It is the climate that made the Côte dAzur famous. The coastal area has a Mediterranean climate, towards the interior, especially in the north, a mountain climate. One of the attractions of the department is its level of sunshine,300 days per year, despite this the department is also the most stormy of France with an average of 70 to 110 thunderstorm days per year. Alpes-Maritimes is divided into 2 arrondissements, the Grasse and the Nice,27 cantons and 163 communes, in 2002 there were 14 intercommunalities. At its greatest extent in AD297, the province reached north to Digne, a first French département of Alpes-Maritimes existed in the same area from 1793 to 1814. Its boundaries differed from those of the department, however. In 1793 Alpes-Maritimes included Monaco and San Remo, but not Grasse which was part of the départment of Var. Sanremo, cantons, Sanremo, Bordighera, Dolceacqua, Pigna, Taggia, Triora, Puget-Théniers, cantons, Puget-Théniers, Beuil, Gilette, Guillaumes, Roquesteron, Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée and Villars-sur-Var. Its population in 1812 was 131,266, and its area was 322,674 hectares, the department was reconstituted in 1860 when the county of Nice was annexed by France. It included the county of Nice as well as the independent towns of Menton and Roquebrune
7.
Post-Impressionism
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Post-Impressionism is a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists concern for the depiction of light. The movement was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, the term Post-Impressionism was first used by art critic Roger Fry in 1906. Three weeks later, Roger Fry used the term again when he organized the 1910 exhibition, Manet, the Post-Impressionists were dissatisfied with what they felt was the triviality of subject matter and the loss of structure in Impressionist paintings, though they did not agree on the way forward. Georges Seurat and his followers concerned themselves with Pointillism, the use of tiny dots of colour. Paul Cézanne set out to restore a sense of order and structure to painting, to make of Impressionism something solid and durable and he achieved this by reducing objects to their basic shapes while retaining the saturated colours of Impressionism. The Impressionist Camille Pissarro experimented with Neo-Impressionist ideas between the mid-1880s and the early 1890s, Vincent van Gogh used colour and vibrant swirling brush strokes to convey his feelings and his state of mind. Although they often exhibited together, Post-Impressionist artists were not in agreement concerning a cohesive movement, yet, the abstract concerns of harmony and structural arrangement, in the work of all these artists, took precedence over naturalism. Artists such as Seurat adopted a scientific approach to colour. Younger painters during the early 20th century worked in geographically disparate regions and in various categories, such as Fauvism and Cubism. Most of the artists in Frys exhibition were younger than the Impressionists, Fry later explained, For purposes of convenience, it was necessary to give these artists a name, and I chose, as being the vaguest and most non-committal, the name of Post-Impressionism. This merely stated their position in time relatively to the Impressionist movement, john Rewald limited the scope to the years between 1886 and 1892 in his pioneering publication on Post-Impressionism, From Van Gogh to Gauguin. This volume would extend the period covered to other artistic movements derived from Impressionism, though confined to the late 19th, Rewald focused on such outstanding early Post-Impressionists active in France as van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Redon. Pont-Aven School, implying more than that the artists involved had been working for a while in Pont-Aven or elsewhere in Brittany. Symbolism, a highly welcomed by vanguard critics in 1891. Rewald wrote that the term Post-Impressionism is not a precise one. Convenient, when the term is by definition limited to French visual arts derived from Impressionism since 1886, rewalds approach to historical data was narrative rather than analytic, and beyond this point he believed it would be sufficient to let the sources speak for themselves. Rival terms like Modernism or Symbolism were never as easy to handle, for they covered literature, architecture and other arts as well, Symbolism, however, is considered to be a concept which emerged a century later in France, and implied an individual approach
8.
Informalism
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Several distinguishing trends are identified within the movement such as lyrical abstraction, matter painting, New Paris School, tachisme and art brut. The French art critic Michel Tapié coined the term art autre in the book in 1952 in relation to non-geometric abstract art. This movement has given way to New Informalism in the year 2000 in Chevry ll, in Gif sur Yvettes, it’s an open work that a spectator can read freely. The pictorial adventure is completely new, instead of going from the meaning to constructing the corresponding signs, in the works of Laurent Jiménez-Balaguer, the language of signs is further deconstructed, allowing for a universal interpretation of a private language. The contribution of music produced the art of musical informalism, lengerke, Ch. von, «La pintura contemporánea
9.
Judo
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Judo was created as a physical, mental and moral pedagogy in Japan, in 1882, by Jigoro Kano. It is generally categorized as a martial art which later evolved into a combat. Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as defenses are a part of judo. A judo practitioner is called a judoka, the philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed for judo became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts that developed from koryū. The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kanō Jigorō, Kano was born into a relatively affluent family. His father, Jirosaku, was the son of the head priest of the Shinto Hiyoshi shrine in Shiga Prefecture. He married Sadako Kano, daughter of the owner of Kiku-Masamune sake brewing company and was adopted by the family and he ultimately became an official in the Shogunal government. Jigoro Kano had an academic upbringing and, from the age of seven, he studied English, shodō, when he was fourteen, Kano began boarding at an English-medium school, Ikuei-Gijuku in Shiba, Tokyo. The culture of bullying endemic at this school was the catalyst that caused Kano to seek out a Jūjutsu dōjō at which to train, early attempts to find a jujutsu teacher who was willing to take him on met with little success. With the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, many of those who had once taught the art had been forced out of teaching or become so disillusioned with it that they had simply given up. Nakai Umenari, an acquaintance of Kanōs father and a soldier, agreed to show him kata. The caretaker of Jirosakus second house, Katagiri Ryuji, also knew jujutsu, Another frequent visitor, Imai Genshiro of Kyūshin-ryū school of jujutsu, also refused. Several years passed before he found a willing teacher. In 1877, as a student at the Tokyo-Kaisei school, Kano learned that many jujutsu teachers had been forced to pursue alternative careers, frequently opening Seikotsu-in. After inquiring at a number of these, Kano was referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke, a teacher of the Tenjin Shinyō-ryū of jujutsu, Fukuda is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kanos emphasis on randori in judo. On Fukudas death in 1880, Kano, who had become his keenest and most able student in both randori and kata, was given the densho of the Fukuda dojo, Kano chose to continue his studies at another Tenjin Shinyō-ryū school, that of Iso Masatomo. Iso placed more emphasis on the practice of kata, and entrusted randori instruction to assistants, Iso died in June 1881 and Kano went on to study at the dojo of Iikubo Tsunetoshi of Kitō-ryū. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on randori, with Kitō-ryū having a focus on nage-waza
10.
Arman
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Arman was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave to using them as the painting itself and he is best known for his accumulations and destruction/recomposition of objects. Armans father, Antonio Fernandez, a dealer from Nice, was also an amateur artist, photographer. From his father, Arman learned oil painting and photography, after receiving his bachelors degree in philosophy and mathematics in 1946, Arman began studying at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice. He also started judo at a school in Nice where he met Yves Klein. The trio bonded closely on a subsequent hitch-hiking tour around Europe, completing his studies in 1949, Arman enrolled as a student at the École du Louvre in Paris, where he concentrated on the study of archaeology and oriental art. In 1951, he became a teacher at the Bushido Kai Judo Club in Madrid, during this time he also served in the French military, completing his tour of duty as a medical orderly during the Indo-China War. Early on, it was apparent that Armans concept of the accumulation of vast quantities of the objects was to remain a significant component of his art. Ironically, he had focused more attention on his abstract paintings. Only when he witnessed viewer reaction to his first accumulation in 1959 did he fully recognize the power of such art, in 1962, he began welding together accumulations of the same kinds of metal objects, such as axes. Inspired by an exhibition for the German Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in 1954, Arman began working on Cachets, at his third solo exhibition held in Pariss Galerie Iris Clert in 1958, Arman showed some of his first 2D accumulations he called cachets. These stamps on paper and fabric proved a success and provided an important change of course for the artists career. At the time, he was signing with his first name as an homage to Van Gogh, and, thus, in 1957, Arman chose to change his name from Armand to Arman. On January 31,1973, upon becoming a citizen of the United States, he took the American civil name, nevertheless, he continued to use Arman as his public persona. From 1959 to 1962, Arman developed his most recognizable style, accumulations were collections of common and identical objects which he arranged in polyester castings or within Plexiglas cases. His first welded accumulations were created in 1962, the Poubelles were collections of strewn refuse. In 1960, he filled the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris with garbage and these works began to garner the attention of the European art community. Joined later by Cesar, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Christo and they were reassessing the concept of art and the artist for a 20th-century consumer society by reasserting the humanistic ideals in the face of industrial expansion
11.
La Monte Young
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La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works are cited as examples of post-war experimental and contemporary music. Youngs work has called into question the nature and definition of music, despite having released very little recorded material throughout his career—much of it currently out of print—Vulture described him as the most influential living composer today. The Observer wrote that his work has had a profound effect on the last half-century of music. His evolving composition The Well-Tuned Piano, first conceived in 1964, has characterized as one of the great achievements of 20th-century music by The Guardian. Young and his family moved several times in childhood, as his father searched for work before settling in Los Angeles and he was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated from John Marshall High School and studied at Los Angeles City College, in the jazz milieu of Los Angeles, Young played with notable musicians including Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins. He undertook further studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and his compositions during this period were influenced by Anton Webern, Gregorian chant, Indian classical music, Gagaku, and Indonesian gamelan music. A number of Youngs early works use the technique, which he studied under Leonard Stein at Los Angeles City College. Young also studied composition with Robert Stevenson at UCLA and with Seymore Shifrin at UC Berkeley, in 1958, he developed the Trio for Strings, originally scored for violin, viola, and cello, which would presage his work in proceeding years. The Trio for Strings has been described as a point for minimalism. When Young visited Darmstadt in 1959, he encountered the music, there he also met Cages collaborator, pianist David Tudor, who subsequently gave premières of some of Youngs works. At Tudors suggestion, Young engaged in a correspondence with Cage, within a few months Young was presenting some of Cages music on the West Coast. In turn, Cage and Tudor included some of Youngs works in performances throughout the U. S. by this time Young had taken a turn toward the conceptual, using principles of indeterminacy in his compositions and incorporating non-traditional sounds, noises, and actions. When Young moved to New York in 1960, he had established a reputation as an enfant terrible of the avant-garde. He initially developed a relationship with Fluxus founder George Maciunas. Yoko Ono, for example, hosted a series of concerts curated by Young at her loft, Youngs works of the time, scored as short haiku-like texts, though conceptual and extreme, were not meant to be merely provocative but, rather, dream-like. His Compositions 1960 includes a number of unusual actions, some of them are un-performable, but each deliberately examines a certain presupposition about the nature of music and art and carries ideas to an extreme
12.
Dan (rank)
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The dan ranking system is used by many Japanese organizations and Korean martial arts to indicate the level of ones ability within a certain subject matter. As a ranking system, it was used at a go school during the Edo period. It is now used in modern fine arts and martial arts. The system was applied to arts in Japan by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, in 1883. In the modern Japanese martial arts, holders of dan ranks often wear a black belt, those of higher rank may also wear red-and-white and red belts. Dan ranks are given for strategic board games such as go, Japanese chess, and renju, as well as for cultural arts such as flower arrangement, Japanese calligraphy and tea ceremony. The Chinese character for the word dan literally means step or stage in Japanese. In Chinese pinyin, however, the character is spelled duàn. Dan is often used together with the word kyū in certain ranking systems, with dan being used for the higher ranks, the dan ranking system in go was devised by Honinbō Dōsaku, a professional go player in the Edo period. Prior to the invention, top-to-bottom ranking was evaluated by comparison of handicap, dosaku valued the then highest title holder, Meijin at 9 Dan. He was likely inspired by an ancient Chinese go ranking system, Dan ranks were transferred to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo. Kanō started the modern system in 1883 when he awarded shodan to two of his senior students. Prior to this, martial arts schools awarded progress with less frequent menkyo licenses or secret scrolls, there was still no external differentiation between yūdansha and mudansha. Different athletic departments within the Japanese school system were already using markers of rank, most notably in swimming, kano adopted the custom of having his yūdansha wear black obi in 1886. At that time, these obi were not the belts that karateka and jūdōka wear today and they wore the wide obi still worn with formal kimono. In 1907, Kanō invented the modern keikogi, and belts in white for mudansha, traditionally, the level of go players has been defined using kyū and dan ranks. Kyu ranks are considered student ranks, whilst dan ranks are considered master ranks, especially in amateur play, these ranks facilitate the handicapping system, with a difference of one rank roughly corresponding to one free move at the beginning of the game. With the ready availability of calculators and computers, rating systems have been introduced, in such systems, a rating is rigorously calculated on the basis of game results. Dan ranks are for advanced players, although many organizations let players choose their own kyū rank to a certain extent, dan ranks are often regulated
13.
Kodokan
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Kodokan, or the Kodokan Institute, is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. Literally, kō means to lecture, dō means way, the Kodokan was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. The Kodokan Institute offers classes for those who want to master judo, the program is authorized as a non-regular school by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Its courses include the theories and practice of judo, and matters of general education, the course is divided into two parts, a general course for novices, and special courses for those who have completed the general course or its equivalent. The Kodokan also issues ranks, and many judoka around the world become Kodokan members and have their ranks registered with the Kodokan, the Institute was founded with only nine disciples. There are eight floors and a basement to the Kodokan dojo, each serving purposes for housing, training, the basement holds the cafeteria and some conference rooms. The first floor has parking, a bank, and a store, the second floor contains a library and more conference rooms. The third floor is for judoka and visitors who are living in the dojo, the fourth floor contains dressing rooms. The fifth, sixth, and seventh floors are all used for training space, the Kano Memorial Hall, Historical hall, exhibition room, and material stock room are located on the second floor. The extensive library on the floor holds over 7,000 books pertaining to judo. There are four research laboratories on the floor, 1st Lab. 2nd Lab, Psychological study of judo, 3rd Lab, Technical analysis of judo. Research on the strength of judo players. 4th Lab, Physiological study of judo, the research staff use fundamental and applied science to work with foreign researchers. Research is displayed to the public and free of charge to view once during the year, judoka visiting and training in the Kodokan can stay on the Third Floor. There are five rooms for use during training camps, these rooms can hold 20 people each, Judo sensei and players may live in suites for either one or two people, these suites have their own baths and showers. Visitors may walk up to the floor of the dojo to watch practice or competitions. Permission is required to attend the practice for transient students, one-time visitors are most likely to be allowed to take part in a randori session with foreign students
14.
Artist's book
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Artists books are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Artists books have employed a range of forms, including scrolls, fold-outs. Artists books are books or book-like objects over the appearance of which an artist has had a high degree of control. Artists books are made for a variety of reasons and they are often created to make art that is interactive, portable, movable and easily shared. Many artists books challenge the conventional book format and become sculptural objects and they may be created in order to make art accessible to people outside of the formal contexts of galleries or museums. These works would set the tone for later books, connecting self-publishing and self-distribution with the integration of text, image. All of these factors have remained key concepts in books up to the present day. As Europe plunged headlong towards World War I, various groups of artists across the continent started to focus on pamphlets, posters, manifestos. This move toward radicalism was exemplified by the Italian Futurists, the publication of the Futurist Manifesto,1909, on the front cover of the French daily newspaper Le Figaro was an audacious coup de théâtre that resulted in international notoriety. Marinetti used the fame to tour Europe, kickstarting movements across the continent that all veered towards book-making and pamphleteering. With regards to the creation of Artists books, the most influential offshoot of futurist principles, however, Marinetti visited in 1914, proselytizing on behalf of Futurist principles of speed, danger and cacophony. Russian futurism gradually evolved into Constructivism after the Russian Revolution, centred on the key figures of Malevich, Artists books from this era include Kurt Schwitters and Kate Steinitzs book The Scarecrow, and Theo van Doesburgs periodical De Stijl. Dada was initially started at the Cabaret Voltaire, by a group of exiled artists in neutral Switzerland during World War I. Whilst concerned mainly with poetry and theory, Surrealism created a number of works that continued in the French tradition of the Livre dArtiste, one important Russian writer/artist who created artist books was Alexei Remizov. Drawing on medieval Russian literature, he creatively combined dreams, reality, in the fifties artists in Europe developed an interest in the book, under the influence of modernist theory and in the attempt to rebuild positions destroyed by the war. A fine example of the latter is Isidore Isous Le Grand Désordre, two other examples of poet-artists whose work provided models for artists books include Marcel Broodthaers and Ian Hamilton Finlay. Yves Klein in France was similarly challenging Modernist integrity with a series of such as Yves, Peintures
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Yves Peintures
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Yves Peintures is an artists book by the French artist Yves Klein, originally published in Madrid,18 November 1954. This publication was Klein’s first public gesture as an artist, featuring pages of commercially printed papers that were reproductions of paintings that, in fact. The simplicity of his readymades is at once sublime and mischievous, the booklet asserts its character straightaway in the preface, a wordless text of unbroken horizontal lines with the same two paragraph indentations on each page. A homogenous continuum with no beginning, middle, or end. Here, too, there is no attempt to represent or symbolize anything, the booklet thus offers an utterly pared down presentation. Unlike most art books, it provides no reverential prose about the artist or the art, instead the booklet itself is made into a work of art that shares the same spirit of nothingness exemplified by the monochrome paintings that it features. Unable to teach in France, he took a post in Madrid in May and it was whilst he was in Spain that he formulated and published his first public gesture as an artist, Yves Peintures. Yves Peintures is a booklet,24.4 cm by 19.7 cm, containing 16 sheets of unbound paper. 10 vivid monochromatic plates follow, mechanically signed ‘Yves’, each given unspecified numerical dimensions, Klein would later create work in all three categories. Haguenault Peintures is basically the same book, and was published at the same time, the main structural difference was the accrediting of ownership in the captions. This implies the artist was a painter of some stature, with work collected in major collections, the lettrists advocated challenging textual authority, and would serve as a direct reference point for the introduction. He was also familiar with the work of Marcel Duchamp, having given a copy of the 1947 artists book Le Surrealisme, designed by Duchamp with a cover of a 3D breast. Duchamps theories about the readymade, and his belief in the making the meaning of a work of art. Dismissed line as a ‘tourist walking across the space’, for him lines were a ‘prison grating’, whereas the fine individual particles of colour were an expression of ‘total freedom’. He attempted to free himself from all materiality through the totality of colour, in gold, red and especially dark, deep ultramarine blue he found colours that corresponded adequately to his visions of the immaterial and the infinite. Yves Peintures has since been re-published by Editions Dilecta, Paris in 2006 in an edition of 400, yesterday night, Wednesday, we went into an abstract café… the abstractionists were there. They are easy to recognize because they give off an atmosphere of abstract painting, maybe I’m delirious, but I have the impression I see things like that. In any event, we sat down with them, then we began speaking of the book Yves Peintures
16.
Lapis lazuli
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Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue, semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus. It was used in the mask of Tutankhamun. At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, today, mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, the name Lapis lazuli came to be associated with its color. The English word azure, French azur, Italian azzurro, Polish lazur, Romanian azur and azuriu, Portuguese and Spanish azul, the most important mineral component of lapis lazuli is lazurite, a feldspathoid silicate mineral with the formula 861-2. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite, sodalite, and pyrite, some samples of lapis lazuli contain augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, nosean, and sulfur-rich löllingite geyerite. Lapis lazuli usually occurs in marble as a result of contact metamorphism. The intense blue color is due to the presence of the radical anion in the crystal. An electronic excitation of one electron from the highest doubly filled molecular orbital into the lowest singly occupied orbital results in an intense absorption line at λmax ~617 nm. Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained this material through trade from Afghanistan, during the height of the Indus Valley Civilisation about 2000 BC, the Harappan colony now known as Shortugai was established near the lapis mines. In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis is also extracted in the Andes and it is mined in smaller amounts in Angola, Argentina, Burma, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States in California and Colorado. Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewelry, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, small statues, during the Renaissance, Lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended in the early 19th century when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available, Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gilson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and hydrous zinc phosphates. It may also be substituted by spinel or sodalite, or by dyed jasper or howlite, Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the Neolithic age
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International Klein Blue
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International Klein Blue is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist Yves Klein. IKBs visual impact comes from its reliance on ultramarine, as well as Kleins often thick. International Klein Blue was developed by Yves Klein in collaboration with Edouard Adam, the synthetic resin used in the binder is a polyvinyl acetate developed and marketed at the time under the name Rhodopas M or M60A by the French pharmaceutical company Rhône-Poulenc. Adam still sells the binder under the name Médium Adam 25, in May 1960, Klein deposited a Soleau envelope, registering the paint formula under the name International Klein Blue at the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, but he never patented IKB. Only valid under French law, a soleau enveloppe registers the date of invention, the copy held by the INPI was destroyed in 1965. Kleins own copy, which the INPI returned to him duly stamped, is still extant, in March 1960, Klein patented a method by which he was able to distance himself from the physical creation of his paintings by remotely directing models covered in the color. Although Klein had worked with extensively in his earlier career. Klein embarked on a series of works using IKB as the central theme. These included performance art where Klein painted models naked bodies and had them walk, roll, six sculptures by Klein in the Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen, Germany, are executed in IKB. Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne wrote his dissertation on IKB when he studied History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge. In the 2010 novel Zero History by William Gibson, the character Hubertus Bigend has a made of material in IKB. Yves Klein Blue. In 1982 Danish rock band Kliché released an instrumental named International Klein Blue, elijah Blue Allman of American synth rock band Deadsy boasts International Klein Blue as an official color or entity added to his character/persona. International Klein Blue is the used by Blue Man Group. Episode 14 of season 2 of Mike Tyson Mysteries is titled Yves Klein Blues, the episode sees the former boxing champion seeking to use the color in his summer tracksuit. to, Color conversion for International Klein Blue
18.
Iris Clert Gallery
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The Iris Clert Gallery was an art gallery named after its Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. The single-room gallery was located on 3 rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris and it was open from 1955 to 1971 and during that time housed artworks from many successful and influential artists of the time, including Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Arman, Takis and René Laubies. The Iris Clert Gallery opened in 1955, in the middle of Pariss fine-art district, Yves Klein and Iris Clert first met in December 1955, when the still unknown artist approached Clert in her newly opened gallery, attempting to solicit his monochrome artwork. Klein persuaded Clert to keep one of his paintings, a small orange monochrome and she displayed the monochrome in the corner of the one-room gallery. The painting proved to be successful, and upon Kleins return, Clert invited him to exhibit a few of his monochromes in the gallerys first major exhibition in April 1957, Micro-Salon dAvril consisted of over 250 artworks, no larger than a postcard, by over a hundred artists. Besides Klein, the featured works from Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst. Kleins showing in the Micro-Salon dAvril also proved a success, and within a month, he had his own exhibition in the Clert Gallery and it too was a success, though not necessarily for its artistic merit at first. Proudly displayed in the large store-front window was a single blue monochrome, according to Clert, the one-color painting caused quite a stir in the neighborhood, art students made jokes, the elderly seemed confused – everyone was talking about it. Opening night included releasing 1,001 blue balloons into the sky, the immaterial exhibition opened on April 28,1958, Kleins 30th birthday. My paintings are now invisible and I would like to them in a clear and positive manner. Klein did not necessarily deem the empty gallery as the artwork, but the emptiness, the void, however, these were all extremely private acts of artistic experimentation. The Void, on the hand, was inherently a public act, meant as an event for the larger populous to absorb. The participatory nature of the exhibition was critical to the realization of the piece and this demonstration of perceptive synthesis sanctions the pictorial quest of Yves Klein for an ecstatic and immediately communicable emotion. Pierre Restany 3,500 of these invitations were sent out,3,000 of them in Paris, always a master of personal publicity, Kleins efforts were all in an attempt to create a buzz around the opening night. A blue cocktail was served, a combination of gin, Cointreau, and methylene blue. The event was an success, if only by numbers alone. Klein later recalls that by 9,30, The whole place is packed, the corridor is full, the crowd is so dense that one cannot move anywhere. Alternatively, it was also a success if one goes by the reactions of fellow artists, albert Camus commented simply, With the void, full empowerment
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Zen
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Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as Chan Buddhism. Zen school was influenced by Taoism and developed as a distinguished school of Chinese Buddhism. From China, Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, the term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 which traces its roots to the Indian practice of Dhyana. Zen emphasizes rigorous self-control, meditation-practice, insight into Buddha-nature, as such, it de-emphasizes mere knowledge of sutras and doctrine and favors direct understanding through zazen and interaction with an accomplished teacher. The Prajñāpāramitā literature and, to an extent, Madhyamaka have also been influential in the shaping of the paradoxical language of the Zen-tradition. Central to Zen is the practice of dhyana or meditation, during sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or seiza postures, using the dhyāna mudrā. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or by bringing that awareness to the center below the navel. Often, a square or round cushion placed on a mat is used to sit on, in some other cases. This practice may simply be called sitting dhyāna, which is zuòchán in Chinese, in the Sōtō school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise, in the Japanese language, this practice is called Shikantaza. Intensive group meditation may be practiced occasionally in some temples, in the Japanese language, this practice is called Sesshin. While the daily routine may require monks to meditate for hours each day. In modern Buddhist practice in Japan, Taiwan, and the West, lay students often attend these intensive practice sessions and these are held at many Zen centers, especially in commemoration of the Buddhas attainment of Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi. One distinctive aspect of Zen meditation in groups is the use of a kyosaku, at the beginning of the Sòng dynasty, practice with the kōan method became popular, whereas others practiced silent illumination. This became the source of differences in practice between the Línjì and Cáodòng schools. A kōan, literally public case, is a story or dialogue and these anecdotes give a demonstration of the masters insight. Koans emphasize the non-conceptional insight that the Buddhist teachings are pointing to, koans can be used to provoke the great doubt, and test a students progress in Zen practice. Kōan-inquiry may be practiced during zazen, kinhin, and throughout all the activities of daily life, kōan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line
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Musiktheater im Revier
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Musiktheater im Revier is the venue for performing opera, operetta, musical theatre and ballet in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. It opened on 15 December 1959, it is listed since 1997 as a cultural monument. The building offers two performance spaces, the Large House with 1,008 seats and about 200 performances per year, in contrast to the buildings outside cubic appearance, the auditoria use a more curved design. The building was designed by the German architect Werner Ruhnau, a second, slightly smaller work, is in blue and white. The Small House features a mobile by Jean Tinguely, the building served as a location for the 1961 film The Miracle of Father Malachia by Bernhard Wicki. When the theatre opened in 1959, it provided also for the spoken theatre, austerity measures in 1966/67 forced the abandonment of plays. Like most German municipal theatres, the Musiktheater im Revier employs its own company and chorus. The house orchestra is the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, the largest of the three state orchestras in North Rhine-Westphalia, Heiko Mathias Förster is the music director, the orchestra is funded by the cities of Gelsenkirchen and Recklinghausen and the district of Unna. In 1968, Bernd Alois Zimmermanns work Photoptosis was premiered at the Musiktheater im Revier, the first performance of Albert Lortzings 1899 opera Regina which used the composers original libretto took place at the MiR in 1998. On 10 October 2003, Alexander Mullenbachs chamber opera Die Todesbrücke saw its premiere here, enjott Schneider composed a musical for the occasion of the 100th anniversary in 2004 of the soccer team FC Schalke 04 which was premiered on 9 May 2004. The title Nullvier – Keiner kommt an Gott vorbei. with a meaning was translated by the composer to Zerofour, Nobody comes past God. The musical Strike Up the Band by George Gershwin saw its German premiere at the MiR in 2007 as had the German language production of his opera Porgy, official homepage Musiktheater im Revier at Gelsenkirchen. de 1959 – Inauguration of Theater Gelsenkirchen Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen
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Gelsenkirchen
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Gelsenkirchen is a city in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany. It is located in the part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2015 was c, Gelsenkirchen was first documented in 1150, but it remained a tiny village until the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution led to the growth of the entire area. In 1840, when the mining of coal began,6,000 inhabitants lived in Gelsenkirchen, in the early 20th century, Gelsenkirchen was the most important coal mining town in Europe. It was called the city of a thousand fires for the flames of mine gasses flaring at night, in 1928, Gelsenkirchen was merged with the adjoining cities of Buer and Horst. The city bore the name Gelsenkirchen-Buer, until it was renamed Gelsenkirchen in 1930, during the Nazi era Gelsenkirchen remained a centre of coal production and oil refining, and for this reason it was bombed in Allied air raids during World War II. There are no longer colliers in Gelsenkirchen with the city searching for a new image, today Germanys largest solar power plant is located in the city. In Gelsenkirchen-Scholven there is a power station with the tallest chimneys in Germany. Gelsenkirchen is home of the football club Schalke 04, which is named after the borough Schalke, while the clubs stadium. They did not live in houses as such, but in small yards gathered together near each other, later, the Romans pushed into the area. In about 700, the region was settled by the Saxons, a few other parts of town which today lie in Gelsenkirchens north end were mentioned in documents from the early Middle Ages, some examples being, Raedese, Middelvic, Sutheim and Sculven. Many nearby farming communities were identified as iuxta Bure. It was about 1150 when the name Gelstenkerken or Geilistirinkirkin appeared up for the first time, at about the same time, the first church in town was built in what is now Buer. This ecclesia Buron was listed in a directory of churches by the sexton from Deutz. This settlement belonged to the Mark, however, in ancient times and even in the Middle Ages, only a few dozen people actually lived in the settlements around the Emscher basin. Up until the middle of the 19th century, the area in and around Gelsenkirchen was only thinly settled and almost exclusively agrarian. In 1815, after belonging to the Grand Duchy of Berg, the land now comprising the city of Gelsenkirchen passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. This arrangement came to an end only in 1928, in 1868, Gelsenkirchen became the seat of an Amt within the Bochum district which encompassed the communities of Gelsenkirchen, Braubauerschaft, Schalke, Heßler, Bulmke and Hüllen
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Cascia
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Cascia is a town and comune of the Italian province of Perugia in a rather remote area of the mountainous southeastern corner of Umbria. It is about 21 km from Norcia on the road to Rieti in the Lazio, the modern territory of Cascia was the home of the Roman settlement of Carsulae, destroyed in the 1st century BC by an earthquake. In the Middle Ages it was sacked by the Byzantines and the Lombards and it was occupied by Papal troops in the 15th century, and thenceforth it was a Papal town until the unification of Italy in 1860. Cascia was the home of Saint Rita of Cascia, who was born in the frazione of Roccaporena in 1381. After her canonization in 1900, a shrine was built in Cascia, which is still an important place of pilgrimage. The town also is home to the frescoed 14th-century church of Sant’Antonio Abate, Umbria. Org - Article about Cascia Bill Thayers site - Article about Cascia
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Ex-voto
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An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude or devotion, ex-votos are placed in a church or chapel where the worshiper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. The destinations of pilgrimages often include shrines decorated with ex-votos, ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the figure, but also as a testimony to later visitors of the received help. There are places where an old tradition of depositing ex-votos existed. The magnificent Lod mosaic is thought to be an ex-voto expressing gratitude for rescue from a shipwreck, pope Benedict XVI recognized the authenticity of the miracles and canonized Saint André Bessette in 2011. Pinax Tama Votive candle Votive deposit Votive paintings of Mexico Milagro Everyday Miracles, Medical Imagery in Ex-Votos National Library of Medicine
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Rita of Cascia
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Margherita Lotti Saint Rita of Cascia was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Rita was married at an early age, the marriage lasted for eighteen years, during which she is remembered for her Christian values as a model wife and mother who made efforts to convert her husband from his abusive behavior. Upon the murder of her husband by another feuding family, she sought to dissuade her sons from revenge and she subsequently joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the flesh and for the efficacy of her prayers. Various miracles are attributed to her intercession, and she is portrayed with a bleeding wound on her forehead. Pope Leo XIII canonized Rita on 24 May 1900 and her feast day is celebrated on May 22. Saint Rita was born in 1371 in the city of Roccaporena where various sites connected with her are the focus of pilgrimages and her parents, Antonio and Amata Ferri Lotti, were known to be noble, charitable persons, who gained the epithet Conciliatore di Cristo. According to pious accounts, Rita was originally pursued by a notary named Gubbio and she was married at age twelve to a nobleman named Paolo Mancini. Her parents arranged her marriage, a practice at the time. Her husband, Paolo Mancini, was known to be a rich, quick-tempered, immoral man, Rita had her first child at the age of twelve. Rita endured his insults, physical abuse, and infidelities for many years, Rita eventually bore two sons, Giangiacomo Antonio, and Paulo Maria, and brought them up in the Christian faith. Rita gave a public pardon at Paolos funeral to her husbands murderers, Paolo Mancinis brother, Bernardo, was said to have continued the blood family feud and hoped to convince Ritas sons to seek revenge. Bernardo convinced Ritas sons to leave their manor and live at the Mancini villa ancestral home, as her sons grew, their characters began to change as Bernardo became their tutor. Ritas sons wished to revenge their fathers murder, Rita, fearing that her sons would lose their souls, tried to persuade them from retaliating, but to no avail. Accordingly, she petitioned God to take her sons rather than submit them to mortal sin. After the deaths of her husband and sons, Rita desired to enter the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia but was turned away. Although the convent acknowledged Ritas good character and piety, the nuns were afraid of being associated with her due to the scandal of her husbands violent death. However, she persisted in her cause and was given a condition before the convent could accept her and she implored her three patron saints to assist her, and she set about the task of establishing peace between the hostile parties of Cascia. Popular religious tales recall that the plague, which ravaged Italy at the time, infected Bernardo Mancini
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Jean Tinguely
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Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition, Tinguelys art satirized the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society. Born in Fribourg, Tinguely grew up in Basel, but moved to France in 1952 with his first wife, Swiss artist Eva Aeppli and he belonged to the Parisian avantgarde in the mid-twentieth century and was one of the artists who signed the New Realists manifesto in 1960. 2, detonated successfully in front of an audience gathered in the desert outside Las Vegas, Tinguely married fellow Swiss artist Eva Aeppli in 1951. In 1971, Tinguely married his wife, Niki de Saint Phalle with whom he collaborated on several artistic projects such as the Hon-en-Katedrall or The Cyclop. Jean Tinguely died in 1991 at the age of 66 years in the Bern Hospital after a heart illness, chaos I, sculpture in The Commons, Columbus, Indiana, USA Le Cyclop outside of Milly-la-Forêt. The Stravinsky Fountain near the Centre Pompidou, Paris, a collaboration with Niki de Saint Phalle, the exhibition consisted of a sculpture of a colorful pregnant woman lying on her back with her legs wide apart. The sculpture was 25–26 meters long, about 6 meters high and 11 meters wide and it was built of scaffolding and chicken wire covered with fabric and fiberglass, painted with brightly-coloured poster paint. Through a door-sized entry in the location of the womans vagina, inside was a screen showing Greta Garbo films, a goldfish pond and a soft drink vending machine. Johann Sebastian Bachs organ music played through speakers, the exhibition was created by Niki de Saint-Phalle, Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt. It had 80,000 visitors during the period from June 4 to September 9,1966. in ‘Meridians 2_ compmqenan ate a pie 2001 ‘Relief Meta-Mechanique Sonore I’ incl. New Realism Rube Goldberg—Conceptual pioneer of complex machinery Useless machine Arthur Ganson Museum Tinguely in Basel Chapter on Tinguely in Calvin Tomkins The Bride. K. G. Pontus Hultén, Jean Tinguely Méta, london, Thames & Hudson,1975 G. Bischofsberger, Catalogue raisonné,3 Vols. Margit Hahnloser-Ingold, Pandämonium – Jean Tinguely, Bern, Benteli,1988 Heidi E. Violand, Jean Tinguelys Kinetic Art or A Myth of the Machine Age. Diss, New York University,1990 Museum Jean Tinguely, Die Sammlung, Bern, Benteli,1996 Museum Jean Tinguely, Jean le Jeune. Tinguely-Museum in Basel Biography by the Tinguely Museum in Basel Art Cyclopaedia, Jean Tinguely http, //www. art-public. com/cyclop/cyclop_g
26.
Relief
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Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise, to create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting. There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the form from the field. There is also sunk relief, which was restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only used to discuss most work. Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, works in the technique are described as in relief, and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is a relief. Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of settings. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with figures and very active poses, such as battles. Most ancient architectural reliefs were painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. Rock reliefs are carved into solid rock in the open air. This type is found in cultures, in particular those of the Ancient Near East and Buddhist countries. A stele is a standing stone, many of these carry reliefs. The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are often combined in a single work. In particular, most later high reliefs contain sections in low relief, a low relief or bas-relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. Other versions distort depth much less and it is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required
27.
Gold leaf
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Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-karat yellow gold, Gold leaf is a type of metal leaf, but the term is rarely used when referring to gold leaf. The term metal leaf is used for thin sheets of metal of any color that do not contain any real gold. Real yellow gold leaf is about 91. 7% pure gold, silver colored white gold is approximately 50% pure gold. Layering gold leaf over a surface is called gold leafing or gilding, traditional water gilding is the most difficult and highly regarded form of gold leafing. It has remained unchanged for hundreds of years and is still done by hand. Gold leaf is used in art in a raw state. It has been used in jewellery in various periods, often as small pieces hanging freely. Gold glass is gold leaf held between two pieces of glass, and was used for decorated Ancient Roman vessels, where some of the gold was scraped off to form an image, Gold leaf is also used in Buddhist art to decorate statues and symbols. Gold leafing can also be seen on domes in religious and public architecture, from the ancient temples to modern day buildings, gold leaf has been an integral component of architecture to designate important structures since the dawn of humankind. Due to gold’s resilience, golden-domed buildings can stand up to weather, deterioration and even modern pollution, Gold in architecture became an integral component of Byzantine and Roman churches and basilicas in 400 AD, most notably Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The church was built by Pope Sixtus III and is one of the earliest examples of gold mosaics, the mosaics were made of stone, tile or glass backed on gold leaf walls, giving the church a beautifully intricate backdrop. The 14th century campanile, or bell tower, is the highest in Rome, the apse mosaic, the Coronation of the Virgin, is from 1295, signed by the Franciscan friar, Jacopo Torriti. It is also the location of ceremonial spaces, such as the Hall of Honour, the Memorial Chamber. Capping the room is a ceiling with deep octagonal coffers, each filled with heraldic symbols, including maple leaves, fleur-de-lis, lions rampant, clàrsach, Welsh Dragons. This plane rests on six pairs and four pilasters, each of which is capped by a caryatid. Below the windows is an architrave, broken only by baldachins at the base of each of the above pilasters
28.
Fontenay-aux-Roses
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Fontenay-aux-Roses is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.6 km from the center of Paris, in 1880 a girls school École Normale Supérieure was opened in the town. It was one of the most prestigious of Paris and even of whole France in term of scientific research and it became a mixed school in 1986, and was relocated to Lyon in 2000. Fontenay is the location of the Commissariat à lénergie atomique, and former location of the first french nuclear reactor, Zoé, the climate of Fontenay-aux-Roses is oceanic gradient. The observation stations used for the weather in Fontenay-aux-Roses are at Orly, the climate is characterized by sunshine and fairly low rainfall. The average rainfall is about 650 mm per year, spread over 111 rainy days on average, temperatures are mild, the coldest month is January with an average temperature of 4. 7° C and the hottest months are July and August with a mean temperature of 20° C. Fontenay-aux-Roses is served by Fontenay-aux-Roses station on Paris RER line B, lycée professionnel privé Saint François dAssise, a private vocational high school, is in the commune. Bagneux Châtillon Clamart Le Plessis-Robinson Sceaux Borehamwood, United Kingdom since 1974 Wiesloch, indeed, many school projects are organized each year. Paul Scarron - writer, lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses, theresa Cabarrus - Known as Madame Tallien whose residence has become the École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses. However, he refused the post, and preferred to remain an alderman, joris-Karl Huysmans - Lived in Fontenay in July 1881, living where he worked in the book À Rebours, with the hero des Esseintes who lives in Fontenay-aux-Roses. Ferdinand Lot - medieval historian, has lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses. Pierre Bonnard - Born in Fontenay at the corner of dEstienne dOrves Neyts and André, near the College des Ormeaux, paul Léautaud - writer, lived in Fontenay. Jacques Déprats - Born in Fontenay, geologist, valery Larbaud - writer, lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses. Mikhail Larionov - Painter of the Russian avant-garde, died in Fontenay-aux-Roses, alexandra Exter - Artist of the Russian avant-garde, died at Fontenay-aux-Roses. René Barthélemy - French physicist, lived in Fontenay and is based on communal cemetery, rené Letourneur - Painter and sculptor, lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses. Boris Vildé - Resistance fighter executed by the Germans, lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses, yves Klein - painter, lived in Fontenay-aux-Roses. Dieudonné Mbala Mbala - comedian, born in Fontenay, laurent Aiello - Born in Fontenay, racing driver. Kamsoo Queen - model, comedian, lives in Fontenay-aux-Roses, andrei Sinyavsky - Russian writer, dissident, gulag survivor
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Photomontage
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Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting image is photographed so that a final image may appear as a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not use film, is realized today through image-editing software and this latter technique is referred to by professionals as compositing, and in casual usage is often called photoshopping. A composite of related photographs to extend a view of a scene or subject would not be labeled as a montage. Such environments as dioramas were made of composited images, the first and most famous mid-Victorian photomontage was The Two Ways of Life by Oscar Rejlander, followed shortly thereafter by the images of photographer Henry Peach Robinson such as Fading Away. These works actively set out to challenge the then-dominant painting and theatrical tableau vivants, fantasy photomontage postcards were popular in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The preeminent producer in this period was the Bamforh Company, in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, many of the early examples of fine-art photomontage consist of photographed elements superimposed on watercolours, a combination returned to by George Grosz in about 1915. In 1916, John Heartfield and George Grosz experimented with pasting pictures together, as so often happens in life, we had stumbled across a vein of gold without knowing it. ”John Heartfield and George Grosz were members of Berlin Club Dada. The German Dadists were instrumental in making montage into a modern art-form, the term photomontage” became widely known at the end of World War I, around 1918 or 1919. Heartfield used photomontage extensively in his innovative book dust jackets for the Berlin publishing house Malik-Verlag and he revolutionized the look of these book covers. Heartfield was the first to use photomontage to tell a “story” from the front cover of the book to the back cover and he also employed groundbreaking typography to enhance the effect. From 1930-1938, John Heartfield used photomontage to create 240 “Photomontages of The Nazi Period” to use art as a weapon against fascism, continuing to produce anti-fascist art in Czechoslovakia until 1938, Heartfield’s political photomontages earned him the number five position on the Gestapo’s Most Wanted List. Other major artists who were members of Berlin Club Dada and major exponents of photomontage were Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters, Raoul Hausmann, Photomontage survived Dada and was a technique inherited and used by European Surrealists such as Salvador Dalí. Its influence also spread to Japan where avant-garde painter Harue Koga produced photomontage-style paintings based on images culled from magazines, the worlds first retrospective show of photomontage was held in Germany in 1931. A later term coined in Europe was, photocollage, which referred to large and ambitious works that added typography, brushwork. In the education sphere, media arts director Rene Acevedo and Adrian Brannan have left their mark on art classrooms the world over and his contemporary, Lola Alvarez Bravo, experimented with photomontage on life and social issues in Mexican cities. In Argentina during the late 1940s, the German exile, Grete Stern, began to contribute work on the theme of Sueños, as part of a regular psychoanalytical article in the magazine. The pioneering techniques of early photomontage artists were co-opted by the industry from the late 1920s onward
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Dimanche
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Dimanche, also known as Dimanche - Le Journal dun Seul Jour is an artists book by the French artist Yves Klein. 00am on the same day. An early example of art, it is most famous for being the first time that the photo-montage commonly known as The Leap Into The Void was published. Dimanche combines appropriation, performance, actionism, conceptual art, and photo-montage all in one, and hints at this range of art movements just then coming into existence. It takes the form of a newspaper, designed as an alternative to the regular Sunday paper. The photograph, captioned Un homme dans lespace depicts the artist leaping from his dealers second-story window into the void and it inspired numerous artists to explore their bodies as a medium for art. The work was part of the second Festival d’Art d’Avant-Garde at the Palais des Expositions, Porte de Versailles, merging art and life seamlessly, Kleins theatre would encapsulate each spectators life as they lived it on that day. Several thousand copies were printed and distributed to news stands throughout Paris, the artwork cost 0.35 Francs and sold well. The most famous section of the book was the photographic collage, but usually known as the Leap Into The Void. This photomontage, taken by Harry Shunk, was montaged from a number of photos, the leap itself took place at 3 Rue Gentil Bernard, Fontenay-Aux_Roses, in October 1960, using about a dozen Judokas from a Judo School opposite, holding a large tarpaulin to land on. Klein himself was a 4th Dan Judo Master, Shunk then montaged a shot of the empty street onto the photo. This strategy of employing two versions of the montage, effectively bringing attention to the deception was typical of Kleins artistic strategy. I am the painter of Space, I am not an abstract painter but, on the contrary, a figurative and realist painter. Lets be honest, in order to paint space, I must put myself on the spot, pieces contained within the book include, Sleep, The setting is a bedroom. The scene opens with a man asleep in a big bed, the actor must really be sleeping. Each performance lasts about 10 minutes and in silence, there is to be applause at the end. Inversion, For one performance, any play will be presented upside down, all the actors will have their feet on the ceiling and their heads hanging down. This will be possible by trickery, all the furniture will also be on the ceiling, which will really be the floor. A chandelier will therefore levitate in space, the Five Rooms, In order to promote the feeling and matter without the intermediary of energy, spectators pass through 5 rooms, their feet bound by ball and chain
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Winged Victory of Samothrace
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The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Nike, that was created about the 2nd century BC. Since 1884, it has been displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world. H. W. Janson described it as the greatest masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture, datings based on stylistic evaluation have been equally variable, ranging across the same three centuries, but perhaps tending to an earlier date. The statue is 8 feet high and it was created not only to honor the goddess, Nike, but also to honor a sea battle. It conveys a sense of action and triumph as well as portraying artful flowing drapery, Modern excavations suggest that the Victory occupied a niche above a theater and also suggest it accompanied an altar that was within view of the ship monument of Demetrius I Poliorcetes. Rendered in grey and white Thasian and Parian marble, the figure originally formed part of the Samothrace temple complex dedicated to the Great gods, Megaloi Theoi. It stood on a pedestal of gray marble from Lartos representing the prow of a ship. Before she lost her arms, which have never been recovered, the statue’s outstretched right wing is a symmetric plaster version of the original left one. The different degree of finishing of the sides has led scholars to think that it was intended to be seen from three-quarters on the left, the sculptor is unknown, although Paul MacKendrick suggests that Pythokritos of Lindos is responsible. The Archaeological Museum of Samothrace continues to follow these originally established provenance, ceramic evidence discovered in recent excavations has revealed that the pedestal was set up about 200 BC, though some scholars still date it as early as 250 BC or as late as 180. Certainly, the parallels with figures and drapery from the Pergamon Altar seem strong, the evidence for a Rhodian commission of the statue has been questioned, however, and the closest artistic parallel to the Nike of Samothrace are figures depicted on Macedonian coins. Samothrace was an important sanctuary for the Hellenistic Macedonian kings, the most likely battle commemorated by this monument is, perhaps, the Battle of Cos in 255 BC, in which Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia won over the fleet of Ptolemy II of Egypt. In April 1863, the Victory was discovered by the French consul and amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau, the statue has been reassembled in stages since its discovery. The prow was reconstructed from marble debris at the site by Champoiseau in 1879, after 1884, the statue was positioned where it would visually dominate the Daru staircase. Since 1883, the figure has been displayed in the Louvre. In the autumn of 1939, the Winged Victory was removed from her perch in anticipation of the outbreak of World War II, all the museums of Paris were closed on August 25. Artwork and objects were packed for removal to locations deemed more safe outside Paris for safekeeping, on the night of September 3, the statue descended the staircase on a wooden ramp which was constructed across the steps. During the years of World War II, the statue sheltered in safety in the Château de Valençay along with the Venus de Milo and Michelangelos Slaves
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Venus de Milo
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Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BCE, it is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and it is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm high. Part of an arm and the plinth were lost following its discovery. From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch, earlier and it is currently on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The statue is named after the Greek island of Milos, where it was discovered, the Aphrodite of Milos is widely renowned for the mystery of her missing arms. There is a hole below her right breast that originally contained a metal tenon that would have supported the separately carved right arm. Elsewhere the discoverers are identified as Yorgos Bottonis and his son Antonio and he apparently based these assertions on an article he had come across in the Century Magazine,1881, Vol. I, p.99. Olivier Voutier, a French naval officer, was exploring the island, with the help of the young farmer, Voutier began to dig around what were clearly ancient ruins. Within a few hours Voutier had uncovered Venus de Milo, twelve days out of Toulon the ship was anchored off the island of Melos. The marble base where the Venus de Milo originally stood still resides today on the property of his great, great nephew, Dimitri Moraitis. The Venus de Milo is a statue of a woman with an apple in her raised left hand. Even with a nose, the face was beautiful. DUrville the classicist recognized the Venus of the Judgement of Paris and it was, of course, the Venus de Milo. He was eager to acquire it, but his captain, apparently uninterested in antiquities, said there was nowhere to store it on the ship. Before he could take delivery, French sailors had to fight Greek brigands for possession, in the mêlée the statue was roughly dragged across rocks to the ship, breaking off both arms, and the sailors refused to go back to search for them. This story however proved to be a fabrication – Voutiers drawings of the statue when it was first discovered show that its arms were already missing, news of the discovery took longer than normal to get to the French ambassador. The peasant grew tired of waiting for payment and was pressured into selling it to Nicholas Mourousi, Grand Dragoman of the Fleet, working as a translator for Sultan Mahmud II in Constantinople. Upon arrival at the Louvre, the statue was reassembled, but the fragments of the left hand and this was a standard practice for many sculptors of the era—less visible parts of statues often were not so well finished since typically, they would be invisible to the casual observer
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Place de la Concorde
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The Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring 8.64 hectares in area, it is the largest square in the French capital and it is located in the citys eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. The place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Elysées to the west and the Tuileries Garden to the east, decorated with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honor the king at that time. At the north end, two magnificent identical stone buildings were constructed, separated by the rue Royale, these structures remain among the best examples of Louis Quinze style architecture. Initially, the building served as the French Naval Ministry. Shortly after its construction, the building became the opulent home of the Duc dAumont. It was later purchased by the Comte de Crillon, whose family resided there until 1907, the famous luxury Hôtel de Crillon, which currently occupies the building, took its name from its previous owners. During the French Revolution the statue of Louis XV of France was torn down, the new revolutionary government erected the guillotine in the square, and it was here that King Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793. In 1795, under the Directory, the square was renamed Place de la Concorde as a gesture of reconciliation after the turmoil of the French Revolution. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, the name was changed back to Place Louis XV, after the July Revolution of 1830 the name was returned to Place de la Concorde and has remained that way since. To the west of the Place is the famous Champs-Élysées, to the east of the Place are the Tuileries Gardens. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de lOrangerie, the eastern one houses the French Naval Ministry, and the western one is the Hôtel de Crillon. The Rue Royale leads to the de la Madeleine. The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II and it is one of two the Egyptian government gave to the French in the 19th century. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time, in the 1990s, President François Mitterrand gave the second obelisk back to the Egyptians. The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple, the self-declared Khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, offered the 3, 300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1829. It arrived in Paris on 21 December 1833, three years later, on 25 October 1836, King Louis Philippe had it placed in the center of Place de la Concorde. The obelisk, a granite column, rises 23 metres high, including the base
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Daniel Spoerri
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Daniel Spoerri is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania. Spoerri was born Daniel Isaac Feinstein, on 27 March 1930, in Galați, although his father, Isaac Feinstein, had converted to Christianity, after Romania entered the War on the side of Nazi Germany he was arrested and killed in 1941. His mother, born Lydia Spoerri, was Swiss and was able to emigrate with her family of 6 children to Switzerland in 1942. There, he was adopted by his maternal uncle Professor Theophil Spoerri and registered as Daniel Spoerri, in the 1950s he was active in dance, studying classical dance with Olga Preobrajenska and in 1954 becoming the lead dancer at the State Opera of Bern, Switzerland. He later staged several plays including Ionescos The Bald Soprano. In the late 1950s, Spoerri married Vera Mertz, one of the best known works produced by Editions MAT was Man Rays Indestructible Object. Spoerri is credited with coining the term multiples for such works, in 1960, Spoerri made his first snare-picture. Spoerri later explained snare-pictures as follows, objects found in chance positions, only the plane is changed, since the result is called a picture, what was horizontal becomes vertical. Example, remains of a meal are fixed to the table at which the meal was consumed and his first snare-picture, Kichkas Breakfast was created from his girlfriends leftover breakfast. The piece is now in the collection in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, one snare-picture, made in 1964, consists of the remains of a meal eaten by Marcel Duchamp. This work holds the auction record for Spoerri, selling for €136,312 in January 2008, distantly followed by another snare-picture from 1972. In connection with a show of his snare-pictures at the Galerie Lawrence in Paris in 1962. Spoerri was then living at the Hotel Carcassone in Paris, in room number 13 on the fifth floor, to the right of the entrance door was a table which his wife Vera had painted blue. Spoerri drew on a ‘map the overlapping outlines of all the 80 objects that were lying on the table on 17 October 1961 at exactly 3,47 p. m. Each object was assigned a number and Spoerri wrote a description of each object. The descriptions cross referenced other objects on the table which were related, the Topographie Anécdotée* du Hasard was printed as a small pamphlet of 53 pages plus a fold out map and index and was distributed as an advertisement for the exhibit. The Anecdoted Topography of Chance has been called a tour de force. In 1966, the Something Else Press in New York City published an English translation of the Topographie Anécdotée* du Hasard by Emmett Williams, roland Topor added sketches of each object and additional annotations were added at random by Williams and others and by Spoerri himself
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Niki de Saint Phalle
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Niki de Saint Phalle was a French sculptor, painter, and filmmaker. She was one of the few women artists known for monumental sculpture. Niki de Saint Phalle was born on October 29,1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine and her father was Count André-Marie Fal de Saint Phalle, a French banker, and her mother was an American, named Jeanne Jacqueline Harper. She was the second of five children, and her double first cousin was French novelist Thérèse de Saint Phalle and her birth was one year after Black Tuesday, and the French economy was also suffering in the aftermath of the infamous stock market crash that initiated the Great Depression. Within months, her fathers company closed, and her parents moved with her oldest brother to New York City. Niki was left with her grandparents in Nièvre, around 1933, she rejoined her parents in New York, where her father worked as manager of the American branch of the Saint Phalle familys bank. Niki grew up in a strict Catholic environment, which she would later reject and her mother was temperamental and violent, beating the younger children, and forcing them to eat even if they were not hungry. Both Elizabeth and Richard de Saint Phalle, younger siblings, would commit suicide as adults. Decades later, Niki would reveal that she had suffered years of abuse from her father. Saint Phalle returned frequently to France to visit relatives and she studied at the Brearley School in New York City from 1942-1944, but was dismissed for painting red fig leaves on the schools classical statuary. Despite this, she would say it was there “ I became a feminist. They inculcated in us that women can and must accomplish great things. ”She was then enrolled in a convent school in Suffern, New York, and then Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, where she graduated in 1947. During her late years, Saint Phalle became a fashion model, at the age of 18, she appeared on the cover of Life and. At the age of 18, Saint Phalle married writer Harry Mathews, although her parents accepted the union, her husbands family objected to her Catholic background, and cut them off financially. Mathews served briefly in the Navy, and then moved to Cambridge. Saint Phalle began to paint, but aimed to pursue a career in acting and their first child, Laura, was born in April 1951. The new parents were casual, even negligent, but their children would benefit from better financial circumstances after Mathews received an inheritance, Saint Phalle rejected the staid, conservative values of her family, which dictated domestic positions for wives and particular rules of conduct. Poet John Ashbery recalled that Saint Phalles artistic pursuits were rejected by members of Saint Phalle clan, reportedly takes a dim view of her artistic activities, Ashbery observed
