june 6
self portrait
DIEGO VELASQUEZ (June 6, 1599)
June 6 is the birthday of Spanish painter DIEGO VELASQUEZ (1599-1660).
Velasquez was "the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He is generally considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Western art.
He was an individualistic artist of the Baroque period (c. 1600–1750). He began to paint in a precise tenebrist style, later developing a freer manner characterized by bold brushwork. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family and commoners." (Wikipedia)
La rendición de Breda
Portrait of the enslaved Juan de Pareja, a notable painter in his own right, who was owned by Velázquez at the time the painting was completed. It is the earliest known portrait of a Spanish man of African descent.
Portrait of the eight-year-old Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN (June 6, 1799)
June 6 is the birthday of Russian author ALEXANDER PUSHKIN (1799-1837).
"In ecstasy my heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.”
Pushkin, generally acclaimed as the greatest Russian poet ever, was descended from Russian nobility going back to the 12th century. But his great-grandfather was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a black page raised by Peter the Great. Pushkin was mortally wounded in a duel with his brother-in-law who was alleged to be having an affair with Pushkin's wife.
Below is the 1910 silent film "Life and Death of Pushkin" directed by Vasily Goncharov.
NINETTE DE VALOIS (June 6, 1898)
June 6 is the birthday of English ballerina and choreographer NINETTE DE VALOIS (1898-2001).
Born Edris Stannus, de Valois "was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the 'godmother' of English and Irish ballet." (Wikipedia)
ARAM KHACHATURIAN (June, 6, 1902)
June 6 is the birthday of Soviet Armenian composer ARAM KHACHATURIAN 1902-1978).
Khachaturian's "most popular piece, the 'Sabre Dance' from Gayane, has been used extensively in popular culture and has been performed by a number of musicians worldwide. His style is 'characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies.'" (Wikipedia)
JAMES BARNOR (b. 1929)
June 6 is the birthday of Ghanaian photographer JAMES BARNOR (b. 1929)
Barnor "has been based in London since the 1990s. His career spans six decades, and although for much of that period his work was not widely known, it has latterly been discovered by new audiences. In his street and studio photography, Barnor represents societies in transition in the 1950s and 1960s: Ghana moving toward independence[broken anchor], and London becoming a multicultural metropolis. He has said: 'I was lucky to be alive when things were happening...when Ghana was going to be independent and Ghana became independent, and when I came to England the Beatles were around. Things were happening in the 60s, so I call myself Lucky Jim.' He was Ghana's first full-time newspaper photographer in the 1950s, and he is credited with introducing colour processing to Ghana in the 1970s. It has been said: 'James Barnor is to Ghana and photojournalism what Ousmane Sembène was to Senegal and African cinema.'" (Wikipedia)
