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Leonardo da Vinci, 1490
The Vitruvian Man
The Vitruvian man is an odd candidate for the most famous drawing in the world. It’s small in scale, monochrome, carefully drawn on a page just over a foot tall. As far as Da Vinci’s immense oeuvre goes, it’s one of innumerable sketches—an elegant but apparently simple visual experiment. The cult of personality that has developed around Da Vinci’s genius is persuasive in itself, but this drawing exudes an undeniable magic all its own. read more
The Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci
The Etruscans, 400BCE
Chimera of Arezzo
This is an undeniably modern interpretation. The chimera, like most beasts of antiquity, was the bad guy. Child of the giant serpent Typhon and the half woman half snake Echidna (you know her from the Starbucks logo) the Chimera was an abominable thing, unnatural combination of lion and goat, with the head of a snake for a tail. Her brothers and sisters live in legend. read more
Chimera of Arezzo, The Etruscans
Toyen
What's in a name?
Names are assigned to us before we are aware of their meaning, and we grow into them as much as they come to reflect us. In Japan artists often changed names after milestones in their lives, but in the west, once you've been given a name, you're usually stuck with it—a rigidity that makes claiming a new name even more powerful magic. read more
Toyen, The Artists
Sascha Schneider, 1904
Hypnosis
To Sascha Schneider the male body was perfection, and the world its antagonist. Schneider worked in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the development of Freikörperkultur, free body culture, also called the Health and Hygiene movement. Freikörperkultur aimed to counteract the restraint and stress of industrialization with a restorative mix of open air nudity, exercise, and healthy diet. read more
Hypnosis, Sascha Schneider
Born on December 8
Albert Gleizes, The ArtistsPortrait of Albert Gleizes

Albert Gleizes

The man who brought cubism to the masses

1881 – 1953
Wifredo Lam, The ArtistsPortrait of Wifredo Lam

Wifredo Lam

Hallucinating figures

1902 – 1982
Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, The ArtistsPortrait of Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz

Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz

1857 – 1893

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