We looked earlier at the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746 – 1828) and how his ‘maja’ pictures influenced the 20th century Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867-1916) to create his Goyescas.

1957 was a momentous year for the Federation of Malaya. After nearly two centuries of British rule it was to become fully independent on 31 August 1957. The constitution was written, all civic and federal laws were in place, and

Within the context of fine arts, the term naïve is used to describe artists who work in an unsophisticated style with a child-like simplicity. Frequently such works ignore artistic conventions like the rules of perspective, and employ strong patterns and

The Romantic period poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827) made more of an impression after his death than he did during his own lifetime. Whereas he was largely unrecognized when he was alive, current critics now declare him “…the greatest

When art becomes distortion, we think of the 20th century as the time and place for this to become an art form. The British artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was a figurative painter who created bold images against isolated backgrounds. In

Many artists in the 19th and 20th centuries were inspired by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose works had been re-discovered with Felix Mendelsohn’s performance of Bach’s ‘St. Matthew’s Passion’ in Berlin in 1829. For composers such as Richard

Nations frequently define themselves on the basis of shared ethnicity. This includes ideas of a culture shared between members of the group—derived from previous generations—and usually a common language. Membership in the nation is hereditary, with the state deriving political

The London of William Hogarth’s time was one of raucous politicizing, upwardly aspiring young women, and young men ready to be tempted by the delights of the world. Well, rather like today. In his 8-painting series, A Rake’s Progress, painted