Portrait: Architect, city planner, painter, furniture and stage designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel

25 December 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Berlin, Portrait Reading Time:  16 minutes

Schinkel in 1836 © Carl Joseph Begas

Schinkel in 1836 © Carl Joseph Begas

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings. His most famous buildings are found in and around Berlin.   read more…

Portrait: John S. Collins, the founder of Miami Beach

27 November 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Miami / South Florida, Portrait Reading Time:  4 minutes

John S. Collins © floridamemory.com

John S. Collins © floridamemory.com

John Stiles Collins was an American Quaker farmer from Moorestown Township, New Jersey who moved to South Florida and attempted to grow vegetables and coconuts on the swampy, bug-infested stretch of land between Miami and the ocean, a barrier island which became Miami Beach. John S. Collins died in 1928 at the age of 90. Collins Avenue and the Collins Canal, both on Miami Beach, are named in his honor.   read more…

Portrait: Creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist Karl Lagerfeld

23 October 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Design & Products, Hamburg, Paris / Île-de-France, Portrait Reading Time:  17 minutes

© Georges Biard/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Georges Biard/cc-by-sa-3.0

Karl Otto Lagerfeld was a German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist who lived in Paris. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 until his death, and was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, and of his own eponymous fashion label. He collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related projects. Lagerfeld was recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high, starched, detachable collars.   read more…

Portrait: Carl Graham Fisher, the man who built Miami Beach

25 September 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Miami / South Florida, Portrait Reading Time:  9 minutes

Carl Graham Fisher memorial at Fisher Park in Miami Beach © Tamanoeconomico/cc-by-sa-4.0

Carl Graham Fisher memorial at Fisher Park in Miami Beach © Tamanoeconomico/cc-by-sa-4.0

Carl Graham Fisher was an American entrepreneur. Despite severe astigmatism, he became actively involved in auto racing. He was a seemingly tireless pioneer and promoter of the automotive industry and highway construction, and of real estate development in Florida. He is widely regarded as a promotional genius.   read more…

Portrait: The sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo

28 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait Reading Time:  9 minutes

Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra © Metropolitan Museum of Art - online collection

Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra © Metropolitan Museum of Art – online collection

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or more commonly known by his first name Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered by many the greatest artist of his lifetime, and by some the greatest artist of all time, his artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival, the fellow Florentine and client of the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci.   read more…

Portrait: The architect and founder of the Bauhaus School Walter Gropius

24 July 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  17 minutes

Walter Gropius in Ulm, 1955 © Hans G. Conrad - René Spitz/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Walter Gropius in Ulm, 1955 © Hans G. Conrad – René Spitz/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. Gropius was also a leading architect of the International Style.   read more…

Portrait: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and founder of the Republic of Turkey

26 June 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during a coffee and smoking break (1936) © Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during a coffee and smoking break (1936)
© Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal (Mareşal), revolutionary statesman, author, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism.   read more…

Portrait: The diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet Niccolò Machiavelli

22 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  31 minutes

Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito

Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet of the Renaissance period. He has often been called the father of modern political science. For many years he was a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned by Italian scholars. He was secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his best-known work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513, having been exiled from city affairs (Works by Niccolò Machiavelli).   read more…

Portrait: The street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director Banksy

24 April 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Hotels, Portrait Reading Time:  8 minutes

Dover - Brexit by Banksy © Paul Bissegger/cc-by-sa-4.0

Dover – Brexit by Banksy © Paul Bissegger/cc-by-sa-4.0

Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist who later became a founding member of the English musical group Massive Attack.   read more…

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