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Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. Madonna is one of the most successful artists in the history of popular music. No other female singer in music has been as successful over such a long time.
At the age of five, Madonna lost her mother to breast cancer, this had an effect on her music throughout her life. After the death of her mother, her and her brothers and sisters were sent to live with various relatives. After a couple of years her father remarried and Madonna and her brothers and sisters went to live with him. Madonna explains that her father was extremely strict and always had her doing something productive. She was also the oldest daughter of eight, which gave her many responsibilities.
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Madonna first arrived in the national popular culture in 1984 with her song "Borderline". She moved very quickly in the ensuing years to make several records (many of which have gone multi-platinum) and to take several world tours with sold-out concerts, and has caused quite a bit of controversy in what she has done in the public eye. Examples include posing nude for Penthouse magazine (and announcing afterwards that she was not ashamed for doing it), marrying (and subsequently divorcing) actor and media-avoider Sean Penn, creating a fashion trend (which was primarily popular with teenage girls), and making truly atrocious movies which the critics hated and the people refused to see (the only two exceptions are Dick Tracy and Truth or Dare, her controversial yet fascinating self-documentary about her tour of the same name). It seems that Madonna seems to enjoy attention, good or bad, and it seems like she feeds on her own controversy. Her songs, and the music videos which accompany them, are no exception to this. However, the things she does and the images she projects requests contemporary society to reflect on itself, and to possibly re-create itself in innovative and inventive styles. Perhaps she always breaks with convention because she sees things in a different light than the rest of society. This essay shall focus on the video which accompanies the title track from her 1989 album, "Like A Prayer," which certainly had its share of controversy.
Probably the most startling image in the music video was that of several burning crosses on a lawn or a hill. These crosses were in the background, while Madonna was facing the camera and singing. When I saw the music video for the first time, this particular section of the video made me sit up and intently watch my television screen. The first things I thought about were, "She's a very outspoken woman for doing this! Boy, she's got a lot of nerve! I believe she was raised Catholic, and she's making a mockery of the Catholic Church by doing so! The Pope would be offended, to say the least!" The radical approach to dispose of any religion (or a person's religious or pious fervor) is at least shocking. The cross is the symbol of Christianity and all it stands for. Seeing the cross engulfed in fire -- which symbolizes (and is) a destructive force -- would be very disturbing for anyone to see, Christian or not. I sat up and took notice, and I'm not even Christian -- I am Jewish. Furthermore, the fact that Madonna is singing in front of the crosses (and consequently, not doing anything to stop the crosses burning) implies that she condones cross-burning. This thought asks three questions. Does she also condone the Ku Klux Klan, which also burns crosses? Does she like the idea of religion and/or atheism in any way at all? Does Madonna believe in God? These are all very deep and probing questions, which can only be answered truthfully by Madonna herself.
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The objective of this essay is to provide an explanation of Leonardo da Vinci’s life and work as an artist in context with his time spent in Milan. Following an initial introduction to Leonardo’s formative years in Florence (and his apprenticeship to the sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio, 1435-88), I will attempt to explain the significance of his presence in Milan with detailed descriptions of his work there. Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was also an artist and architect, but is perhaps better known for his book on the lives of well known painters, sculptors and architects (published 1550; from Cimbue to his autobiography which was included in a revised edition):
“Vasari's book offers his personal evaluation of the works of these artists, as well as discussions on the state of the arts. His easy, natural writing style helped to make his book one of the most enduring of art histories.”
His reflections on Leonardo’s life include insight specifically relating to his unusual character and the intellectual merit of his life’s work. Using this evidence I hope to provide valid observations on Leonardo’s significance as a father of the High Renaissance.
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Leda Atomica (24 x 18"- oil on canvas), is a painting by Salvador Dali (1904-1989) who was the top Surrealists of this time. Surrealism explored the subconscious, the dream world, and irrational elements of the psyche in the firm belief that the discoveries to be made from such exploration would be of greater fundamental importance to the human condition than any other form of social analysis. Surrealists like Salvador Dali was very fascinated by the ephemeral state of the mind between sleep and consciousness, dream and reality, sanity and insanity, as one in which the mind functioned purely, unfettered by the constraints of logic and social behavior. (#1 - Surrealism)
Salvador Dali was born in May 11 of 1904 in Figures Spain, and in 1921 he entered the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid where he made friends with Federico Garcia Lorca, Luis Bunuel, and Eugenio Montes. In June of 1923 Dali was suspended from the Academy for having indicated the students to rebel against the authorities of the school but was let back in October of 1925, and a year later Dali was permanently expelled. Then in 1924 he was imprisoned in Figures and Gerona for political reasons. The influence of metaphysical paintings and contact with Miro, caused Dali to join the Surrealists in 1929. (#8 - Biographical Outline)
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Chris Marker’s 1962 La Jetйe is one of the most influential films of its time. The 28-minute film is almost entirely compiled of black and white stills, supported by narrative throughout. Marker expresses his desire to recreate and re-write reality through exploring aspects of science fiction such as futuristic apocalyptic events and time travel; subjects that were not as widely exploited then as they are today.
Marker’s usage of stills, haunting score and sparse narration captured the imagination of storytellers in the film industry. His original and alluring story has been the inspiration of many modern cinematic pieces. Michael Sragrow is cited in Huchins review of La Jetйe & Sans Soleil; “It hasn’t lost its potency, even for audiences familiar with coiling time-jump narratives or with nonfiction films made up almost entirely of stills. Marker’s images suggest unfathomable mysteries of fate and desire”.
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Frederic Francois Chopin was born in Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw, Poland. No one is exactly sure about his birth date; he was born on February 22 or March 1, 1810. He was very gifted when it came to music and was playing the piano in public by the time he was eight years old. Soon after that he was composing music! When he was about sixteen, he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory and went to school there from 1826 to 1829. He left Poland in 1830 and settled in Paris in 1831. He lived in Paris for the rest of his life, except for some traveling. There he became well known in the fashionable salons, even though he barely ever performed in public.
The first person that Chopin fell in love with was Maria Wodzinski. He had known her family since his childhood and fell in love with Maria in 1835 when she was sixteen. He proposed to Maria, but her family did not want them to get married, probably because of his chronic illness.
In 1836, the composer Franz Liszt introduced Chopin to Mrs. Aurore Dudevant, a French novelist whose writing name was George Sand. After meeting her, he said, "I have met a great celebrity, Madame Dudevant, known as George Sand... Her appearance is not to my liking. Indeed there is something about her which positively repels me... What an unattractive person La Sand is... Is she really a woman? I am inclined to doubt it." His first impression of her must not have lasted, because he had a famous love affair with her, starting in 1837. Their relationship was very tragic and was the most influential and devastating development in his life. They went to the Mediterranean Island of Majorca for the winter of 1838 to 1839. The bad weather he experienced at Majorca weakened his already failing health. The most intense of his piano pieces were composed during the nine years that he lived with George Sand. During this time he was seriously ill with tuberculosis so she nursed him and for a short time he regained his health. Their affair ended in 1846 when they had a big disagreement, one of the last of the many quarrels they had over the years.
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Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901), was an Italian operatic composer. He was raised as a duchy. He was born on October 10, 1813, in Roncole. Verdi first studied music in the town of Busseto. In 1832 Verdi was rejected to study with the Milan Conservatory because of his age. He became the pupil of composer Vincenzo Lavigna.
Then returned to Busseto in 1833 as conductor. At the age of 25 Verdi again went to Milan. His first opera, Oberto, was produced at La Scala with some success in 1839. His next work, the comic opera Un giorno di regno (King for a Day, 1840), it was a failure. After Verdi had suffered the deaths of his wife and two children, he decided to give up composing. More than a year later Giuseppe returned and he wrote the successful opera Nabucco (1842). After Nabucco he wrote Lombardi (1843) and then Ernani (1844), both great successes,only Macbeth (1847) and Luisa Miller (1849) had survived in the permanent operatic repertor Verdi's three following works, Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853), brought him international fame and remain among the most popular of operas.
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