Art Heart History 🪬

Meet Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, the 19th century German artist who was a proto-Hippie, naturist, vegetarian, self-proclaimed prophet, and founder of one of the first ever alternative communes.

ps. The director of this 1975 Hamlet was Buzz Goodbody. She was the first female director at the Royal Shakespeare Company. But she tragically died far too young at the age of 28.

Ben Kingsley as Hamlet, 1975.

A closer look at "Le Bal Bullier" (The Bullier Ballroom) by Sonia Delaunay. Although it seems at first to be just a colourful collection of abstract shapes. this revolutionary painting from 1913 actually shows the couples, lights and vibrant movement of the dancehall in an entirely new way.

A closer look at "The Nuremberg Trial" (1946) by Laura Knight. As well as bringing the destruction of WW2 into the courtroom in the backgound, Knight has also emphasised the importance of the documented facts and evidence, with the wealth of white paper echoed in the white helmets of the guards.

A closer look at the stunning 1783 self-portrait by the female French painter Marie-Gabrielle Capet.

A closer look at "Frederick the Great Playing the Flute at Sanssouci" by Adolph Menzel. (An 1852 painting of a scene in the 1740s, showing the King of Prussia entertaining his guests before a banquet with one of his own musical compositions.)

A closer look at "Judith II" (and the Head of Holofernes) by Gustav Klimt, 1909.

The actor, manager and anti-slavery campaigner Ira Aldridge (1807–1867), the first black actor to play Othello.

Movement Art from the 1920s.

"Stridentist" Masks from the 1920s by Germán Cueto.

German women in love with their cars in the late 1920s.

Collage Art from the 1930s/40s by the Czech artist Karel Teige.

Art by Geoffrey Key

Art by Piet Mondrian.

Art by Carl Jung

Architectural Art by Otto Wagner.

Foot-Painting Art by Kazuo Shiraga

Cover Art for "Jugend" by Hans Christiansen.

Art by Henri Martin

Art by Fritz Schwimbeck

Art by Conrad Felixmüller.

Art by David Hockney

London Underground Art from the 1930s by Cyril Power.

Design Art for the Ballet Russes by Leon Bakst.

Runners by Robert Delaunay
(a journey from figurative to abstract art).

Instrument Art by Antonio Stradivari.

Kitchen Table Art by Kenne Grégoire.

Architectural Art by Hundertwasser (real name Friedrich Stowasser).

Maori Portrait Art by Gottfried Lindauer.