Zinaida Serebriakova had to leave her country because of the Russian Revolution.
She moved to Paris, leaving two of her children behind. She wouldn't see them again for 36 years.
Perhaps these hardships shaped her art: her paintings retain an unmistakable human warmth.
Virginie Amélie Gautreau was famous in Paris for her beauty.
But one fallen dress strap ruined her reputation.
In 1884, John Singer Sargent exhibited her portrait. Critics and the public were scandalised.
Sargent's career in Paris was ruined. He moved to London.
Years later, Sargent called it the best painting he had ever done.
Sometimes a scandal makes a masterpiece.
Madame X, 1884
Brake Baldwin's portrait of Nora Head was painted during a zeppelin raid during WW1, in London in 1915. His bold style and subtle variations of light within a dark palette align Baldwin with the best of his contemporaries. He exhibited alongside Orpen, Lavery, and Sargent.
Buddhist monk Bokyeong Sunim draws inspiration from his encounter and subsequent friendship with a cat in ONE DAY A CAT CAME TO ME, our Non-fiction Book of the Month filled with life-affirming meditations on companionship, nature and the passing of time: https://t.co/v02DRKzbwJ