Freedom of the (Italian) Press 1928

Freedom of the (Italian) Press 1928
Originally uploaded by Paul Helm UK

Looking through my old copies of Punch magazine I came across this cartoon of Mussolini which uncannily reflects Berlusconi's attempts to muzzle the press today.

The caption reads:
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS
Signor Mussolini: "You see, Ladies and Gentlemen, I don't muzzle him, the sagacious animal puts on his own muzzle himself, the freeest dog in the world!"
[The Italian journalist, according to Signor Mussolini in his address to the Editors of the Fascist Press (there is no other Press in Italy), "does not wait to take his orders daily because he already has them in his consciousness."]

Happy Birthday Henry Purcell

Today is the 350th birthday of the great English baroque composer Henry Purcell.
He was the first English composer of comparable stature to the European composers. Tragically his productive life was cut short at the early age of 36.

More about him at 52composers.com

The Autumn Fair

Yesterday I went to the Autumn Fair at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre). This is the big trade fair for the retail gift market. I have been many times in the past when I had my picture framing business and it was always a useful source of ideas and products in the art and framing business.
I was quite shocked and disappointed at how few stands there were showing art and hardly any framing companies.
I was also disturbed by the amount of near plagiarism on show. For example Jack Vettriano and Banksy were the flavour of the month and many artists and art publishers are taking advantage of this by copying their style.
This is a big problem for many artists who develop a distinctive and popular style af art.

Edvard Grieg anniversary

Today is the 102nd anniversary of Grieg's death in 1907. I was reminded of it while listening to the radio and sitting in a traffic jam at Gatwick airport this afternoon. It helped pass the time.
He was a modest man as illustrated by a quote of his:

- "Artists like Bach and Beethoven erected churches and temples on the heights. I only wanted... to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy and at home."

September composer anniversaries

It's September already. Back to work. Back to school.
Here are the September birthdays and anniversaries of the composers on my 52composers.com website:

• 4/9/1824 - Bruckner born
• 4/9/1907 - Grieg died
• 8/9/1841 - Dvorak born
• 8/9/1949 - Richard Strauss died
• 10/9/1659 - Purcell born
• 20/9/1957 - Sibelius died
• 21/9/1874 - Holst born
• 23/9/1836 - Bellini died
• 25/9/1906 - Shostakovich born
  

Banksy Bristol exhibition closes

Waiting for Banksy
Originally uploaded by stringberd

So tomorrow the Bristol exhibition closes and I didn't manage to see it. I really couldn't face the queues of up to a mile long and at peak times waits of 8 hours and normally about 3 hours according to the reports we heard. More people have visited Bristol Museum in the 10 weeks of the exhibition than normally visit in a whole year.
After such an outstanding success it surely must be put on again at another venue. It really does raise a lot of interesting thoughts on 'what is art?'

Interesting: 20 things you never knew about Banksy's Bristol show

Leoncavallo's 90th anniversary

Today 9th August is the 90th anniversary of the death of the Italian opera composer Ruggero Leoncavallo in Montecatini, Tuscany in 1919.
He is buried in the Cimitero Monumentale delle Porte Sante, Florence.
I hope they have a party up there!