How Ancient Egyptians Made Faience Amulets

Recommendable!

Master Sculptor of Buddhist Statues: Matsumoto Shukan (Japan)

Recommendable!

Caveat: I did not watch the entire video.

The Hidden History of Italy’s Greatest Cities | Italy’s Invisible Cities with Michael Scott

Very recommendable! Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Florence, Rome, Venice

Who pioneered perspective in Renaissance art? Piero della Francesca's 'Baptism of Christ (1450 AD)

Very recommendable! Take a look at the faces of the three female angles on the left! Amazing expressions!

The Director though did not say much about the perspective used in this painting!

Museums of Amsterdam — Rick Steves' Europe Travel Guide

Very recommendable!

Special programme: Rwanda's cultural renaissance

Recommendable!

PM Modi inaugurates the first Indian Art, Architecture & Design Biennale 2023

Recommendable! Find out why India is an aspirational country!

India is competing e.g. with the well known Venice Biennale which "has been organised every year since 1895 ... The Art Biennale (La Biennale d'Arte di Venezia) is one of the world's largest and most important contemporary visual art exhibitions. ...".

What was the GAN? AI artists are moving on

In the fast paced world of machine learning & AI and its application some models come and go fast!

GANs were first introduced by Ian Goodfellow and colleagues in the famous and one of the most cited ML papers titled Generative adversarial networks in 2014.

"Generative Adversarial Networks were my introduction to AI art. For a while, they were state of the art — capable of generating photorealistic images based on patterns found in large datasets of images. Today, RunwayML, a web-based app and AI playground for creatives, announced that it would be killing off its machine learning tools, GANs included, in favor of diffusion based images and video. ..."

What was the GAN? - by Eryk Salvaggio - Cybernetic Forests

Credits: Last Week in AI

Iconic African Benin statues were made with German metal traded for slaves

How much were Africans involved in selling other Africans into slavery? "The truth is rarely pure and never simple" quoted from Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Earnest.

"The Benin Bronzes are among the most renowned artworks in West Africa. Interestingly, recent findings suggest they were crafted using ore mined in Germany. A new study revealed that the art was crafted from raw metal derived from "manillas"—metal bracelets or anklets traditionally used as currency in some parts of Africa.

Going back in history, manillas played a significant role in trade within West Africa and Europeans picked up on this. They started manufacturing this form of currency -- which they could produce in unlimited numbers -- and using it for trade. Particularly for the slave trade. ..."

From the abstract:

"Utilizing geochemical analysis, this study identifies the sources of European brass used in the casting of the renowned Benin Bronzes, produced by the Edo people of Nigeria. It is commonly believed that distinctive brass rings known as “manillas”, used as currency in the European trade in West Africa, also served as a metal source for the making of the Bronzes. However, prior to the current study, no research had conclusively connected the Benin artworks and the European manillas. For this research, manillas from shipwrecks in African, American and European waters dating between the 16th and 19th Century were analysed using ICP-MS analysis. Comparing trace elements and lead isotope ratios of manillas and Benin Bronzes identifies Germany as the principal source of the manillas used in the West African trade between the 15th and 18th centuries before British industries took over the brass trade in the late 18th century."

Iconic African statues were made with German metal traded for slaves

German brass for Benin Bronzes: Geochemical analysis insights into the early Atlantic trade (open access)

Example of Benin Bronzes artwork

Ukrainian Poet Shevchenko and Black-American Actor Aldridge: Unbound Prometheans who Bonded in 1858-59

A country defending its existence against the horrible invasion by Putin the Terrible is rediscovering its diverse and colorful past!

"Imagine a legendary Afro-American actor in the middle of the nineteenth century fleeing slavery and meeting on the other side of the world Ukraine’s leading poet and recent political prisoner who had earlier been freed from serfdom. Imagine, moreover, the inherent mutual understanding and solidarity between the two irrepressible artists, and the resulting cathartic and creative interaction.

Such as scenario offers rich material for a film, novel or a play.  Yet this is something that actually occurred in the winter of 1858-59 when Ukraine’s greatest poet and national icon, Taras Shevchenko, met a remarkable black actor called Ira Aldridge in the Russian imperial capital Saint Petersburg. Their encounter resulted in an imminent, brief but intense, friendship that was recorded in eye witness accounts, sketches, and even a touching portrait of the American by the Ukrainian. ..."

Shevchenko and Aldridge: Unbound Prometheans who Bonded

Left, Ira Aldridge, a portrait by Taras Shevchenko, 1858. Right, Taras Shevchenko, self-portrait, 1860.

Rio de Janeiro: Pavers train the next generation to maintain iconic Portuguese pavements

At the Copacabana Beach and other parts of the city!

Bauhaus 100 - 100 Years of Bauhaus \ Walter Gropius

Very recommendable!

Von der Kuh zum Schuh

Empfehlenswert! Sehr detailliert und umfassend! Gerberei ... Gantier ... Bergschuhfabrikant ... Wehe wenn die Zunge falten schlaegt ... Flugzeugleder ...

Und das Leder darf keine natuerlichen Fehler mehr aufweisen im Endprodukt