Who built Thebes of the seven gates? In the books you will find the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? And Babylon, many times demolished Who raised it up so many times? In what houses of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live? Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished Did the masons go? Great Rome Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom Did the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis The night the ocean engulfed it The drowning still bawled for their slaves.
The young Alexander conquered India. Was he alone? Caesar beat the Gauls. Did he not have even a cook with him?
Philip of Spain wept when his armada Went down. Was he the only one to weep? Frederick the Second won the Seven Year’s War. Who Else won it?
Every page a victory. Who cooked the feast for the victors? Every ten years a great man? Who paid the bill?
So many reports. So many questions
Bertolt Brecht Born: 10 February 1898, Augsburg, Germany Nationality: German Died: 14 August 1956, East Berlin, East Germany
Brecht was a theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. He had his first successes as a playwright in Munich during the Weimar Republic and moved to Berlin in 1924. During his time in Berlin, he wrote “The Threepenny Opera” with Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler
Self Portrait with Naked Breasts 1931 Portraiture Oil on canvas Collection Bernardeau, Paris, France
In ‘Self Portrait with Naked Breasts’ Valadon united two previously separate genres, the nude, and the self-portrait. Valadon in realistic honesty depicts herself as aging thus highlighting an important but overlooked aspect of the journey through womanhood
Suzanne Valadon Post-Impression, Symbolism, Expressionism, Proto=Feminist Artists Born: 23 September 1865, Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France Nationality: French Died: 7 April 1938. Paris, France
Valadon was a painter. In 1894 she became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Over a 40-year career Valadon’s subjects included female nudes, portraits of women, still life, and landscapes. She was not confined to any tradition and shocked the art world by also painting male nudes. Valadon was the mother of artist Maurice Utrillo
A fury of memory amid poppies Seeping blood against the verdant fields Just a breath away That dark wound scarring history
Hear the voices silenced by bombs Yet they sing out through time The sound of the warriors that once breathed In remembrance, they breathe again
How black the skies in their lament To the mournful lament of invisible violins Humanity left bereft of tenderness Until the spirit of the warriors touches our souls
Master Blaster (Jammin’) Album: Hotter than July Date: 1980 Genre: Reggae Artist: Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is a singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer and influence across a range of genres including R&B, pop, soul, funk, and jazz. Virtually a one-man band Stevie Wonder’s use of synthesizers and other electronic instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. He has been blind since shortly after his birth and was a child prodigy signed by Motown when he was 11 and given the stage name Little Stevie Wonder