1. Fore Edge Painting is a scene painted on the edges of the pages of a book such that the painting is not visible when the book is closed. In order to view the painting, the leaves of the book must be fanned, exposing the edges of the pages and thereby the painting. The earliest signed and dated fore-edge painting dates to 1653: a family coat of arms painted on a 1651 Bible.
2. “The Bronze Age”, Rodin’s first recognized masterpiece sculpture was was exhibited in Brussels and Paris in 1877. The life-sized male nude was such a departure from academic sculpture that Rodin was accused of casting from a live model – a charge that was disproved by photographs the artist kept on which the sculpture was based.
3. Francis Bacon preferred painting on the reverse (unprimed) side of his canvas which he found more absorbent and suited his technique and the matt effect of paint sinking into the weave of the canvas. He discovered this method by chance after he had run out of materials and was compelled to use the back of an already painted canvas.
4. E.E. Cummings was very popular throughout the 20th century and received tremendous critical acclaim for his poetry and writing. Less well-known is his accomplishments as a visual artist. Cummings considered himself as much a painter as a poet and he devoted a tremendous amount of time to his art. He also produced thousands of pages of notes concerning his own opinions about painting, colour theory, the human form, the “intelligence” of painting, and his thoughts about the Masters.
5. Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil-fueled lamps. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient Syrian (1 Century B.C., B. Dunham) times, it became widely practiced in Murano, Italy in the 14th century.
Related Books:
The Art Lover’s Almanac : Serious Trivia for the Novice and the Connoisseur
Facts On File Encyclopedia Of Art ( 5 vol. set)
Sources: Wikipedia-Fore Edge, DAF-Rodin, DAF-Bacon, DAF-Cummings, Wikipedia-Lampworking
