1. Art Competitions were part of the modern Olympic Games from 1912 to 1952. Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.
The juried art competitions were abandoned in 1954 because artists were considered to be professionals, while Olympic athletes were required to be amateurs. Since 1956, the Olympic Cultural Programme has taken their place. (wikipedia)
2. The famous marble sculpture Pietà created between 1498 and 1500 by Michelangelo Buonarroti, was the only work he ever signed. The story goes that Michelangelo overheard a pilgrim say that the work was created by rival sculptor Christoforo Solari. In a fit of rage, Michelangelo took hammer and chisel and scrawled: “Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made this” across Mary’s breast. According to Italian Biographer Giorgio Vasari, he later regretted his passionate outburst of pride and determined to never again sign a piece of his work.(BBC)
3. Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice at least since around Neolithic times (about 10,700 to 9400 BC). Ötzi the Iceman, dating from the fourth to fifth millennium BC, was found in the Ötz valley in the Alps and had approximately 57 carbon tattoos consisting of simple dots and lines on various parts of his body. These tattoos were thought to be a form of healing because of their placement which resembles acupuncture. Other mummies bearing tattoos and dating from the end of the second millennium BC have been discovered, such as the Mummy of Amunet from ancient Egypt and the mummies at Pazyryk on the Ukok Plateau. (wikipedia)
4. Decoupage is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the “stuck on” appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30–40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish. This was known in 18th century England as the art of Japanning (Asian lacquer work) after its presumed origins. (wikipedia)
5. Corbis Corporation, privately owned by Bill Gates, was founded in 1989 and owns the licensing rights to over 100 million digital images and 500,000 video clips. Gates started the company with the belief that people would someday decorate their homes with a revolving display of digital artwork using digital frames. Corbis’s collections include historical and editorial images from photojournalists, museums, and cultural institutions including Andy Warhol Foundation, Ansel Adams, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Gallery, London, The State Hermitage Museum, Christie’s Images, and the Bettmann, Hulton-Deutsch, Sygma and Brett Weston collections, and others. (Wikipedia, New York Times)
