The 40 Most Revealing Artist Portraits

Reblogged from LIFE:

It's always intriguing to see the faces of the creators behind famous works of art. While Picasso, Dali, Matisse and perhaps a handful of other artists are recognized around the world, however, countless other painters and sculptors of note — including some of the finest, most influential artists of the past century — are, in a sense, invisible. Their works endure; but their…

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When Cover Lines Collide: Mixed Messages From LIFE Magazine

“There’s an art to writing magazine cover lines — those enticing blurbs of text that, when all goes well, tell readers what stories or features to watch for inside. Editors agonize and argue not only over what articles make the cover, but how to best highlight those articles that make the cut. The cover story itself, of course, gets an awful lot of attention, but quite often there are two or three (and sometimes more) features that merit prominent mention.

Finding a way to somehow, simultaneously, create a hierarchy among the various cover lines — this one is very important; this one is perhaps a tad less so; this one, meanwhile, is just kind of cool — while also making sure that all of the stories get noticed is among the trickiest balancing acts in all of  publishing. When it works, it’s beautiful. When it doesn’t … well, things can get confusing, and unintentionally comical, right quick.

On April Fools’ Day, LIFE.com takes a friendly look at a number of LIFE magazine covers through the years that featured some jarring — and frequently humorous — disconnects between cover photos and cover lines for other stories in the very same issue. Marilyn Monroe and UFOs? A slow, huge-eyed primate and Winston Churchill? Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and germ warfare? Here, in all their oddball wonder, are early examples of media mash-ups that, decades later, still have us scratching our heads — and smiling.”

“As an added bonus, for no other reason that that we like it so very much — and because it’s so very strange — we’ve also chosen to include the cover of the April 26, 1937, issue of LIFE: the only cover among literally thousands published by the venerable weekly not to feature the distinctive red and white LIFE logo in the upper left-hand corner. The reason for the logo’s exclusion? According to a note from the editors that appeared on the issue’s table of contents page, the LIFE logo “was not boldly superimposed on this week’s cover because that would have spoiled the composition” of Torkel Korling’s striking portrait.”

“All these years later, we find it impossible to argue with that logic. The White Leghorn Rooster — proud, defiant, inscrutable, unblinking — stands alone.

Well played, LIFE. Well played, indeed.”

Read more: http://life.time.com/culture/when-cover-lines-collide-mixed-messages-from-life-magazine/#ixzz2PwAmQiJb

Ravi Shankar: LIFE With the Sitar Maestro

Here is my own humble tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar:

Ravi Shankar: LIFE With the Sitar Maestro, 1956

Among the songs that he composed for Hindi Films, Hae Re Woh Din Kyun Na Aaye (Anuradha), undoubtedly, would be the one that would come up any time into my mind:

http://youtu.be/qhCXMb1NgOs

Here is  clip of of his one of the many classical performances, Raag Rageshwari:

http://youtu.be/wB1CkD8UzSc

Of course, he chose to play several other, usually not very poular, raags. That was his inner creative urge, and perhaps, his non-conformist core.

JFK's Funeral: Photos From Arlington Cemetery

Reblogged from LIFE:

Five decades later, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains one of the few utterly signal events from the second half of the 20th century. Other moments — some thrilling (the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall), others horrifying (the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Challenger explosion) — have secured their places in the history books and, even more indelibly, in the memories of those who witnessed them.

Read more… 305 more words

When I captured JFK's inugural address, I had not expected that it will lead to so,unexpected, unplanned , but so fruitfully long trail,of so many great details.

The Best of LIFE: 37 Years in Pictures | LIFE.com

“Over several decades spanning the heart of the 20th century, one American magazine ― called, plainly and boldly, LIFE ― published an astonishing number of the most memorable photographs ever made. Driven by the certainty that the art of photojournalism could tell stories and move people in ways that traditional reporting simply could not, LIFE pursued a grand vision, articulated by TIME Magazine’s co-founder, Henry Luce, that not only acknowledged the primacy of the picture, but enshrined it.

“To see life,” Luce wrote in a now-famous 1936 mission statement, delineating both his new venture’s workmanlike method and its lofty aims. “To see the world; to eyewitness great events … to see strange things … to see and be amazed.

…… however momentous the event, however legendary, notorious, or simply of-the-moment the person, LIFE was there.

Today, the breathtaking pictures they took live here: LIFE’s new, redesigned home on TIME.com. Resurrected through trailblazing photo essays, lighthearted features, and previously unpublished photographs of the century’s leading figures and most pivotal, meaningful moments, Henry Luce’s vision (to see life, to eyewitness great events, to see and be amazed) remains as relevant and thrilling today as it was 75 years ago. This gallery ― featuring one magnificent image a year from 1936, when the magazine premiered, to 1972, when LIFE ceased publishing as a weekly ― serves as an introduction to, and a celebration of, the treasures of a storied archive: a tightly focused glimpse into the jaw-dropping breadth and excellence of a landmark publication’s iconic photography.”

Read more: http://life.time.com/history/the-best-of-life-37-years-in-pictures/#ixzz287Bul4NC

No doubt, the entire photostory is a Collecor’s Delght, however I have selected some of these great picture shere:

1939_Aerial view of a DC-4 passenger plane

With this photograph of Marilyn Monroe singing to John F Kennedy, we take a look at some of the rare photographs of John F Kennedy in this photo-essay:

We end with with a very pleasing NATURE shot:

Leap Year and Leap Day: Pictures of People Leaping About, in Honor of February 29 – LIFE

Leap Year and Leap Day: Pictures of People Leaping About, in Honor of February 29 – LIFE.

The irrepressible LIFE comes up with one more of a very innovative, equally interesting, photo story.

This time the topic is Leap Year.

Be prepared to enjoy great photographs and archive them for frequently re-visiting.