Princess Diana with Luciano Pavarotti

Princess Diana with Luciano Pavarotti in his home town of Modena, in Northern Italy. The event is a star studded concert in aid of Bosnias children, organised by Pavarotti himself.

Princess Dianas appearance was a thank you to the singer performing free during the VE Celebrations in June.

Princes Diana is wearing a white dress designed by Versace.

Pictures taken 12th September 1995

Musical Scooter Riders

Felix Ruether and Bernhard Ricker, musical scooter riders. Germany, date and photographer unknown. 

Alfred Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson FRS (1809 –1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign.

In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day.

Alfred Sisley

Alfred Sisley (1839 –1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air. He deviated into figure painting only rarely and, unlike Renoir and Pissarro, he found that Impressionism fulfilled his artistic needs. 

La Seine au point du jour, 1877

Among his important works are a series of paintings of the River Thames, mostly around Hampton Court, executed in 1874, and landscapes depicting places in or near Moret-sur-Loing. 

The notable paintings of the Seine and its bridges in the former suburbs of Paris are like many of his landscapes, characterised by tranquillity, in pale shades of green, pink, purple, dusty blue and cream. Over the years Sisley's power of expression and colour intensity increased.

Lieutenant Colonel Driant

Lieutenant Colonel Driant and his Chasseur battalions defending the Bois des Caures, Verdun.

Front cover illustration from Le Petit Journal, 2nd April 1916 (colour litho) by Eugene Damblans, (1865-1945).

Pietro Marussig

Portrait of a young painter, 1932 (oil on canvas) by Italian painter Pietro Marussig, (1879-1937).

Clinton Parry by Julia Margaret Cameron

This black and white albumen print, created by the talented British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron in the late 19th century, showcases a distinguished gentleman named Charles Clinton Parry. The photograph is currently housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it stands as a testament to Cameron's mastery of her craft. 

In this portrait, Parry exudes an air of sophistication and refinement that was characteristic of Victorian men during this era. His beard and facial hair are impeccably groomed, adding to his aura of maturity and wisdom. A stylish beret adorns his head, complementing his elegant attire with its timeless charm. Cameron's artistic vision shines through in her attention to detail - every fold in Parry's clothing is meticulously captured on film. The use of photography adds depth and texture to the image while emphasizing the subject's features. As we gaze upon this remarkable piece from our past, we are transported back to a time when photography was still in its infancy but already capable of capturing moments frozen in time. This portrait serves as a window into both history and artistry - reminding us that even after more than a century has passed since its creation, beauty can still be found within these delicate silver prints.

Christian and Oda Krohg

Christian Krohg (1852 –1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. 

Self portrait, 1883

He was the director and served as the first professor at the Norwegian Academy of Arts from 1909 to 1925.

He was married to artist Oda Krohg (née Lasson; 1860–1935). In 1885, their daughter Nana was born and in 1889 their son muralist Per Lasson Krohg. In 1888 Oda obtained a divorce from her first husband Jørgen Engelhardt; they were married in that same year. 

Christian Krohg: Hal inn!, 1893

In 1897, his wife took their son Per and moved to Paris with dramatist Gunnar Heiberg. They were later reconciled. In 1914, Christian Krohg established residence near Frogner Park where he died in 1925. Oda Krohg died in 1935. Both were buried at Vår Frelsers gravlund in Oslo.

Oda Krohg, B. Lasson, 1888 by Christian Krohg

Oda with friend and lover, the poet Jappe Nilssen, in 1891

Walter Kuhn

Walter Francis Kuhn (1877 –1949) was an American painter and an organizer of the famous Armory Show of 1913, which was America's first large-scale introduction to European Modernism.

Clown with Beret, 1942 (oil on canvas)

By the 1940s, Kuhn became increasingly irascible and distant from old friends. When the Ringling Brothers Circus was in town, he attended night after night. He also became frustrated by the lack of attention his own work was receiving and was particularly strident about the Museum of Modern Art's support of abstraction and neglect of American art in the postwar period.

In 1948, he was institutionalized, and on July 13, 1949, he died suddenly from a perforated ulcer. 

Snow in New York

Commuters prepare to board a subway car at an outdoor station in Brooklyn during a snowstorm in New York, U.S. January 4, 2018. 

Ford Capri

Pictures taken at a showroom of car dealer Dennis J Hands in the Reading (UK) area, showing the new Ford Capri on the forecourt, and the promotion ladies enjoying the day.

The Ford slogan, used as part of the promotion was, " the car you have always promised yourself".

The first Ford Capri was introduced in January 1969 at the Brussels Motor Show, with sales starting the following month. The intention was to reproduce in Europe the success Ford had had with the North American Ford Mustang; to produce a European pony car.
Pictures taken 14th February 1969.

Idris Muhammad

Idris Muhammad (born Leo Morris; 1939 –2014) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, R&B, and soul music and recorded with musicians such as Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, Bob James, and Tete Montoliu.

Born Leo Morris in New Orleans, Idris Muhammad grew up in the city's 13th Ward in a home next door to a dry cleaner’s shop. He later would claim the sound of the shop’s steam presser influenced his hi-hat technique.

Growing up, he spent time with fellow New Orleanians The Neville Brothers. Also interested in other instruments, he showed early talent as a percussionist, playing in a Mardi Gras parade at age 9.

He changed his name to Idris Muhammad in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. In 1966, he married singer Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, a former member of the Crystals. She converted to Islam with him and went for a time by the name Sakinah Muhammad. They separated in 1999.

Michael Crawford

Michael Patrick Smith CBE (1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, comedian, and singer.

Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the title role in the musicals ‘Barnum’ and The Phantom of the Opera. His acclaimed performance in the latter earned him both the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

 

He has received international critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his acting career, which has included many film and television performances as well as stage work on both London's West End and on Broadway.

Crawford has also published the autobiography Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String. Since 1987, he has served as the leader and public face for the British social cause organization the Sick Children's Trust.

Exide - The Long Life Battery

Cardboard sign advertising Exide Batteries - the long life battery. 

Lisa Fonssagrives

Fashion model Lisa Fonssagrives at Paddington Station, London, England.

Lisa Fonssagrives by Irving Penn (1953).

Don McAlpine

Film crew shooting a beach scene for the 9 screen Australian pavilion at Expo 70 Japan. 

The cinematographer wearing a red beret is Don McAlpine. 

Montaigu-de-Quercy

Farmer with large gourd at a market in Montaigu-de-Quercy, Tarn-et-Garonne department, France.

Mount Rushmore

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota, United States.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture, called Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln. The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively.

Mount Rushmore (Six Grandfathers) before construction, c. 1905

The sculpture at Mount Rushmore is built on land that was illegally taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s. The Sioux continue to demand return of the land, and in 1980 the US Supreme Court ruled that the taking of the Black Hills required just compensation, and awarded the tribe $102 million. 

The Sioux have refused the money, which has grown with interest to over a billion dollars and demand the return of the land. This conflict continues, leading some critics of the monument to refer to it as a "Shrine of Hypocrisy".

Almost a century later, the granite face of the monument is suffering badly from erosion, caused by the small fissures that were accidentally created during construction of the monument that overtime collected acid rain.

The original remedy to cover the faces with a transparent synthetic  resin was abandoned for environmental reasons and, looking for alternatives, Basque sculptor Iñaki Perurena (well known for the Peru Harri Sculpture Park in Leitza), came up with the idea to cover the complete sculpture by one giant txapeldun beret. 

The idea originated from the park's shelters and proved to give excellent protection in every respect from the elements. Funding dependent, work should start by April next year. 

 

To The Dogs

An elderly woman with a large number of dogs of various different breeds, some of them riding in a cart which she is pushing. Circa 1920s.
 

Tired

A tired elderly woman sleeping on a British train.

Location and date unknown.