Highgate Cemetery and Karl Marx

This picture shows the original grave where Karl Marx was buried together with other four people including his wife Jenny von Westphalen, their grandson Harry Longuet, their housekeeper Helena Demuth and one of their daughters Eleanor Marx.

This great philosopher, sociologist, economist and revolutionary socialist died on the 14th of March, 1883, only 15 months after his wife's death. Eleven people attended to his funeral, which took place on the 17th in the Highgate Cemetery. 

Indigenous Australia

Simon Hogan, Ian Rictor, Roy Underwood and Lennard Walker.
Spinifex people. Pukara, 2013

The sixth largest country in the world, with 7,617,930 square kilometres, is also a big unknown. Besides having the Great Barrier Reef, Australia is one of the most developed and wealthy countries (in terms of wealth, in 2013 Australia took up the second place in the world ranking after Switzerland). Its quality of life and its health and education systems make this nation one of the most perfect places to live.

The best known part of the Australian history better known started in 1788, when the British colony was established. The first of January, 1901, the six states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia) along with the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory formed the Commonwealth of Australia.

Greek art at the British Museum

The ancient Greece spanned from the 9th Century BC until the end of Antiquity, around 600 AD. It was one of the most incredible and prolific civilizations in the History. Greece was the language of Homer, the sculpture of Phidias, the philosophy of Plato and the oratory of Pericles. 

There are just a few preserved artworks from this period. The paintings had weak support and the sculptures, despite they were made with durable materials, were destroyed and the stone and bronze were "recycled" in the Middle Ages.

Perfection, beauty, balance, harmony and technique were their goals and the main themes were gods and mythology, heroes and battles and athletes.

55 Boadway

Not always the artists and their work are well recognized. The best example from Art History is one of Michelangelo's masterpieces, the Last Judgment. This marvelous fresco, done between 1536 and 1541, was partially modified due to the Council of Trent. Paul III and the Roman Catholic Church had condemned, at that time, nudity in religious art. For that reason, the great mannerist painter Daniele da Volterra, known as Il Braghettone, was hired to cover the genitals of Michelangelo's work.

Coming back to UK, the American-British sculptor Jacob Epstein did some controversial pieces. In London, it is possible to see some of his works like Rush of Green and W.H.Hudson Memorial, both of them placed in Hyde Park, or Ages of Man. But it was on 1929 when censorship and social pressure influenced Epstein's work.

Above the entrance of the London Underground Ltd headquarters, popularly known as 55 Broadway, Epstein designed the sculptures Day and Night. His work was considered controversial and indecent because, according to the censors, the small figure, the Day, had a "big" penis. Epstein agreed to remove from the naked statue one inch and a half. This is the length that the censors thought was acceptable and decent. 

London Underground will move to its headquarters this year and 55 Broadway, placed in St James's Park, will be a residential building. Whatever the case may be, it is still possible to enjoy the interesting front of this building.

The Institute of Sexology

In this photograph, taken in the late 1920s, we can see a nurse next to the Marie Stopes birth control clinic. Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes was a British author, palaeobotanist, academic, eugenicist, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of birth control. 

This picture, property of the Wellcome Library, is part of the exhibition The Institute of Sexology. This unique exposition will be at the Wellcome Collection until the 20th of September, 2015.

'The Institute of Sexology' brings together the pioneers of the study of sex through films, photographs, sculptures, archives and sexual instruments.

Besides this picture of Marie Stopes, the show collects some works and objects from Magnus Hirschfeld, Sigmund Freud, Margaret Mead, Virginia Johnson or Richard von Krafft-Ebing, among others.

Undress your mind and explore how sex was observed and analysed, since the 19th century, from different points of view as perversion, sadomasochism or homosexuality.

Paddington Goes to Town

It was 58 years ago when Michael Bond bought a bear, as a present for his wife, at Selfridges. At this time nobody knew it but on that Christmas Eve, on 1956, Paddington was born.

The teddy bear was the source of inspiration for Bond. In only ten days, he wrote the first book in which Paddington, named after Paddington station, was the main character. On the 13th of October of 1958 A Bear Called Paddington was published.

Nowadays, Paddy has become a classic member on children's literature and Bond's books have been translated into more than 30 different languages.

Next Friday, 28th of November, Paddington will be brought to the big screen. The film, by the director Paul King, is the perfect movie to enjoy this Christmas with the entire family.

Germany: memories of a nation at British Museum

Volkswagen Beetle Type 1, 1953

Germany, the country where the biggest forced migration in Europe’s history took place, will be the new protagonist at the British Museum. The exposition Germany: memories of a nation will be open from the 16th of October until the 25th of January in the Room 35. The display will gather around 200 objects that will showcase the history of this country from the past 600 years. 

The exhibition coincides with the commemoration of the D-Day, the start of the Great War and the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (the 9th of November, 1989). It will be planned around four different themes: floating frontiers; empire and nation; arts and achievement; crisis and memory.

The show will display the technological, historical and art achievements that defined Germany's development. Gutenberg, Hitler, the Bauhaus artists, Kafka, Martin Luther and Napoleon are just some of the protagonist of this spectacular exhibition.

Ming dynasty at British Museum

The porcelain in just de beginning...