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William Burges in 1881.

William Burges in 1881.

William Burges (2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoclassical architectural style and re-establish the architectural and social values of a utopian medieval England. Burges stands within the tradition of the Gothic Revival, his works echoing those of the Pre-Raphaelites and heralding those of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Burges's career was short but illustrious; he won his first major commission for Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork in 1863. His architectural output was small but varied. Burges's most notable works are Cardiff Castle, constructed between 1866 and 1928 and Castell Coch (1872–91), both of which were undertaken for John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. Other notable buildings include Gayhurst House, Buckinghamshire (1858–65), Knightshayes Court (1867–74), the Church of Christ the Consoler (1870–76) and St Mary's, Studley Royal (1870–78) in Yorkshire, and Park House, Cardiff, (1871–80). Beyond architecture, Burges designed metalwork, sculpture, jewellery, furniture and stained glass. (Read more...)
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Rock-cut niches of Teniky in southern Madagascar
Rock-cut niches of Teniky in southern Madagascar
 

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November 11: Armistice Day (known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations and Veterans Day in the United States); Singles' Day in China and Southeast Asia

Shrine of Remembrance
Shrine of Remembrance
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Shirley Graham Du Bois

Shirley Graham Du Bois (November 11, 1896 – March 27, 1977) was an American-Ghanaian writer, playwright, composer, and activist for African-American causes. Born in Indianapolis to an Episcopal minister, she moved with her family throughout the United States as a child. After marrying her first husband, she moved to Paris to study music at the Sorbonne. After her divorce and return to the United States, Graham Du Bois took positions at Howard University and Morgan College before completing her BA and master's at Oberlin College in Ohio. Her first major work was the opera Tom-Tom, which premiered in Cleveland in 1932. She married W. E. B. Du Bois in 1951, and the couple later lived in Ghana, Tanzania and China. She won several prizes, including an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for her 1949 biography of Benjamin Banneker. This photograph of Graham Du Bois was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1946.

Photograph credit: Carl Van Vechten; restored by Adam Cuerden

 

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