The exact circumstances of Giuseppe Verdi's birth are lost to history; history, and we, have wanted to know them. Some speculate he was born on October 10, 1813, others turned his supposed birthplace into a national monument, but the composer himself refused to confirm the accuracy of these biographi

Epic, Lyrical, Melancholy, Pathos

Diane Arbus is called the "Wizard of Odds" because her photographic subjects have included circus freaks, nudists, mentally retarded adults, eccentrics, homeless people, orgiasts, and outcasts. Her work has been dubbed "grotesque," "hateful," and "in bad taste." Norman Mailer stated the prevailing se

Confessional poetry, Dense, Documentary photography, Expansive, Grotesque, In-your-face, Intimate, Moody, Pathos, Perverse, Sublime

The next time you watch a Howard Hawks film, look for the seams -- they won't be there. An unobtrusive, quietly gifted director, writer, and producer, Hawks constructed films that seem as effortless and artless as the films of his contemporaries seem idiosyncratic. With a background in mechanical eng

Classic hollywood, Contemplative, Film noir and neo-noir, Layered, Pathos, Subtle

Tarkovsky's poetic films, interwoven with loose narrative threads and strikingly sublime images, demand a lot from the viewer, but return much more. In his signature piece "Andrei Rublev" (1969), a three-hour exposition on the fifteenth-century painter, Tarkovsky takes the viewer through series of sc

Depressive, Implosive, Moodscape, Pathos, Political