@
After a spell with 
Count Basie in 
Kansas, Charlie 
Parker found 
fame in New York 
playing be-bop, a 
new style of jazz. 
Frustrated by the 
limitations of 
swing, Parker's 
distinctive 
frenetic and 
freewheeling 
improvisational 
style challenged 
previous jazz 
rhythms and 
harmonies
#
Charlie Parker's 
life was as 
tumultuous as it 
was brief. A 
heroin addict by 
the time he left 
school at 15, he 
struggled through 
alcoholism and 
several nervous 
breakdowns to an 
early death
#
Since his death 
Parker has been 
endlessly 
analysed and 
emulated by later 
generations. His 
music is one of 
the benchmarks 
of modern jazz - 
every bending 
blue note and 
soaring melody 
has to measure 
up to what 
Parker has 
already done
#
Charlie Parker's 
music had less to 
do with dance 
music than it had 
to do with art. 
The be-bop he 
pioneered in New 
York endeared 
him to jazz 
players and jazz 
purists, but 
meant that he 
never enjoyed 
commercial 
success
#
Parker knew his 
self-destructive 
lifestyle 
represented for 
many the 
quintessential 
jazz existence. 
Parker did not 
want to be copied 
in his life or his 
work, but the 
tortured musician 
seeking oblivion 
from the burden 
of genius through 
drink and drugs 
has become a 
much repeated 
cliche
#
Parker was a 
cult figure even 
in his own 
lifetime. In death 
he has inspired 
extraordinary 
devotion from his 
followers, and a 
whole industry 
has sprung up 
around his 
musical legacy
@
In 1930 Moore spoke of "recognising the material" in which he worked. He aimed "to know that sculpture in stone should look honestly like stone, that to make it look like flesh and blood, hair and dimples is coming down to the level of the stage conjurer"
#
Moore said 
sculpture should 
be "strong and 
vital, giving out 
something of the 
energy of the 
mountains"
#
Moore drew 
influences from 
the previous 
generation of 
sculptors. The 
maxim of 'truth 
to material' was 
central to his 
working method, 
and he praised 
the Romanian 
sculptor 
Constantin 
Brancusi for 
making "us once 
more shape-
conscious."
#
As the 
primitivism of 
the Twenties 
gave way to the 
influence of 
antique and 
renaissance 
classicism of the 
Fifties, Moore's 
work was 
criticised by 
modernists for 
being too 
attached to the 
past. His one-time 
assistant, sculptor 
Anthony Caro, 
wrote of work 
which "fails to 
measure up to 
the outsize scale 
it has been given"
#
Seated groups 
and reclining 
figures were 
always central to 
Moore's work. As 
a human element 
in the landscape, 
often sited in 
gardens or public 
parks, his works, 
in his words, 
"introduced a 
humanising 
element, a 
mediator 
between modern 
house and ageless 
land."
@
Monroe married 
her second 
husband, baseball 
star Joe DiMaggio, 
in 1954. "I 
wonder if I can 
take all your 
crazy publicity", 
he said. He 
couldn't (he 
particularly 
objected to the 
billowing-skirt 
scene from The 
Seven Year Itch), 
and nine months 
later they 
divorced. But 
they remained 
lifelong friends
#
Monroe's third 
husband was the 
famous American 
playwright, 
Arthur Miller. 
One US paper 
headlined the 
announcement of 
their marriage: 
"Egghead weds 
hourglass". Asked 
what the secret 
was of Miller's 
appeal, Monroe 
replied: 
"Everything. 
Haven't you seen 
him?"
#
After her death, rumours spread that Monroe had had affairs with both John Kennedy (centre) and his brother Robert (far left). A friend, the actor Peter Lawford, claimed that she told him to "Say goodbye to Jack [President Kennedy]" on the night of her death
#
The Kennedy 
connection led to 
speculation about 
Monroe's suicide 
- and to the 
allegation that 
she had in fact 
been murdered, 
to cover up her 
relationship with 
the president