Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Arts & Music

3

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Cheikh Larbi Bensari

الشيخ العربي بن صاري

Algeria

1867 – 1964 (97 years old)

The supreme patriarch of Gharnati Andalusian classical music in Tlemcen, who preserved hundreds of ancient Andalusian suites and performed at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition.

Tlemcen, Algeria

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

1,505

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Sam Cooke

Samuel Cook

United States

1931 – 1964 (33 years old)

'King of Soul' whose golden voice, songwriting brilliance, and civil rights anthem 'A Change Is Gonna Come' shaped Black music.

Glendale, California, United States

1,505 Full Record →

Arts & Music

34

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Anita Malfatti

Anita Catarina Malfatti

Brazil

1889 – 1964 (74 years old)

Brazilian painter who introduced European expressionism and non-academic modern art to Brazil in her controversial 1917 Sao Paulo solo exhibition.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

34 Full Record →

Arts & Music

32

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Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl)

Gerardo Murillo Cornado

Mexico

1875 – 1964 (88 years old)

Mexican painter and volcanologist who adopted the Nahuatl name 'Dr. Atl' (Water), father of modern Mexican landscape painting and mentor to Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Mexico City, Mexico

32 Full Record →

Arts & Music

30

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Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi

Italy

1890 – 1964 (73 years old)

Italian painter and printmaker celebrated for his meditative, poetic still lifes of bottles, jars, and vases, rendered with exquisite tonal subtlety and architectural balance.

Bologna, Italy

30 Full Record →

Arts & Music

30

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Mikhail Larionov

Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov

Russia

1881 – 1964 (82 years old)

Russian avant-garde painter, art theorist, and scenographer who pioneered Neo-Primitivism and formulated the revolutionary Rayonist manifesto in Moscow.

Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

30 Full Record →

Arts & Music

32

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Mahmoud Said

محمود سعيد

Egypt

1897 – 1964 (67 years old)

Aristocratic Egyptian judge and master painter celebrated as the 'Father of Modern Egyptian Painting', who combined European classical glazing with sensual Alexandrian Mediterranean light, author of 'The Whirling Dervishes'.

Alexandria, Egypt

32 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3

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Cheikh Mohamed Ben Guenoun

محمد بن قنون

Morocco

1895 – 1964 (69 years old)

Revered early 20th-century chikh of Malhun poetry and musical interpretation in Fez, who preserved hundreds of classical qasidas through oral transmission and shellac 78-rpm recordings.

Fez, Morocco

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

30

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Yasujiro Ozu

小津 安二郎

Japan

1903 – 1963 (60 years old)

Japanese filmmaker universally revered for Tokyo Story, Late Spring, and Early Summer, whose low-angle tatami shots, elliptical storytelling, and mono no aware elevated cinema to pure Zen philosophy.

Kamakura (Kanagawa), Japan

30 Full Record →

Arts & Music

37

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Édith Giovanna Gassion (Édith Piaf)

Édith Piaf

France

19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963 (47 years old)

France's national chanteuse and international cultural icon whose raw, tremulous voice and passionate realism in La Vie en rose, Non, je ne regrette rien, and Hymne à l'amour voiced the soul of Paris.

Plascassier (Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes), France

37 Full Record →

Arts & Music

30

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Remedios Varo

María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga

Spain

1908 – 1963 (54 years old)

Spanish-Mexican Surrealist master celebrated for her jewel-like, intricately rendered paintings uniting medieval alchemy, sacred geometry, astronomy, and mystic journeying.

Mexico City, Mexico

30 Full Record →

Arts & Music

31

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Natalia Goncharova

Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova

Russia

1881 – 1962 (81 years old)

Russian avant-garde artist and Rayonist pioneer who synthesized traditional peasant icons with Cubo-Futurism and revolutionized theatrical design for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

Paris, France

31 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2

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Jacques Majorelle

جاك ماجوريل

France

1886 – 1962 (76 years old)

French painter who spent forty years in Marrakech, documenting Atlas Kasbahs and Berber life, creator of the world-famous Majorelle Garden and the cobalt 'Majorelle Blue' (Bleu Majorelle).

Nancy, France

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Arts & Music

32

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Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter

Germany

1877 – 1962 (85 years old)

German Expressionist painter who co-founded Der Blaue Reiter, celebrated for her bold contours, saturated flat colors, and intimate domestic and Alpine landscapes.

Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany

32 Full Record →

Arts & Music

32

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Franz Kline

Franz Josef Kline

United States

1910 – 1962 (51 years old)

American Abstract Expressionist painter renowned for his monumental, high-impact black-and-white canvases featuring muscular, architectural brushstrokes and dynamic spatial tension.

New York City, United States

32 Full Record →

Arts & Music

19

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Cheikha Tetma

الشيخة طيطمة (فاطمة تلمساني)

Algeria

c. 1891 – 1962 (71 years old)

Pioneering female Algerian classical musician, violin virtuoso, and singer who broke societal barriers to become the undisputed premier female performer of Tlemcen Hawzi and Andalusian poetry.

Tlemcen, Algeria

19 Full Record →

Arts & Music

28

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Candido Portinari

Candido Portinari

Brazil

1903 – 1962 (58 years old)

Brazilian painter and muralist who created the monumental War and Peace murals for the United Nations Headquarters in New York, capturing the soul of Brazilian laborers and drought refugees.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

28 Full Record →

Arts & Music

25

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Meriem Fekkaï

مريم فكاي

Algeria

c. 1900 – 1961 (61 years old)

Celebrated Algerian singer and orchestra leader whose festive Assimi and Hawzi melodies defined the weddings, celebrations, and cultural life of Algiers for over three decades.

Algiers, Algeria

25 Full Record →