Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 February 21

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome to Wikipedia,
4,170,150 articles in English

From today's featured article

Look Mickey is a 1961 oil on canvas painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Based on an illustration showing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during a fishing mishap, it is widely regarded as the bridge between his abstract expressionism and pop art works. It is notable for its ironic humor and aesthetic value as well as being the first example of the artist's employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery as a source for a painting. Building on his late 1950s drawings of comic strips characters, Look Mickey marks Lichtenstein's first full employment of painterly techniques to reproduce almost faithful representations of pop culture and so satirize and comment upon the then developing process of mass production of visual imagery. In this, Lichtenstein pioneered a motif that became influential not only in 1960s Pop art but continuing to the work of artists today. The work dates from Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition, and is regarded by art critics as revolutionary both as a progression of pop art and as a work of modern art in general. It was later shown hanging prominently in Lichtenstein's studio in his 1973 painting, Artist's Studio—Look Mickey. (Full article...)

Recently featured: HMS Eagle – Turban Head eagle – White-bellied Sea Eagle

Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest content:

Sarah Stierch

  • ... that the Wikipedian in Residence program placed Sarah Stierch (pictured) at the Archives of American Art and Smithsonian Institution Archives?
  • ... that Yemen has one of the highest execution rates in the world?
  • ... that 27 of the 33 consensus members of the 1900 and 1901 College Football All-America Teams, including John Hallowell, Robert Kernan and Crawford Blagden of Harvard, James Bloomer and Henry Holt of Yale, Ralph Davis of Princeton and Sanford Hunt of Cornell, played for Ivy League teams?
  • ... that Nicholas Moneta, a member of the Moneta family and 15th century Venetian voivode, sent his wife and children to Venice before the Ottomans besieged Shkodra in 1478?
  • ... that hyperconsumerism, "a consumerism for the sake of consuming", refers to consuming goods for non-functional purposes?
  • ... that Ulf Schirmer, director of the Oper Leipzig, conducted Richard Wagner's early opera Die Feen as part of the Wagner Year 2013, to be performed in concert at the Bayreuth Festival?
  • ... that Welsh rugby union player, Alun-Wyn Jones once said he would rather sing "The Power of Love" than "The Power of Four"?
  • In the news

  • Armed robbers steal US$50 million in diamonds from an aircraft at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
  • Serzh Sargsyan is re-elected President of Armenia.
  • The Women's Cricket World Cup concludes with Australia defeating the West Indies in the final.
  • Rafael Correa is re-elected President of Ecuador.
  • A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town in Quetta, Pakistan, kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.
  • In central Russia, shock waves from a meteor—the largest on record since 1908—injure more than 1,000 people, mainly due to widespread broken glass.

    Recent deaths: Richard Briers

  • On this day...

    February 21: International Mother Language Day

    Carolina Parakeet

  • 1862American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde.
  • 1918 – The Carolina Parakeet (pictured), the only parrot species native to the eastern United States, became extinct when the last individual died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
  • 1921Rezā Khan seized Tehran to make himself the most powerful person in Iran, which eventually led to the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty.
  • 1965Black nationalist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
  • 1973 – After accidentally having strayed into Israeli airspace, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two Israeli fighter planes.

    More anniversaries: February 20 February 21 February 22

    It is now February 21, 2013 (UTC) – Reload this page
  • Today's featured picture

    Marrus orthocanna

    Marrus orthocanna is a species of siphonophore, a colonial animal composed of a complex arrangement of zooids, some of which are polyps and some medusae. It lives at depths ranging between 200 and 800 m (660 and 2,600 ft), in the Arctic and other cold, deep waters.

    Photograph: Kevin Raskoff

    Other areas of Wikipedia

    • Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
    • Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
    • Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
    • Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
    • Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
    • Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

    Wikipedia's sister projects

    Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects: