Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 June 25

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From today's featured article

Otani Oniji III, Sharaku, 1794

The ukiyo-e genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th to the 19th century. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties, kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers, scenes from history and folk tales, travel scenes and landscapes, flora and fauna, and erotica. The term ukiyo-e refers to pictures of the ukiyo or "floating world" of kabuki theatre, courtesans, and geisha of the pleasure districts. Images of this environment became successful in the 1670s with Moronobu's paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women. By the 1740s, artists such as Masanobu were using multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour. In the 1760s, with the success of Harunobu's "brocade prints", full-colour production of prints made with numerous blocks became standard. Portraits of beauties and actors by masters such as Kiyonaga, Utamaro, and Sharaku were prominent in the late 18th century. Masters from the 19th century include the bold formalist Hokusai, whose Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the best-known works of Japanese art, and the serene, atmospheric Hiroshige, most noted for his series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Beer can chicken

... that proponents of beer can chicken (pictured) claim that the grilling method enhances the chicken's texture and flavor, while others are skeptical of its efficacy?
... that the Javanese philologist Poerbatjaraka obtained a doctorate cum laude at Leiden University, even though previously he had only attended primary school?
... that Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, a summer festival of chamber music founded in 1946, was directed by violinists such as Carolin Widmann?
... that Liu Qingyun has been described as "the most prolific woman playwright of the nineteenth century"?
... that Rustin McIntosh received the Croix de guerre for his service in World War I, and the John Howland Award for his contributions to pediatrics?
... that according to Abu Hurairah, the Islamic prophet Muhammad often recited the Quranic chapter Al-Insan on Friday during the early morning prayer?
... that the new West London Air Terminal building was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1963?
... that former Houston Astros pitcher Mike Grzanich bought his own uniform in an internet sale?

In the news

Mohammad bin Salman

The cricket teams of Ireland and Afghanistan are awarded Test status by the ICC.
Mohammad bin Salman (pictured) is appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, after King Salman deposes Muhammad bin Nayef.
Author José Eduardo Agualusa wins the International Dublin Literary Award for his novel A General Theory of Oblivion.
The Great Mosque of al-Nuri is destroyed in the Battle of Mosul.
A vehicle driven into pedestrians near the Finsbury Park Mosque, London, injures at least 10 people.

On this day...

June 25: Croatian Statehood Day and Slovenian Statehood Day

Michael Jackson

1658 – Anglo-Spanish War: English colonial forces repelled a Spanish attack in the largest battle ever fought on the island of Jamaica.
1950 – The Korean War began with North Korean forces launching a pre-dawn raid over the 38th parallel into South Korea.
1960 – Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
1967 – More than an estimated 400 million people viewed Our World, the first live international satellite television production.
1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
2009 – Singer Michael Jackson (pictured) died as a result of the combination of drugs in his body.
2013 – Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani became the eighth Emir of Qatar.

Antoni Gaudí (b. 1852) · Louis Mountbatten (b. 1900) · Michel Foucault (d. 1984)

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Today's featured picture

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. One of the oldest extant works of Islamic architecture, the Dome of the Rock was initially completed in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik. After the original dome collapsed in 1015, it was rebuilt in 1022–23, patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces. The site has great significance for Muslims owing to traditions connecting it to the creation of the world and to the belief that the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey to heaven started from the rock at the center of the structure.

Photograph: Andrew Shiva

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