Henry Stanley - "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Lego Henry Stanley

John Rowlands was born, illegitimately, on 28th January 1841 in Denbigh, Wales. He was brought up in a working house. Although in 1859, Rowlands moved to New Orleans, where he befriended a merchant, Henry Stanley, whose name he adopted. 

When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Stanley worked both sides and then worked as a sailor and journalist. In 1867, he became a special correspondent for the New York Herald. 

In 1869, he was commissioned to search for the missing Scottish Explorer David Livingstone, who had been missing since 1866, when he set off in search for the source of the Nile. Stanley went to Livingstone's last known location Zanzibar. In November 1871, he found the sick explorer.

Dr. Livingstone
1813-1873

After Livingstone died in 1873, Stanley continued his exploration of the region funded by the Herald and a British newspaper. He managed to explore most of central Africa, and travel down the Lualaba and Congo Rivers. Later reaching the Atlantic in August 1877.

After he failed to gain support from Britain, for his plans to develop Congo region, he found success in the King of Belgium, Leopold II, who was eager to tap Africa's wealth. In 1879, Stanley returned to Africa, where he worked to open the lower Congo to commerce by the construction of roads. In doing this he used brutal means, such as forced labour. On the other hand, Stanley's efforts created the foundation for the Congo Free State, which was privately owned by Leopold II.

In 1890, Stanley finally returned to England, where he married and began a worldwide lecture tour. Then becoming a member of Parliament for Lambeth in London, serving from 1895-1900. He was eventually knighted in 1899. However, on 10th May 1904 in London he died.

Andy Warhol - "the idea of waiting for something makes it moreexciting."

Lego Warhol and
his Campbell's Soup tin.

Andrew Warhola was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. Both of his parents emigrated to the US from Slovak Republic. Warhola or Warhol was an American artist, who was a leading figure in the movement of Pop Art. His work looked at relationships between expression, celebrity culture, advertisement and death in the 1960s.   

Between 1945 and 1949, Warhola studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology. In 1949 he moved to New York where he changed his name to Warhol. Once there he started work as a commercial artist for magazines, designer for advertising and window displays. 

In the early 1960s, Warhol began experimenting with reproductions based on advertisement, newspaper headlines and other mass-produced image, coming up with the Campbell's Soup tin and Coca Cola bottles.

In 1962, he began his portrait series of Marilyn Monroe. Then later going on to Jackie Kennedy and Elvis portraits. That same year Warhol took part in a New Realists exhibitions in a number of New York art galleries, the first reorganization of Pop Art.

Lego Warhol
with his famou dollar print.

In 1963, Warhol began making experimental films, depicting things from everyday life such as the 'Eat' and the 'Sleep' or something more outrageous as the 'Kiss' or even the 'Blow Job'. Most of these films can last as long as 45 minets to an hour or more. In 1968, Warhol was shot and seriously injured by Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist writer.

Warhol was an internationally famous artist who had his work exhibited around the world through the 1970s and 1980s. Although on 22nd February 1987, Warhol died in a New York hospital after having a gallbladder operation.