Born in 1917 – Jacob Lawrence, American painter.

“…it is most important for an artist to develop an approach and philosophy about life – if he has developed this philosophy, he does not put paint on canvas, he puts himself on canvas.”

Previously: Lawrence

Born in 1942 – Werner Herzog, German filmmaker.

““I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony; but chaos, hostility and murder.”

Above: Klaus Kinski in Herzog’s 1972 film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

Bonus quote, on Kinski: “People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other’s murder.”

Born in 1929 – Hal Ashby, American editor, director, and producer.

Above: Ashby, directing Peter Sellers in the 1979 film, Being There.

Previously: Ashby

Born in 1913 – Helen Levitt, American photographer and cinematographer.

“I never had a ‘project.’ I would go out and shoot, follow my eyes—what they noticed, I tried to capture with my camera, for others to see.”

Born in 1939 – John Peel, English radio host and producer.

“At the heart of anything good there should be a kernel of something undefinable, and if you can define it, or claim to be able to define it, then, in a sense, you’ve missed the point.”

Born in 1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter and educator.

Above: Cléopâtre essayant des poisons sur des condamnés à mort (Cleopatra testing poisons on condemned prisoners), 1887

Born in 1530 – Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow and “Tsar of All the Russias”.

Above: Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, by Ilya Repin (1885). The painting shows Ivan the terrible holding his dying son, whom he had struck in a fit of rage.

Born in 1875 – Eugene Lanceray, Russian painter and sculptor.

Above: The Nikolsky Market in St. Petersburg, 1901

Previously: Linda Thompson

Born in 1894 – Christian Schad, German painter.

Above: Detail of Schad’s 1927 slice of Weimar Germany, Count St Genois d’Anneaucourt (1927)

Also: Wilt Chamberlain

Born in 1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist.

“We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind.”

Previously: Robert De Niro