Masterpiece

Masterpiece or chef d'œuvre in modern use refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship. Historically, the word refers to a work of a very high standard produced in order to obtain membership of a Guild or Academy.

Etymology

The word masterpiece probably derives from the Dutch "meesterstuk" or German "meisterstück", and the form "masterstik" is recorded in English in 1579 (or in Scots, since this was from some Aberdeen guild regulations), whereas "masterpiece" is first found in 1605, already outside a guild context, in a Ben Jonson play. "Masterprize" was another early variant in English.

In English, the term rapidly became used in a variety of contexts for an exceptionally good piece of creative work, and was "in early use, often applied to man as the 'masterpiece' of God or Nature".

In craftsmanship and art

Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking, or many other trades.

Masterpiece (Nathan album)

"Masterpiece" is the debut album from British R&B singer Nathan. The album was released on 9 October 2006 in the UK. The album features four singles including "Round and Round", "Cold as Ice", the top 40 hit "Come into My Room" and the latest single "Do Without my Love".

Track listing

Chart performance

Release history

References

Masterpiece (Roy Lichtenstein)

Masterpiece is a 1962 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein that uses his classic Ben-Day dots and a speech balloon. It is known for its narrative content that predicted Lichtenstein's fame.

Background

According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, Masterpiece was part of Lichtenstein's first exhibition at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles from April 1 – April 27, 1963, featuring Drowning Girl, Portrait of Madame Cézanne and other works from 1962 and 1963 When discussing another work (I Know...Brad), Lichtenstein stated that the name Brad sounded heroic to him and was used with the aim of cliched oversimplification.Drowning Girl is another notable work with Brad as the heroic subject.

The source of this image was a comic book panel with the two subjects positioned similarly to their position here, but they were situated in an automobile. In the source image the narrative content of the speech balloon said "But someday the bitterness will pass..."

Masterpiece was part of the largest ever retrospective of Lichtenstein that visited The Art Institute of Chicago from May 16 to September 3, 2012, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from October 14, 2012 to January 13, 2013, the Tate Modern in London from February 21 to May 27, 2013 and The Centre Pompidou from July 3 to November 4, 2013. Several publications presented Masterpiece as part of their announcement of the retrospective.

Scuba (musician)

Paul Rose, usually known as Scuba (also known by his SCB alias), is a British electronic musician now based in Berlin. He has released four albums, two EP's and a handful of compilation and mix albums. His style has been described as dubstep with a later 'shift toward a brighter and more eclectic approach to production'. In 2013 he won an award for Best Live Act from DJ Magazine.

History

Rose founded the Hotflush Recordings label, where he released material by Mount Kimbie, Benga and Joy Orbison alongside his own music.

In 2007, Rose decided to move to Berlin. He cited the reasons for it as wanting to leave London while he 'just started to make a living from making music and the position I was in musically was one that I wasn’t particularly enjoying'. He had performed a number of shows in Berlin before and maintained that he 'wanted to get away from London and nowhere in the UK would have fitted'. Berlin became his choice of residence partly as his friend Jaime Teasdale from Vex’d had moved there.