Some days in history are, well, just better than others. Today, 14 June, seems to be a day which history has cursed with numerous bad things.
On this day in 1940, the Nazis occupied Paris. Simultaneously, in Poland, those same German nationalists imprisoned their first 728 souls in Auschwitz.
In the Soviet Union, on 14 June 1941, Stalin began his genocidal deportation of tens of thousands from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They were sent to Siberian labor camps in crowded cattle cars. The Soviets intended to weaken any embers of independent identity in these proud (sometimes defiant) satellite territories. One-third to half of these victims perished in the deportations.
More recently, on 14 June 1986, the "Mindbender" roller coaster in Edmonton, Alberta derailed, killing three riders. Also in Canada, on this day in 1994, a destructive riot broke-out in Vancouver, British Columbia, after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in Game Seven to the New York Rangers (at Madison Square Garden).
In London, on 14 June 2017, the Grenfell Tower Fire killed 72 people living in this enormous apartment tower—which had been clad in (apparently) flammable materials.
And, in Washington DC on 14 June 2017, Louisiana US Representative Steve Scalise was shot and injured (alongside four others) as the group of Republicans practiced before the annual Congressional Baseball Game.
Some dates seem to have cursed the world. It looks like 14 June is one of them.
Shown above, a late Nineteenth Century Danish Art Nouveau vase by Ipsen. A beautifully-sculpted winged dragon pursues a scarab beetle—seemingly oblivious to his impending fate. Such "creepy-crawlies" were all the rage in the Art Nouveau period. Perhaps these "prehistoric creatures" were an expression of the world's fascination in the early decades after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859). Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome, compelling piece.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.