January 7 is the birthday of German-American painter ALBERT BIERSTADT (1830-1902).

Bierstadt was "best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century." (Wikipedia)

To see samples of Bierstadt’s work, CLICK HERE.

January 7 is the birthday of French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963).

Poulenc "was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-known are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the Organ Concerto (1938), the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir, and orchestra ...

In his last years Poulenc observed, 'if people are still interested in my music in 50 years' time it will be for my Stabat Mater rather than the Mouvements perpétuels.' In a centenary tribute in The Times Gerald Larner commented that Poulenc's prediction was wrong, and that in 1999 the composer was widely celebrated for both sides of his musical character: 'both the fervent Catholic and the naughty boy, for both the Gloria and Les Biches, both Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Les Mamelles de Tirésias.' At around the same time the writer Jessica Duchen described Poulenc as "a fizzing, bubbling mass of Gallic energy who can move you to both laughter and tears within seconds. His language speaks clearly, directly and humanely to every generation." (Wikipedia)

January 7 is the birthday of New Yorker cartoonist and progenitor of The Addams Family CHARLES ADDAMS (1912-1988).

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”

To see other ghoulish Addmas cartoons, CLICK HERE.

January 7 is the birthday of French flutist JEAN-PIERRE RAMPAL (1922-2000).

Rampal " popularised the flute in the post–World War II years, recovering flute compositions from the Baroque era, and spurring contemporary composers, such as Francis Poulenc, to create new works that have become modern standards in the flautist's repertoire.[citation needed." (Wikipedia)

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On January 7, 1894, Thomas Edison made a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, received a patent for motion picture film.