Those who do not weep, do not see.  Victor Hugo   

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (1802–1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.  His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).  In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages).  Hugo was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani.  His works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including the opera Rigoletto and the musicals Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris.  He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment and slavery.  Although he was a committed royalist when young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, serving in politics as both deputy and senator.   His work touched upon most of the political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time.  His opposition to absolutism, and his literary stature, established him as a national hero.  Hugo died on 22 May 1885, aged 83.  He was given a state funeral in the Panthéon of Paris, which was attended by over two million people, the largest in French history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo    

The enigmatic street artist Banksy has built a multimillion-dollar business empire as opaque as his identity, operating through a network of British companies while largely staying outside the traditional art market, according to corporate filings and interviews with art market insiders.  The sale of Banksy pieces has generated an estimated $248.8 million in secondary market sales since 2015, according to data from art market research firm ArtTactic.  The secondary market refers to the resale of artwork after its initial sale.  The artist himself receives only a small fraction from those sales, paid under a provision in UK law that entitles artists to royalties.  But sources say Banksy now conducts private sales for VIP collectors that may generate millions of dollars directly, Reuters learned.  Reuters identified seven companies that have been directly connected to Banksy over the years, and at least two additional firms that were connected to the artist by name or via his lawyers and accountants.  The centerpiece is the Pest Control Office, incorporated in 2008.  It serves as both the artist's authentication body and business operation.  Its parent company is Picturesonwalls Limited, which once operated a London gallery.  Today, most Banksys changing hands are sold through private collectors, galleries, and auction houses, without apparent direct involvement or financial participation by the artist.  “It’s very hard to buy a Banksy from Banksy,” explains art historian Ulrich Blanche.  Unless you’re one of a select group invited to one of the artist’s private sales.  In February 2024, Banksy held a secret exhibition in a Shoreditch basement, according to a collector who obtained photos from attendees.  The source shared some of the surreptitiously snapped photos with Reuters.  They included shots of previously unseen original Banksy works.  The event, held in a building on Hanbury Street, was open only to collectors invited directly by Pest Control.  Banksy has consistently used his art to fund charitable causes.  As his fame has grown, so too have the sums he raises.  Reuters could not confirm how much money the artist has donated.  In his book “Banksy:  The man behind the wall,” author Will Ellsworth-Jones notes that “there is no Banksy Foundation donating money publicly,” making it impossible to “give a complete picture of what he gives away.”  In September 2000, Banksy was shifting from painting freehand to using stencils, a method suited for repetition and speed.  But when he climbed up on a roof to have at the billboard, he painted freehand.  The half-finished image resembled a billboard Banksy saw in Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws.”  In his 2023 “Cut & Run” exhibition in Glasgow, the artist said the movie scene inspired him to get into graffiti.  In “Jaws,” someone doctored a tourism billboard depicting a woman on an inflatable raft in the sea. The vandal added a shark fin and gave the woman bulging eyes and a speech bubble:  “HELP!!! SHARK.”  Before his arrest, Banksy had lived for months at a time at the Carlton Arms Hotel, which over the years has let artists stay for free in return for decorating their rooms.  Archived pages of the hotel website indicate that in 1997, Banksy painted a mural at the hotel.  In 1999, the site shows, he finished an entire room, 5B.  The work looked nothing like the Banksys of today.  It was painted freehand, in a rainbow of colors.  The characters were cartoonish.  The hotel site attributed the works to “Robin Banks”–a play on “robbing banks,” later shortened to Banksy.  When Banksy was busted in 2000, he wasn’t on the New York Police Department’s radar, said Steve Mona, the now-retired lieutenant who ran the 75-member vandal squad back then.  The police had no idea they had nabbed “Banksy” because the artist had only recently begun employing the style and pseudonym that would make him famous.  Given Banksy’s celebrity, the name of the culprit now takes on significance.  The man who confessed was Robin Gunningham.    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-art-banksy/   

Cyrus Stevens Avery (1871–1963) was a businessperson, oilman, and highway commissioner.  He created the U.S. Route 66 while being a member of the federal board appointed to create the Federal Highway System, then pushed for the establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway.  As such, he is known as the "Father of Route 66".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Avery    

John Tracy Kidder (November 12, 1945–March 24, 2026) was an American writer of nonfiction books.  He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation.  Kidder received praise and awards for other works, including Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003), a biography of physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners in Health.  Kidder was considered a literary journalist because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing.  He cited as his writing influences John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell.  In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model. He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."  Kidder attended Harvard University and University of Iowa.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Kidder 

March 25, 2026