December 16 | Nina Hamnett

February 14, 1890 - December 16, 1956: Age 66

Nina Hamnett was a Welsh artist who lived a flamboyant, Bohemian lifestyle that included bisexuality, promiscuity, a bestselling autobiography, libel suits, and lots of alcohol. She once danced naked on the table of a café in Paris, a feat I personally find admirable. She hung out with the greatest and most avant-garde artists of the age, including Modigliani, Picasso, Diaghilev, and Cocteau.

Her bestselling autobiography, Laughing Torso, irritated Aleister Crowley so much that he sued her for libel over her allegation that he was a black magician. He lost the suit; the judge didn't believe that the allegation wasn't true. However it was a lose-lose situation for Hamnett: if he were not a black magician, she might lose the suit; if he were, as the judge seems to have believed, wouldn't he make a very unfortunate enemy? She did, however, outlive him (he died in 1947).

As it happens, her life went into decline after the lawsuit. She was a heavy drinker and spent a lot of the latter half of her life in bars, reminiscing about the good days. In 1956 she fell from her apartment window and was impaled on the fence 40 feet below. It is not certain whether it was a drunken accident or an attempt at suicide; if it were the latter, it was successful, as she died. Her last words were, "Why don't they let me die?"

At right: One of her works, Der Sturm, c. 1913.

Source: Wikipedia, Art and Illusion

September 18 | Jimi Hendrix

November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970: Age 27

Hendrix was a brilliant guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer whose musical output and lifestyle continue to amaze, delight, offend, and bewilder people. Knowing the magnitude of his influence on the history of rock and roll, it is suprising to remember that he was only 27 when he died. Rolling Stone put him at the top of their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time in 2003.

His breakthrough performance was at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, when he played an incredible, groundbreaking set, ending it by burning his guitar on stage, smashing it to bits, and tossing the pieces out to the audience. He was the headline act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, considered a bigger attraction than The Who, Santana, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Artistically he was amazing; personally and professionally things were chaotic. He had huge problems with his manager. He took a lot of drugs, although not heroin, apparently, as many have assumed, because he was afraid of needles. His drug of choice was LSD. When he drank alcohol he would get angry and violent.

His death was caused by asphyxiating on his own vomit in his sleep after taking nine sleeping pills in combination with wine. There is some confusion about exactly when he died, as his girlfriend maintained he was alive when he went into the ambulance but the attendants reported that he had been dead for some time when they got there. Hendrix died in London; when the news got out thieves broke into his New York apartment and stole personal items, tapes, and lyrics.

Sources: Wikipedia, Official Jimi Hendrix Website