1940

The ‘What a Farm Wife Painted’ exhibition by Grandma Moses opened the Otto Kallir’s Gallery in New York. As the war raged on, German forces took Paris on June 14. The Germans imposed a curfew on Parisians for 8 p.m. that same evening. By the time the German tanks entered the French capital, a large population had fled the city. The United States of America froze the assets of Axis powers members, Germany and Italy. The Germans arrested, interrogated and sent spies into the city. All through the invasion of Paris, the Germans flew a large swastika.

Life went on despite the terror of the World War II. On September 12, two boys discovered the Lascaux cave paintings near the French town of Montignac by four teenagers. The over 600 drawings and paintings are close to 17,000 years old that mostly depict animals are the earliest art forms from the Upper Paleolithic period. The paintings are in a cavern 16 feet high and 66 feet wide. The caverns also include around 1500 engravings.

On November 27, one of the greatest actors and martial arts experts, Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, California. A year later, the Lee family returned to their home in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee grew up as a child actor and starred in 20 films. Bruce Lee studied dancing and the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu. Bruce Lee later returned to America, started a martial arts school in Seattle, and even taught martial arts to the legendary actor, Steve McQueen.

As at 1940, the world was at its roughest times as the Second World War raged on. This year also saw the increase of female workers from 27% to 37% and one in every four married women was working.