Rembrandt Bugatti (16 October 1884 – 8 January 1916) was an Italian sculptor, known primarily for his bronze sculptures of wildlife subjects.

Early life

Born in Milan, into a notably artistic family, Rembrandt Bugatti was the second son of Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940) and his wife, Teresa Lorioli. His older brother was Ettore Bugatti who became one of the world's most famous automobile manufacturers.

He was given his first name by his uncle, the painter Giovanni Segantini. His father was a successful and important Art Nouveau furniture and jewelry designer who also worked in textiles, ceramics, and silver metalware. As such, Rembrandt Bugatti grew up in an environment where a great many of his parent's friends were from the artistic world. In 1902, the family moved to Paris, where they lived in a community of artisans.

As a child he hung around his father's workshop and was encouraged to try sculpting in plasticine by the family friend and renowned Russian sculptor, Prince Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866-1938).

Work

Rembrandt Bugatti was a young man when he began to work with the art foundry and gallery owner, Adrian Hébrard. He produced a number of bronzes which were successfully exhibited and promoted by Hébrard. Bugatti's love of nature led to him spending a great deal of time in the wildlife sanctuary near the Jardin des Plantes in Paris or at the Antwerp Zoo where he studied the features and movement of exotic animals. His sculptures of animals such as elephants, panthers and lions became his most valuable and popular works.

The silver elephant mascot that sits on top of the radiator of the Bugatti Royale was cast from one of Rembrandt's original sculptures.

His art works are now also highly priced. A cast of his 1909-1910 bronze, ''Babouin Sacré Hamadryas'' (Sacred Hamadryas Baboon), was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2006 for $2.56 million. In May, 2010, the ''Babouin'' reappeared at auction at Sotheby's (est. $2/3 million), along with a male and female ''Lion'' and ''Lionne de Nubie'' (est. $1.5/2 million and $1.2/1.8 million, respectively), a ''Grande girafe tête basse'' (est. $1/1.5 million) and seven other pieces from the S. Joel Schur Collection, perhaps the finest collection of masterpieces by Bugatti in private hands according to one report. One of the Bugatti pieces was reported sold apparently as part of a group of sculptures (with three Rodin and a Noguchi) for an aggregate of $20 million.

World War I,Suicide

During World War I the Antwerp Zoo was forced to kill most of its wild livestock. This deeply affected Bugatti because he had used many of these animals as objects for his sculpture. In 1916, at the age of 31, he killed himself. He is interred in the Bugatti family plot at the municipal cemetery in Dorlisheim in the Bas-Rhin département of the Alsace region of France.

Notes

Edward Horswell, ''Rembrandt Bugatti, Felines and Figures'', published by The Sladmore Gallery 1993 (ISBN 0-95140-612-4)

Edward Horswell, ''Rembrandt Bugatti, Life in Sculpture'', published by The Sladmore Gallery 2004 (ISBN 1-90140-375-0)

Edward Horswell, ''Rembrandt Bugatti, une vie pour la sculpture'', éd. de l'Amateur 2006, published by The Sladmore Gallery (ISBN 2-85917-451-6)

Veronique Fromanger, ''Rembrandt Bugatti Sculpteur-Répertoire monographique'',published by éd. de l'Amateur 2010 (ISBN 978-2-85917-499-6)

External links

Biography on the National Museum of Wildlife Art

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/collections/catalogue-des-oeuvres/

Synopsis "Rembrandt Bugatti Sculpteur"-Expositions-Musée Virtuel-Lectures-Conférence "Cleveland 1999":

http://www.rembrandtbugatti.info/

Category:1884 births Category:1916 deaths Category:People from Milan Category:Bugatti Category:Italian sculptors Category:Suicides in France Category:Suicides by gas Category:Artists who committed suicide

de:Rembrandt Bugatti es:Rembrandt Bugatti fr:Rembrandt Bugatti it:Rembrandt Bugatti fi:Rembrandt Bugatti tr:Rembrandt Bugatti

bgcolour	#EEDD82
name	Rembrandt van Rijn
birth name	Rembrant Harmenszoon van Rijn
birth date	July 15, 1606
birth place	Leiden, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
death date	October 04, 1669
death place	Amsterdam, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
nationality	Dutch
field	Painting, Printmaking
movement	Dutch Golden AgeBaroque
works	''Danaë'', 1636 ''Jacob de Gheyn III'', 1632 ''Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'', 1632 ''Belshazzar's Feast'', 1635 ''Night Watch'', 1642
awards	}}

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization."

Life

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic, nowadays the Netherlands. He was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuytbrouck. His family was quite well-to-do; his father was a miller and his mother was a baker's daughter. As a boy he attended Latin school and was enrolled at the University of Leiden, although according to a contemporary he had a greater inclination towards painting; he was soon apprenticed to a Leiden history painter, Jacob van Swanenburgh, with whom he spent three years. After a brief but important apprenticeship of six months with the famous painter Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam, Rembrandt opened a studio in Leiden in 1624 or 1625, which he shared with friend and colleague Jan Lievens. In 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them Gerrit Dou.

In 1629 Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman Constantijn Huygens, the father of Christiaan Huygens (a famous Dutch mathematician and physicist), who procured for Rembrandt important commissions from the court of The Hague. As a result of this connection, Prince Frederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt until 1646.

At the end of 1631 Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, then rapidly expanding as the new business capital of the Netherlands, and began to practice as a professional portraitist for the first time, with great success. He initially stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburg, and in 1634, married Hendrick's cousin, Saskia van Uylenburg. Saskia came from a good family: her father had been lawyer and ''burgemeester'' (mayor) of Leeuwarden. When Saskia, as the youngest daughter, became an orphan, she lived with an older sister in Het Bildt. Rembrandt and Saskia were married in the local church of St. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandt's relatives. In the same year, Rembrandt became a burgess of Amsterdam and a member of the local guild of painters. He also acquired a number of students, among them Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck.

In 1635 Rembrandt and Saskia moved into their own house, renting in fashionable Nieuwe Doelenstraat. In 1639 they moved to a prominent house (now the Rembrandt House Museum) in the Jodenbreestraat in what was becoming the Jewish quarter; the mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be a primary cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his large income, but it appears his spending always kept pace with his income, and he may have made some unsuccessful investments. It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes. Although they were by now affluent, the couple suffered several personal setbacks; their son Rumbartus died two months after his birth in 1635 and their daughter Cornelia died at just three weeks of age in 1638. In 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month. Only their fourth child, Titus, who was born in 1641, survived into adulthood. Saskia died in 1642 soon after Titus's birth, probably from tuberculosis. Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works.

During Saskia's illness, Geertje Dircx was hired as Titus' caretaker and nurse and also became Rembrandt's lover. She would later charge Rembrandt with breach of promise and was awarded alimony of 200 guilders a year. Rembrandt worked to have her committed for twelve years to an asylum or poorhouse (called a "bridewell") at Gouda, after learning she had pawned jewelry that had once belonged to Saskia and that he had given to her.

In the late 1640s Rembrandt began a relationship with the much younger Hendrickje Stoffels, who had initially been his maid. In 1654 they had a daughter, Cornelia, bringing Hendrickje a summons from the Reformed Church to answer the charge "that she had committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter". She admitted this and was banned from receiving communion. Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council because he was not a member of the Reformed Church. The two were considered legally wed under common law, but Rembrandt had not married Henrickje, so as not to lose access to a trust set up for Titus in the son's mother's will.

Rembrandt lived beyond his means, buying art (including bidding up his own work), prints (often used in his paintings), and rarities, which probably caused a court arrangement to avoid his bankruptcy in 1656, by selling most of his paintings and large collection of antiquities. The sale list survives and gives us a good insight into Rembrandt's collections, which apart from Old Master paintings and drawings included busts of the Roman Emperors, suits of Japanese armor among many objects from Asia, and collections of natural history and minerals; the prices realized in the sales in 1657 and 1658 were disappointing. Rembrandt was forced to sell his house and his printing-press and move to more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht in 1660. The authorities and his creditors were generally accommodating to him, except for the Amsterdam painters' guild, who introduced a new rule that no one in Rembrandt's circumstances could trade as a painter. To get round this, Hendrickje and Titus set up a business as art-dealers in 1660, with Rembrandt as an employee.

In 1661 Rembrandt (or rather the new business) was contracted to complete work for the newly built city hall, but only after Govert Flinck, the artist previously commissioned, died without beginning to paint. The resulting work, ''The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'', was rejected and returned to the painter; the surviving fragment is only a fraction of the whole work. It was around this time that Rembrandt took on his last apprentice, Aert de Gelder. In 1662 he was still fulfilling major commissions for portraits and other works. When Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany came to Amsterdam in 1667, he visited Rembrandt at his house.

Rembrandt outlived both Hendrickje, who died in 1663, and Titus, who died in 1668, leaving a baby daughter. He died within a year of his son, on October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the ''Westerkerk''.

Works

In a letter to Huyghens, Rembrandt offered the only surviving explanation of what he sought to achieve through his art: ''the greatest and most natural movement'', translated from ''de meeste en de natuurlijkste beweegelijkheid''. The word "beweechgelickhijt" is also argued to mean "emotion" or "motive." Whether this refers to objectives, material or otherwise is open to interpretation; either way, Rembrandt seamlessly melded the earthly and spiritual as has no other painter in Western art.

Earlier 20th century connoisseurs claimed Rembrandt had produced over 600 paintings, nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings. More recent scholarship, from the 1960s to the present day (led by the Rembrandt Research Project), often controversially, has winnowed his oeuvre to nearer 300 paintings. His prints, traditionally all called etchings, although many are produced in whole or part by engraving and sometimes drypoint, have a much more stable total of slightly under 300. It is likely Rembrandt made many more drawings in his lifetime than 2,000, but those extant are more rare than presumed. Two experts claim that the number of drawings whose autograph status can be regarded as effectively "certain" is no higher than about 75, although this is disputed. The list was to be unveiled at a scholarly meeting in February 2010.

At one time about ninety paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits, but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include many of the most remarkable images of the group. Some show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself. His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man, through the dapper and very successful portrait-painter of the 1630s, to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age. Together they give a remarkably clear picture of the man, his appearance and his psychological make-up, as revealed by his richly weathered face.

In a number of biblical works, including ''The Raising of the Cross'', ''Joseph Telling His Dreams'' and ''The Stoning of Saint Stephen'', Rembrandt painted himself as a character in the crowd. Durham suggests that this was because the Bible was for Rembrandt "a kind of diary, an account of moments in his own life."

Among the more prominent characteristics of Rembrandt's work are his use of chiaroscuro, the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived from Caravaggio, or, more likely, from the Dutch Caravaggisti, but adapted for very personal means. Also notable are his dramatic and lively presentation of subjects, devoid of the rigid formality that his contemporaries often displayed, and a deeply felt compassion for mankind, irrespective of wealth and age. His immediate family—his wife Saskia, his son Titus and his common-law wife Hendrickje—often figured prominently in his paintings, many of which had mythical, biblical or historical themes.

Periods, themes and styles

Throughout his career Rembrandt took as his primary subjects the themes of portraiture, landscape and narrative painting. For the last, he was especially praised by his contemporaries, who extolled him as a masterly interpreter of biblical stories for his skill in representing emotions and attention to detail. Stylistically, his paintings progressed from the early "smooth" manner, characterized by fine technique in the portrayal of illusionistic form, to the late "rough" treatment of richly variegated paint surfaces, which allowed for an illusionism of form suggested by the tactile quality of the paint itself.

A parallel development may be seen in Rembrandt's skill as a printmaker. In the etchings of his maturity, particularly from the late 1640s onward, the freedom and breadth of his drawings and paintings found expression in the print medium as well. The works encompass a wide range of subject matter and technique, sometimes leaving large areas of white paper to suggest space, at other times employing complex webs of line to produce rich dark tones.

It was during Rembrandt's Leiden period (1625–1631) that Lastman's influence was most prominent. It is also likely that at this time Lievens had a strong impact on his work as well. Paintings were rather small, but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious and allegorical themes were favored, as were tronies. In 1626 Rembrandt produced his first etchings, the wide dissemination of which would largely account for his international fame. In 1629 he completed ''Judas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver'' and ''The Artist in His Studio'', works that evidence his interest in the handling of light and variety of paint application, and constitute the first major progress in his development as a painter. During his early years in Amsterdam (1632–1636), Rembrandt began to paint dramatic biblical and mythological scenes in high contrast and of large format (''The Blinding of Samson'', 1636, ''Belshazzar's Feast'', c. 1635 ''Danaë'', 1636), seeking to emulate the baroque style of Rubens. With the occasional help of assistants in Uylenburgh's workshop, he painted numerous portrait commissions both small (''Jacob de Gheyn III'') and large (''Portrait of the Shipbuilder Jan Rijcksen and his Wife'', 1633, ''Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'', 1632).

By the late 1630s Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings of landscapes. Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies (''Cottages before a Stormy Sky'', c. 1641, ''The Three Trees'', 1643). From 1640 his work became less exuberant and more sober in tone, possibly reflecting personal tragedy. Biblical scenes were now derived more often from the New Testament than the Old Testament, as had been the case before. In 1642 he painted ''The Night Watch'', the most notable of the important group portrait commissions which he received in this period, and through which he sought to find solutions to compositional and narrative problems that had been attempted in previous works.

In the decade following the ''Night Watch'', Rembrandt's paintings varied greatly in size, subject, and style. The previous tendency to create dramatic effects primarily by strong contrasts of light and shadow gave way to the use of frontal lighting and larger and more saturated areas of color. Simultaneously, figures came to be placed parallel to the picture plane. These changes can be seen as a move toward a classical mode of composition and, considering the more expressive use of brushwork as well, may indicate a familiarity with Venetian art (''Susanna and the Elders'', 1637–47). At the same time, there was a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes. In these graphic works natural drama eventually made way for quiet Dutch rural scenes. In the 1650s, Rembrandt's style changed again. Colors became richer and brush strokes more pronounced. With these changes, Rembrandt distanced himself from earlier work and current fashion, which increasingly inclined toward fine, detailed works. His singular approach to paint application may have been suggested in part by familiarity with the work of Titian, and could be seen in the context of the then current discussion of 'finish' and surface quality of paintings. Contemporary accounts sometimes remark disapprovingly of the coarseness of Rembrandt's brushwork, and the artist himself was said to have dissuaded visitors from looking too closely at his paintings. The tactile manipulation of paint may hearken to medieval procedures, when mimetic effects of rendering informed a painting's surface. The end result is a richly varied handling of paint, deeply layered and often apparently haphazard, which suggests form and space in both an illusory and highly individual manner.

In later years biblical themes were still depicted often, but emphasis shifted from dramatic group scenes to intimate portrait-like figures (''James the Apostle'', 1661). In his last years, Rembrandt painted his most deeply reflective self-portraits (from 1652 to 1669 he painted fifteen), and several moving images of both men and women (''The Jewish Bride'', c. 1666)—in love, in life, and before God.

Etchings

Rembrandt produced etchings for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he was forced to sell his printing-press and virtually abandoned etching. Only the troubled year of 1649 produced no dated work. He took easily to etching and, though he also learned to use a burin and partly engraved many plates, the freedom of etching technique was fundamental to his work. He was very closely involved in the whole process of printmaking, and must have printed at least early examples of his etchings himself. At first he used a style based on drawing, but soon moved to one based on painting, using a mass of lines and numerous bitings with the acid to achieve different strengths of line. Towards the end of the 1630s, he reacted against this manner and moved to a simpler style, with fewer bitings. He worked on the so-called ''Hundred Guilder Print'' in stages throughout the 1640s, and it was the "critical work in the middle of his career", from which his final etching style began to emerge. Although the print only survives in two states, the first very rare, evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it. In the mature works of the 1650s, Rembrandt was more ready to improvise on the plate and large prints typically survive in several states, up to eleven, often radically changed. He now uses hatching to create his dark areas, which often take up much of the plate. He also experimented with the effects of printing on different kinds of paper, including Japanese paper, which he used frequently, and on vellum. He began to use "surface tone," leaving a thin film of ink on parts of the plate instead of wiping it completely clean to print each impression. He made more use of drypoint, exploiting, especially in landscapes, the rich fuzzy burr that this technique gives to the first few impressions.

His prints have similar subjects to his paintings, although the twenty-seven self-portraits are relatively more common, and portraits of other people less so. There are forty-six landscapes, mostly small, which largely set the course for the graphic treatment of landscape until the end of the 19th century. One third of his etchings are of religious subjects, many treated with a homely simplicity, whilst others are his most monumental prints. A few erotic, or just obscene, compositions have no equivalent in his paintings. He owned, until forced to sell it, a magnificent collection of prints by other artists, and many borrowings and influences in his work can be traced to artists as diverse as Mantegna, Raphael, Hercules Segers, and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione.

''Night Watch''

Rembrandt painted ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' between 1640 and 1642. This picture was called the ''Nachtwacht'' by the Dutch and the ''Night Watch'' by Sir Joshua Reynolds because by the 18th century the picture was so dimmed and defaced by time that it was almost indistinguishable and it looked quite like a night scene. After it was cleaned, it was discovered to represent broad day—a party of musketeers stepping from a gloomy courtyard into the blinding sunlight.

The piece was commissioned for the new hall of the ''Kloveniersdoelen'', the musketeer branch of the civic militia. Rembrandt departed from convention, which ordered that such genre pieces should be stately and formal, rather a line-up than an action scene. Instead he showed the militia readying themselves to embark on a mission (what kind of mission, an ordinary patrol or some special event, is a matter of debate).

Contrary to what is often said, the work was hailed as a success from the beginning. Parts of the canvas were cut off (approximately 20% from the left hand side was removed) to make the painting fit its new position when it was moved to Amsterdam town hall in 1715; the Rijksmuseum has a smaller copy of what is thought to be the full original composition; the four figures in the front are at the centre of the canvas. The painting is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Expert assessments

In 1968 the Rembrandt Research Project was started under the sponsorship of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Scientific Research; it was initially expected to last a highly optimistic ten years. Art historians teamed up with experts from other fields to reassess the authenticity of works attributed to Rembrandt, using all methods available, including state-of-the-art technical diagnostics, and to compile a complete new catalogue raisonné of his paintings. As a result of their findings, many paintings that were previously attributed to Rembrandt have been removed from their list, although others have been added back. Many of those removed are now thought to be the work of his students.

One example of activity is ''The Polish Rider'', in New York's Frick Collection. Its authenticity had been questioned years before by several scholars, led by Julius Held. Many, including Dr. Josua Bruyn of the Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, attributed the painting to one of Rembrandt's closest and most talented pupils, Willem Drost, about whom little is known. The Frick itself never changed its own attribution, the label still reading "Rembrandt" and not "attributed to" or "school of". More recent opinion has shifted in favor of the Frick, with Simon Schama in his 1999 book ''Rembrandt's Eyes'', and a Rembrandt Project scholar, Ernst van de Wetering (Melbourne Symposium, 1997) both arguing for attribution to the master. Many scholars feel that the execution is uneven, and favour different attributions for different parts of the work.

Another painting, ''Pilate Washing His Hands'', is also of questionable attribution. Critical opinion of this picture has varied since 1905, when Wilhelm von Bode described it as "a somewhat abnormal work" by Rembrandt. Scholars have since dated the painting to the 1660s and assigned it to an anonymous pupil, possibly Arent de Gelder. The composition bears superficial resemblance to mature works by Rembrandt but lacks the master's command of illumination and modeling.

The attribution and re-attribution work is ongoing. In 2005 four oil paintings previously attributed to Rembrandt's students were reclassified as the work of Rembrandt himself: ''Study of an Old Man in Profile'' and ''Study of an Old Man with a Beard'' from a US private collection, ''Study of a Weeping Woman'', owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts, and ''Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a White Bonnet'', painted in 1640.

Rembrandt's own studio practice is a major factor in the difficulty of attribution, since, like many masters before him, he encouraged his students to copy his paintings, sometimes finishing or retouching them to be sold as originals, and sometimes selling them as authorized copies. Additionally, his style proved easy enough for his most talented students to emulate. Further complicating matters is the uneven quality of some of Rembrandt's own work, and his frequent stylistic evolutions and experiments. As well, there were later imitations of his work, and restorations which so seriously damaged the original works that they are no longer recognizable. It is highly likely that there will never be universal agreement as to what does and what does not constitute a genuine Rembrandt.

Name and signature

"Rembrandt" is a modification of the spelling of the artist's first name that he introduced in 1633. Roughly speaking, his earliest signatures (ca. 1625) consisted of an initial "R", or the monogram "RH" (for Rembrant Harmenszoon; i.e. "Rembrant, the son of Harmen"), and starting in 1629, "RHL" (the "L" stood, presumably, for Leiden). In 1632, he used this monogram early in the year, then added his patronymic to it, "RHL-van Rijn", but replaced this form in that same year and began using his first name alone with its original spelling, "Rembrant". In 1633 he added a "d", and maintained this form consistently from then on, proving that this minor change had a meaning for him (whatever it might have been). This change is purely visual; it does not change the way his name is pronounced. Curiously enough, despite the large number of paintings and etchings signed with this modified first name, most of their documents that mentioned him during his lifetime retained the original "Rembrant" spelling. (Note: the rough chronology of signature forms above applies to the paintings, and to a lesser degree to the etchings; from 1632, presumably, there is only one etching signed "RHL-v. Rijn," the large-format "Raising of Lazarus," B 73). His practice of signing his work with his first name, later followed by Vincent van Gogh, was probably inspired by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo who, then as now, were referred to by their first names alone.

Optical theory

A letter published in 2004 by Margaret S. Livingstone, professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, suggests that Rembrandt, whose eyes failed to align correctly, suffered from stereo blindness. This conclusion was made after studying 36 of Rembrandt's self-portraits. Because he could not form a normal binocular vision, his brain automatically switched to one eye for many visual tasks. This disability could have helped him to flatten images he saw, and then put it onto the two-dimensional canvas. Livingstone theorized that this was an advantage for the painter: "Art teachers often instruct students to close one eye in order to flatten what they see. Therefore, stereo blindness might not be a handicap—and might even be an asset—for some artists."

Workshop

It is known that Rembrandt ran a large workshop and had many pupils. His fame was such that important dignitaries visiting Amsterdam wished to buy pieces, and he was more than willing to comply if he could. The list of Rembrandt pupils from his period in Leiden as well as his time in Amsterdam is quite long, mostly because his influence on painters around him was so great that it is difficult to tell whether someone worked for him in his studio or just copied his style for patrons eager to acquire a Rembrandt. A partial list should include Ferdinand Bol, Adriaen Brouwer, Gerrit Dou, Willem Drost, Heiman Dullaart, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Carel Fabritius, Govert Flinck, Hendrick Fromantiou, Arent de Gelder, Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Abraham Janssens, Godfrey Kneller, Philip de Koninck, Jacob Levecq, Nicolaes Maes, Jürgen Ovens, Christopher Paudiß, Willem de Poorter, Jan Victors, and Willem van der Vliet.

Museum collections

The most notable collections of Rembrandt's work are at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, including ''De Nachtwacht'' (''The Night Watch'') and ''Het Joodse bruidje'' (''The Jewish Bride''), The Hague's Mauritshuis, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, the National Gallery, London, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, New York City, Washington, D.C., The Louvre, Nationalmuseum Stockholm and Kassel. His home, preserved as the ''Rembrandt House Museum'' in Amsterdam, displays many examples of his etchings; all major print rooms have the majority of these, although a number exist in only a handful of impressions (copies).

Selected works

''The Stoning of Saint Stephen'' (1625) - Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

''Jacob de Gheyn III'' (1632) - Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

''Andromeda Chained to the Rocks'' (1630) - Mauritshuis, The Hague

''Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' (1632) - Mauritshuis, The Hague

''Artemisia'' (1634) - Oil on canvas, 142 x 152 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid

''Descent from the Cross'' (1634) - Oil on canvas, 158 x 117 cm, looted from the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Germany in 1806, currently Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

''Belshazzar's Feast'' (1635) - National Gallery, London

''The Prodigal Son in the Tavern'' (c. 1635) - Oil on canvas, 161 x 131 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

''Danaë'' (1636–1643) - Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

''The Night Watch'', formally ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' (1642) - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

''Christ Healing the Sick'' (Etching c. 1643, also known as ''The Hundred Guilders Print''), nicknamed for the huge sum paid for it

''The Mill'' (1645/48) - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

''Old Man with a Gold Chain'' ("''Old Man with a Black Hat and Gorget''") (c. 1631) Art Institute of Chicago

''Susanna and the Elders'' (1647) - Oil on panel, 76 x 91 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

''Aristotle contemplating a bust of Homer'' (1653) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

''Bathsheba at Her Bath'' (1654) - Louvre, Paris

''Selfportrait'' (1658) - Frick Collection, New York

''The Three Crosses'' (1660) Etching, fourth state

''Ahasuerus and Haman at the feast of Esther'' (1660) - Pushkin Museum, Moscow

''Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' (1661) - Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (Claudius Civilis led a Dutch revolt against the Romans) (most of the cut up painting is lost, only the central part still exists)

''Syndics of the Drapers' Guild'' (Dutch ''De Staalmeesters'', 1662) - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

''The Jewish Bride'' (1665) - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gallery

Self-portraits

Image:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 144.jpg|Rembrandt in 1632, when he was enjoying great success as a fashionable portraitist in this style Image:Rembrandtselfportraitweb.jpg|Role-playing in ''Self-portrait as an oriental Potentate with a Kris'', etching, 1634 Image:Self portrait leaning on si 373x470.jpg|''Self-portrait leaning on a Sill'', etching, 1639 Image:Self-portrait_at_34_by_Rembrandt.jpg|1640, wearing a costume in the style of over a century earlier. National Gallery, London Image:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 127b.jpg|''Self Portrait'', oil on canvas, 1652. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Image:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 132.jpg|Vienna c. 1655, oil on walnut, cut down in size Image:Rembrandt_-_Self_Portrait111.jpg|Rembrandt — Self Portrait, 1659?, Edinburgh, detail Image:Rembrandt self portrait.jpg|''Self Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar'', 1659. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. File:Rembrandt van rijn-self portrait.jpg|''Self Portrait with Two Circles'', 1660. Kenwood House, London Image:Rembrandt van Rijn 142 version 02.jpg|''Self Portrait as Zeuxis'', c. 1662. One of 2 painted self-portraits in which Rembrandt is turned to the left. Image:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 135.jpg|Dated 1669, the year he died, though he looks much older in other portraits. National Gallery, London

Other works

Notes

References

Ackley, Clifford, et al., ''Rembrandt's Journey'', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2004. ISBN 0-87846-677-0

Bull, Duncan, et al., ''Rembrandt-Caravaggio'', Rijksmuseum, 2006.

Clark, Kenneth, ''Civilisation'', Harper & Row, 1969.

Clark, Kenneth, ''An Introduction to Rembrandt'', 1978, London, John Murray/Readers Union, 1978

Gombrich, E.H., ''The Story of Art'', Phaidon, 1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-x

''The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt Reproduced in Original Size'', Gary Schwartz (editor). New York: Dover, 1988. ISBN 0-486-28181-7

Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting, 1600–1800, Yale UP, 1995, ISBN 0300074514

van de Wetering, Ernst, ''Rembrandt: The Painter at Work'', Amsterdam University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-520-22668-2

''Rembrandt by himself'' (Christopher White — Editor, Quentin Buvelot — Editor) National Gallery Co Ltd [1999]

Christopher White, ''The Late Etchings of Rembrandt'', 1969, British Museum/Lund Humphries, London

Further reading

Catalogue raisonné: Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project:

* ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings — Volume I'', which deals with works from Rembrandt’s early years in Leiden (1629–1631), 1982

* ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings — Volume II: 1631-1634''. Bruyn, J., Haak, B. (et al.), Band 2, 1986, ISBN 978-90-247-3339-2

* ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings — Volume III, 1635-1642''. Bruyn, J., Haak, B., Levie, S.H., van Thiel, P.J.J., van de Wetering, E. (Ed. Hrsg.), Band 3, 1990, ISBN 978-90-247-3781-9

* ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings — Volume IV''. Ernst van de Wetering, Karin Groen et al. Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands (NL). ISBN 1-4020-3280-3. p. 692. (Self-Portraits)

''Rembrandt. Images and metaphors'', Christian Tumpel (editor), Haus Books London 2006 ISBN 978-1-904950-92-9

Van De Wetering, Ernst (2004) (2nd paperback printing). ''The Painter At Work''. University of California Press,Berkley and Los Angeles. University of California Press, London, England. By arrangement with Amsterdam University Press. ISBN O-520-22668-2.

External links

The Times, September 19, 2009">"Rembrandt work unseen for 40 years to be sold" The Times, September 19, 2009

The Guardian, September 18, 2009">"Rembrandt for sale" The Guardian, September 18, 2009

Literature

Rembrandt, The Hundred Guilder Print

Paintings by Rembrandt

A biography of the artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn from the J. Paul Getty Museum

Rembrandt's 'Self-portrait as a young man', at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK

Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits at the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Etchings by Rembrandt at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Rembrandt van Rijn in the "History of Art"

Rembrandt's house in Amsterdam Site has good images of many of his etchings

Web Catalogue of Rembrandt's Paintings Over 600 paintings, including former and disputed attributions, divided into categories.

artistarchive.com over 300 Rembrandt prints with dimensions and reference numbers, many with images.

Boston MFA Good images of almost all of Rembrandt's etchings. ca. 400 images.

Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

Rembrandt Research Project

Webmuseum Paris: Lots of high-resolution scans of his paintings

Encyclopedia Britannica article

Rembrandt van Rijn - Life and Art

Provenance Helpline A play by Jim Grover on art ownership, seen through the eyes of a Rembrandt double portrait.

Biblical art by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn A Themed collection

The Rembrandt Signature Files. Information about Rembrandt's name and signatures.

Rembrandt Privé Documents regarding Rembrandt's life, kept at the Amsterdam City Archives (in Dutch)

Save rembrandt from the experts Saverembrandt.org.uk

Category:Dutch engravers Category:Dutch Golden Age painters Category:Portrait artists Category:People from Leiden Category:People from Amsterdam Category:Leiden University Category:Dutch Golden Age printmakers Category:Members of the Amsterdam Guild of Saint Luke Category:1606 births Category:1669 deaths

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Name	Bugatti
Logo
Fate	Sold to Hispano-Suiza in 1963
Foundation	1909
Founder	Ettore Bugatti
Location	1, Château Saint Jean Dorlisheim 67120 Molsheim France
Key people	Ettore Bugatti (founder) Jean Bugatti
Parent	Volkswagen Group
Industry	Automotive
Products	Automobiles, aeroplane parts
Intl	yes }}

Bugatti was founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti.

Bugattis were well known for the beauty of their designs (Ettore Bugatti was from a family of artists and considered himself to be both an artist and constructor) and for the large number of races they won. The death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 proved to be the end for the marque, and the death of his son Jean in 1939 ensured there wasn't a successor to lead the factory. No more than about 8000 cars were made. The company struggled financially, and released one last model in the 1950s, before eventually being purchased for its airplane parts business in the 1960s. Today the name is owned by Volkswagen Group, who have revived it as a builder of limited production exclusive sports cars.

Under Ettore Bugatti

Founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded in 1909 in the town of Molsheim located in the Alsace. The company was known both for the level of detail of its engineering in its automobiles, and for the artistic way in which the designs were executed, given the artistic nature of Ettore's family (his father, Carlo Bugatti (1856–1940), was an important Art Nouveau furniture and jewelry designer). The company also enjoyed great success in early Grand Prix motor racing, winning the first ever Monaco Grand Prix. The company's success culminated with driver Jean-Pierre Wimille winning the 24 hours of Le Mans twice (in 1937 with Robert Benoist and 1939 with Pierre Veyron).

Famous Bugattis include the Type 35 Grand Prix cars, the Type 41 "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" and the Type 55 sports car.

Design

Bugatti's cars were as much works of art as they were mechanical creations. Engine blocks were hand scraped to ensure that the surfaces were so flat that gaskets were not required for sealing, many of the exposed surfaces of the engine compartment featured Guilloché (engine turned) finishes on them, and safety wires threaded through almost every fastener in intricately laced patterns. Rather than bolt the springs to the axles as most manufacturers did, Bugatti's axles were forged such that the spring passed though a carefully sized opening in the axle, a much more elegant solution requiring fewer parts. He famously described his arch competitor Bentley's cars as "the world's fastest lorries" for focusing on durability. According to Bugatti, "weight was the enemy".

1910–1914 Bugatti Type 13#Type 13

1924–1930 Bugatti Type 35#Type 35

1922–1934 38/40/43/44/49 (touring car)

Prototypes

Racing Cars

Road Cars

Bugatti Type 2#Type 2>Type 2

Bugatti Type 5#Type 5>Type 5

Bugatti Type 10>Type 10 «Petit Pur Sang»

Bugatti Type 36>Type 36

Bugatti Type 40>Type 40

Bugatti Prototypes#Type 41>Type 41

Bugatti Type 45>Type 45/47

Bugatti Type 56>Type 56 (electric car)

Bugatti Type 64>Type 64 (coupe)

Bugatti Type 73>Type 73C

Type 13/Type 15/17/22

Bugatti Type 16#Type 16>Type 16 «Bébé»

Bugatti Type 30#Type 29>Type 29 «Cigare»

Bugatti Type 32>Type 32 «Tank»

Type 35/35A/35B/35T/35C/37/39 «Grand Prix»

*1927–1930 Bugatti Type 52

Type 57G "Tank"

Bugatti Type 50#Type 50 B>Type 50B

Bugatti Type 53>Type 53

Bugatti Type 51#Type 51/51A>Type 51/51A/Bugatti Type 51#Type 54 GP

Type 251

Bugatti Type 13>Type 13

Bugatti Type 18#Type 18>Type 18

*1913–1914 Bugatti Type 23

Bugatti Royale#Type 41>Type 41 «Royale»

Bugatti Type 46#Type 46>Type 46/Bugatti Type 50

Type 55 (roadster)

Bugatti Type 57#Type 57>Type 57/Bugatti Type 57S

Type 101 (coupe)

Bugatti Type 252>Type 252 (2-seater sports convertible)

Racing success

Bugatti cars were extremely successful in racing, with many thousands of victories in just a few decades. The little Bugatti Type 10 swept the top four positions at its first race. The 1924 Bugatti Type 35 is probably the most successful racing car of all time, with over 2,000 wins. Bugattis swept to victory in the Targa Florio for five years straight from 1925 through 1929. Louis Chiron held the most podiums in Bugatti cars, and the 21st century Bugatti company remembered him with a concept car named in his honour. But it was the final racing success at Le Mans that is most remembered—Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron won the 1939 race with just one car and meagre resources.

!Year	!Race	!Driver	!Car
1921	Voiturettes Grand Prix	Ernest Friderich
1925	Targa Florio	Bartolomeo Costantini
1926	French Grand Prix	Jules Goux
	Italian Grand Prix	Louis Charavel
	Spanish Grand Prix	Bartolomeo Costantini
	Targa Florio	Bartolomeo Costantini	Type 35 T
1927	Targa Florio	Emilio Materassi	Type 35 C
1928	French Grand Prix	William Grover-Williams	Type 35 C
	Italian Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Spanish Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Targa Florio	Albert Divo	Type 35 B
1929	French Grand Prix	William Grover-Williams	Type 35 B
	German Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Spanish Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Monaco Grand Prix	William Grover-Williams
	Targa Florio	Albert Divo	Type 35 C
1930	Belgian Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen and Hermann zu Leiningen
	French Grand Prix	Philippe Étancelin	Type 35 C
	Monaco Grand Prix	René Dreyfus
1931	Belgian Grand Prix	William Grover-Williams and Caberto Conelli
	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	French Grand Prix	Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi
	Monaco Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
1932	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
1933	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Louis Chiron
	Monaco Grand Prix	Achille Varzi
1934	Belgian Grand Prix	René Dreyfus
1936	French Grand Prix	Jean-Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer
1937	24 hours of Le Mans	Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist	Type 57 G
1939	24 hours of Le Mans	Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron	Type 57 C

Bugatti in Formula One

(key)

Year

! Chassis

! Engine(s)

! Tires

! Drivers

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! Points

! WCC

rowspan="2"

1956 Argentine Grand Prix>ARG

MON

1956 Indianapolis 500>500

BEL

1956 French Grand Prix>FRA

GBR

1956 German Grand Prix>GER

Maurice Trintignant

* The World Constructors' Championship was not awarded before 1958.

Aviation

The Bugatti 100P

In the 1930s, Ettore Bugatti got involved in the creation of a racer airplane, hoping to beat the Germans in the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. This would be the Bugatti 100P, which never flew. It was designed by Belgian engineer Louis de Monge who had already applied Bugatti Brescia engines in his "Type 7.5" lifting body.

Railways

Ettore Bugatti also designed a successful motorised railcar, the ''Autorail'' (Autorail Bugatti).

The end

His son, Jean Bugatti, was killed on 11 August 1939 at the age of 30, while testing a Type 57 tank-bodied race car near the Molsheim factory. Subsequently the company's fortunes began to decline. World War II ruined the factory in Molsheim, and the company lost control of the property. During the war, Bugatti planned a new factory at Levallois in the northwestern suburbs of Paris and designed a series of new cars, including the Type 73 road car and Type 73C single seater racing car (5 built). After World War II, a 375 cc supercharged car was canceled when Ettore Bugatti died on 21 August 1947. The business underwent a lingering demise, making its last appearance as a business in its own right at a Paris Motor Show in October 1952.

The company attempted a comeback under Roland Bugatti in the mid-1950s with the mid-engined Type 251 race car. Designed with help from Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Maserati designer Gioacchino Colombo, the car failed to perform to expectations, and the company's attempts at automobile production were halted.

In the 1960s, Virgil Exner designed a Bugatti as part of his "Revival Cars" project. A show version of this car was actually built by Ghia using the last Bugatti Type 101 chassis, and was shown at the 1965 Turin Motor Show. Finance was not forthcoming, and Exner then turned his attention to a revival of Stutz.

Bugatti continued manufacturing airplane parts and was sold to Hispano-Suiza (another auto maker turned aircraft supplier) in 1963. Snecma took over in 1968, later acquiring Messier. The two were merged into Messier-Bugatti in 1977.

Recent news about Bugattis

On 2 January 2009, it was revealed that a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante had been found in the garage of a deceased surgeon in England. Only 17 of this model were made, all by hand.

On 10 July 2009, a 1925 Bugatti Brescia Type 22 which had lain at the bottom of Lake Maggiore on the border of Switzerland and Italy for 75 years was lifted out of the water. The Mullin Museum in Oxnard, California bought it at auction for $351,343 at Bonham's Retromobile sale in Paris in 2010.

Bugatti brand used afterwards

Bugatti Automobili SpA

Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli acquired the Bugatti name in 1987, and established Bugatti Automobili SpA. The new company built a factory designed by the architect Giampaolo Benedini in Campogalliano, Italy, a town near Modena, home to other performance-car manufacturers De Tomaso, Ferrari, Pagani and Maserati.

By 1989 the plans for the new Bugatti revival were presented by Paolo Stanzani and Marcello Gandini, famous designers of the Lamborghini Miura and Countach. The first completed car was labelled the Bugatti EB110 GT, advertised as the most technically advanced sports car ever produced.

From 1992 through 1994 famed racing car designer Mauro Forghieri was technical director.

On 27 August 1993, through his holding company, ACBN Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, Romano Artioli purchased the Lotus car company from General Motors. The acquisition brought together two of the greatest historical names in automotive racing, and plans were made for listing the company's shares on international stock exchanges. Bugatti also presented in 1993 the prototype of a large saloon called the EB112.

By the time the EB110 came to market the North American and European economies were in recession, and operations ceased in September 1995. A model specific to the United States market called the "Bugatti America" was in the preparatory stages when the company closed. Bugatti's liquidators sold Lotus to Proton of Malaysia.

In 1997 German manufacturer Dauer Racing bought the EB110 license and remaining parts stock to Bugatti in order to produce five more EB110 SS units, although they were greatly refined by Dauer. The factory was later sold to a furniture-making company, which also collapsed before they were able to move in, leaving the building unoccupied. The company Dauer Sportwagen stopped producing Supercars. All original Bugatti parts especially the high performance parts of the EB110SS and the equipment were bought in 2011 by the company Toscana-Motors GmbH (Kaiserslautern/Germany).

Perhaps the most famous Bugatti EB110 owner was racing driver Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula One World Champion, who bought the EB110 in 1994 while racing for the Benetton team. In 2003 Schumacher sold the car—which had been repaired after a severe crash the year he bought it—to Modena Motorsport, a Ferrari service and race preparation garage in Germany.

Bugatti Automobiles

Volkswagen AG purchased the rights to produce cars under the Bugatti marque in 1998. They commissioned ItalDesign to produce the Bugatti EB118 concept, a touring saloon (sedan), which featured a , and the first W-configuration 16-cylinder engine in any passenger vehicle, at the Paris Auto Show.

In 1999, the Bugatti EB 218 concept was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show; later that year the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). At the Tokyo Motor Show, the EB 218 reappeared, and the Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron was presented as the first incarnation of what was to be a production road car.

See also

Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, home of the Schlumpf Collection of Bugatti cars

Bugatti Type 8

Autorail Bugatti

References

External links

Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.

Bugatti bibliography

The Bugatti Trust

Bugatti at LeMans

Category:Car manufacturers of France Category:Car manufacturers of Germany Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of France Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Category:Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Category:Sports car manufacturers Category:Formula One constructors Category:Formula One entrants Category:Grand Prix teams Category:French auto racing teams Category:French racecar constructors Category:Companies established in 1909 Category:Luxury brands Category:Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of France Category:Luxury vehicles Category:Volkswagen Group

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name	Talk That Talk
type	Studio
artist	Rihanna
cover	Talk That Talk - Rihanna.jpg
border	yes
released
recorded	February – November 2011;Los Angeles, Brentwood, Hollywood and Newport Coast, California; Paris, France; Oslo, Norway; London, England; New York City, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Copenhagen, Denmark; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Hamburg and Frankfurt, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden
genre	R&B;, dance-pop, pop
length	f(Standard) (Deluxe)
label	Def Jam, SRP
producer	Alex da Kid, Mr. Bangladesh, Calvin Harris, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers (co-exec.), Chase & Status, Cirkut, Da Internz, Dr. Luke, Ester Dean, Gareth McGrillen, Hit-Boy, No I.D., Priscilla Renea, Rihanna (exec.), Rob Swire, Stargate, The-Dream
last album	''Loud''(2010)
this album	''Talk That Talk''(2011)
misc	}}

''Talk That Talk'' is the sixth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, released on November 21, 2011 through Def Jam Recordings. The album was recorded from February 2011 to November 2011. As the executive producer of the album, Rihanna enlisted a variety of producers to collaborate with including Alex da Kid, Mr. Bangladesh, Calvin Harris, Dr. Luke, Stargate and The-Dream. Sonically, the album is rooted in R&B;, dance-pop and pop, but also incorporates a variety of other genres such as hip hop, electro house and dubstep.

Two singles were released preceding the album's release: "We Found Love" and "You Da One". The former premiered on Capital FM radio on September 22, 2011, and quickly became Rihanna's eleventh number one hit in the US, placing her in third place alongside Whitney Houston for the female artist with the most number-one singles on the chart, behind Madonna and Mariah Carey. "We Found Love" remained atop the chart for ten nonconsecutive weeks, replacing "Umbrella" as Rihanna's most successful run on the Hot 100 to date. Conversely, "You Da One", released on November 13, 2011, was moderately successful both in the United States and internationally, peaking at fourteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album's third single, the eponymous "Talk That Talk," was released on January 17, 2012. The song, which features a verse from Jay-Z, has so far peaked at thirty-one on the Hot 100. Additionally, a remix of "Birthday Cake" featuring recording artist Chris Brown was released as the fourth US single on March 6, 2012, and has since reached 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs.

Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its musical direction and dance tracks, but were ambivalent towards its composition and lyrics. The album debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 198,000 copies in the United States. As of March 2012, the album had sold 779,400 copies in the United States. . ''Talk That Talk'' debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling more than 163,000 copies in its first week. On December 9, 2011 the album was certified two-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 copies in the UK.

Background and development

Following the release and success of Rihanna's previous studio album, ''Loud'', the singer revealed via Twitter that the album would be re-issued with new songs and released in fall 2011, writing that "[t]he [''Loud'' era] continues with more new music to add to [your] collection". In September 2011, Rihanna took to Twitter to confirm that plans for a re-issue of ''Loud'' had been scrapped, with the singer tweeting "I [thought about] a [re-release], but LOUD is its own body of work! Plus [you] guys work so [fucking] hard that [you] deserve to act brand new."

In an interview with ''Mixtape Daily'', producer Verse Simmonds, half of the duo The Jugganauts, who wrote and produced the reggae-infused song "Man Down" from ''Loud'', revealed that the singer was nearing completion of her sixth studio album in August 2011. The duo also said that they had penned two tracks for possible inclusion on the album, saying "From what I understand, she is closing the album up now, and we did two records for her that she really, really loved and I'm really excited about them as well" and also expressed interest in writing a third song. On September 15, 2011, Rihanna confirmed via her official Twitter account that recording sessions for the album were indeed underway, tweeting "I can't wait to start filling u guys in on some details!" The tweet was soon followed up by another, where Rihanna tweeted "*Zips lips*," implying that she would no longer talk about the project's development. Although the tweet suggested that the singer would not give any more details about the album, a fan tweeted to Rihanna asking when the album would be released, to which she replied, "THIS FALL!!!!! [''sic'']."

Title and artwork

Rihanna created a Facebook campaign page entitled "Rihanna: UNLOCKED" [''sic''], whereby her fans on Facebook are given missions to complete, in the form of games, in order to "unlock" new information about the album. On October 4, 2011, fans unlocked "Mission:5", which meant that fans had unlocked another piece of information from the album, with number five revealing the title of the album. The title, ''Talk That Talk'', was announced via her official Facebook page. On October 10, 2011, after the Loud Tour concert in Glasgow, Scotland, Rihanna gave a copy of the album's artwork to a fan. The singer later tweeted to explain that the fan she gave the copy to was the only person outside of the singer's management to have seen the artwork up until that point, writing "One very lucky fan outside my concert just got the 1st album cover! She's the 1st to see it! Only 1 person in the world has it". The following day, fans unlocked "Mission:6" via the singer's official Facebook page, which resulted in Rihanna officially unveiling two artwork covers for the standard and deluxe editions of the album. The standard edition artwork features Rihanna "[licking] her coral red hued lips, posing in a camouflage sleeveless shirt with the album title tattoed on her right arm".

Upon on unveiling of the standard edition's artwork, both James Dinh of MTV and a reviewer for ''NME'' commented that Rihanna looks "seductive" in the image. Gordon Smart of ''The Sun'' humorously criticized the standard edition artwork by saying that it looks as though the singer is trying to cover up a cold sore with her tongue, writing "It's easy to pick them up at this time of year – especially as she's constantly naked or attached to her new boyfriend Dudley O'Shaughnessy by the lips." Smart continued, writing "Let's hope they had some decent soap on set to remove the album title Talk That Talk from her wrist as well". The deluxe edition artwork shows the singer "[blowing] out a puff of smoke" and is shot in black and white. ''Rap-Up'' commented that the deluxe edition artwork features Rihanna blowing smoke out of her mouth whilst staring into the camera with "piercing eyes". Amanda Hensel of Popcrush noted that Rihanna is French inhaling the cigarette smoke, which involves expelling smoke from the mouth and inhaling it through the nostrils. Hensel also commented that the singer looks "fierce" in both the standard and deluxe edition covers.

Composition

Songs and lyrics

''Talk That Talk'' combines a variety of musical genres such as hip hop, R&B;, indie pop, house, electro, dancehall and dubstep, a genre first incorporated on Rihanna's fourth studio album, ''Rated R'' (2009). The opening track, "You Da One", which was produced by Dr. Luke, is a bouncy mid-tempo song with a Caribbean flavor, and features a dubstep influenced breakdown towards the middle of the song. "Where Have You Been", produced by Dr. Luke and Ester Dean, runs through an acoustic beat and incorporates elements of trance. The lead single, "We Found Love", is an electro house and dance-pop song. The title track, "Talk That Talk" features rapper Jay-Z and samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "I Got a Story to Tell". The fifth track, "Cockiness (Love It)", was produced by Bangladesh features hip hop and dancehall influences. The sixth track, "Birthday Cake", produced by Da Internz and The-Dream, is an interlude lasting one minute and eighteen seconds. It runs through a distorted electro beat. The seventh track, "We All Want Love", is an indie rock song with shaking drum beats. The eighth track, "Drunk On Love", was produced by longtime collaborators Stargate and Ester Dean features elements of trance influenced beats and clattering synths. It samples the song "Intro", originally written and performed by English band The xx. The tenth track, "Watch n' Learn", features a flirtatious and playful hip hop melody with grinding synths. The final standard edition track of the album, "Farewell", is a ballad. "Red Lipstick", which is a deluxe edition bonus track, is a dubstep song produced by Chase & Status and The-Dream and features co-production from Rihanna. The second bonus track of the album, "Do Ya Thang", is an R&B; song co-produced by The-Dream and Rihanna. The final bonus track of the deluxe edition album, "Fool in Love", is a midtempo rhapsodic ballad with acoustic guitars.

Singles

"We Found Love", featuring Calvin Harris, was released as the lead single from the album. It premiered in the United Kingdom on Capital FM radio on September 22, 2011, and was released the same day, and was sent for US mainstream radio adds on October 11, 2011. Critics praised Harris's production of the song, but criticized the lack of lyrical content, with many citing the lyrics as second best to the song's production and composition. Rihanna filmed the video for the song on September 26, 2011, in a field in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, and premiered on Whosay.com on October 19, 2011 "We Found Love" debuted at number 16 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, and has peaked at number one, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the shortest amount of time. and tying her with Whitney Houston in third place amongst females with the most number one singles on the chart, behind Madonna, and Mariah Carey. The song also peaked at number one in Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom, and attained top-five positions in Australia, Finland and Italy. Priya Elan of ''NME'' praised Rihanna's vocals as "extremely relaxed" and "luxurious", whilst Amos Barshad of Grantland criticized the singer's vocals, calling them a "complete afterthought" and second to Harris's production.

"You Da One" was confirmed by ''Rap-Up'' to be the second single from the album, being released on November 13, 2011. The singer appears smoking a cigarette on the single's black-and-white cover art. It has so far reached number 14 on the ''Billboard Hot 100''. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy noted that the song features elements of reggae. The song also received comparisons to some of Rihanna's previous singles "What's My Name?" and "Man Down", which also prominently feature reggae and dancehall compositions.

On December 29, 2011; the singer took to her Twitter account to ask fans what the next single should be. Four hours later she tweeted that she had made the decision. It was confirmed on Twitter via a single cover that the title track is to be released as the third single.. It officially impacted Urban radio in the U.S. on January 17, 2012. It later officially impacted Top 40/Mainstream and Rhythmic radio on February 14, 2012. It was released in France on March 26, 2012.

On February 20, 2012; The full length version of "Birthday Cake" featuring former boyfriend Chris Brown, premiered online to coincide with Rihanna's 24th birthday. It officially impacted Urban radio in the U.S. on March 6, 2012 as the fourth U.S. single from the album.

"Where Have You Been" will be released as the fifth single. It will officially impact Top 40/Mainstream radio in the U.S. on May 8, 2012.. It will be released in the UK in June 2012. Upon the release of ''Talk That Talk'', "Where Have You Been" charted at number 47 on the Irish Singles Chart on November 27, 2011. The following day, the song debuted at numbers 8 and 61 on the UK Dance Chart and UK Singles Chart, respectively.

Other charted songs

"Cockiness (Love It)" debuted on multiple world charts. The song debuted on the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number 62 on November 26, 2011, with sales of 6,918 digital downloads. In the United Kingdom, "Cockiness (Love It)" debuted at number 33 on the UK R&B; Chart on November 27, 2011. It also debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 121 in the chart issue December 3, 2011. In the United States, the song debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 17 in the chart issue December 10, 2011.

Reception

Critical response

''Talk That Talk'' received generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64 based on 27 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Andy Kellman from Allmusic was positive on the album and worte: "Behind Good Girl Gone Bad and Rated R, this is Rihanna's third best album to date. Minus the fluff, it's close to the latter's equal." In his consumer guide for MSN Music, Robert Christgau called the album "pop without shame–her hookiest and most dance-targeted album" and commended the lyrics for "celebrat[ing] the relationship of sex to love rather than pain", stating "Associating carnality with love as I do, I prefer it to her earlier albums because I find its many porny moments titillating." Melissa Maerz of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the album a positive review, commenting that "it's a relief to find that on her blissed-out sixth album, ... [Rihanna's] stopped trying to play it so tough", while also noting, "...apparently love has never come so easily to RiRi, whose new song titles include 'We Found Love', 'We All Want Love' and (yes) 'Drunk On Love'. Is she finally admitting that being young and crushed-out on someone might feel, y'know, kind of fun?"

James Lachno of ''The Daily Telegraph'' echoed this sentiment, stating Rihanna's "sixth album in seven years [is] an adrenalised behemoth of a record which reasserts her position as one of pop's most compulsive pleasures" and "[t]he demons from her relationship with Chris Brown now sound fully exorcised – Rihanna sings as if she is in love with life, and wants to bring us along for the party." Jason Lipshutz of ''Billboard'' also gave the album a positive review, but commented on its feeling of having been "rushed". "After reclaiming her crown on ''Loud''... Rihanna is not about to take any sort of break to let her pop princess competitors catch up" He also said, "[''Talk That Talk'' is] an oddly rushed-out release to the objective music fan. Why not wait a bit and let the buzz of ''Loud'' set in?."

Steve Jones of ''USA Today'' gave the album a positive review saying, "[she] may talk dirty when she's trying to lure you into the bedroom or out on the dance floor ... when driven by the intoxicating rhythms ... [she] compels you to listen. So while she revels in satisfying her carnal desires, she also craves a little genuine affection ... but probably the most potent ingredient in the mix is the Barbadian singer's charisma." Jon Caramanica of ''The New York Times'' concluded that ''Talk That Talk'' places Rihanna "squarely at the center of the pop genre best suited for a singer of her fundamental evanescence — dance music, which conveniently is the mode du jour of contemporary R&B; and pop." Caramanica also wrote that the album was the "blithest Rihanna album" and noted "It has none of the dark, wounded subtext of her more recent albums."

Randall Roberts of the ''Los Angeles Times'' expressed dissatisfaction with the themes of the album stating, "The singer works that NC-17 territory, but the sauciness sometimes borders on shtick. With an eye toward Middle America, it's mostly just insinuation. Matthew Cole from Slant Magazine gave the album 2.5 stars out of 5, saying it is "pretty easily the worst Rihanna album yet, though I wouldn't be surprised to see her break that record next November". Mark Graham of VH1 called the album "the dirtiest 'pop' record we have ever heard". However, Graham praised the track "Where Have You Been," stating that it "will almost certainly be Rihanna’s biggest club smash since "Don’t Stop the Music". Lindsay Zoladz from Pitchfork gave the album a mixed review and commented: "2011 found plenty of pop artists still breathing new life into the format: "Beyoncé Knowles's ''4'' and Lady Gaga's ''Born This Way'' were probably the most solid examples – two bombastic records that also explore the nuance of their respective artists' personas. Talk That Talk tries too hard to send a more one-dimensional message and ends up falling flat".

Danny Walker of ''RWD Magazine'' gave Rihanna a relatively good review stating, "This is a short and (very) sweet outing from the Bajan boss..." A negative review was given by David Amidon of the website PopMatters, who graded the album with 3 out of 10 stars and noted: "It's sure to sell on brand recognition alone, but I doubt a series of mannered and soulless hooks are going to find much life outside of the European remix circuit."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 198,000 copies in the United States, slightly below her last album, which also debuted at number three with 207,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold an additional 68,200 copies in the United States, dropping to number 7 on the charts and bringing its total sales to 266,400 units sold. As of March 25, 2012, the album had sold 779,400 copies in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 300,000 units after six days of sale. ''Talk That Talk'' debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling more than 163,000 copies in its first week. With the album and "We Found Love" both at number one, it made Rihanna the only female artist in the UK to simultaneously have a number one single and album twice in the same year with a different album and single. The other double chart topper being "What's My Name?" and ''Loud'' in January 2011. On December 9, 2011 the album was certified two-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 copies in the UK. It was the second biggest selling R&B; / hip hop album of 2011 in the UK, only beaten by Rihanna's previous album, ''Loud'' (2010).

Tour

In an interview with Capital FM, Rihanna said that she would start touring again in 2013 but first wanted to pursue an acting career. However, she said that the tour would be "bigger and More Impactful" than her previous tour the Loud Tour which ran from June 4th 2011-22nd December 2011

Track listing

The standard edition is packaged in a jewel case and contains 11 tracks. The deluxe edition is packaged in an 8-panel Digipak and contains the standard 11 tracks as well as three bonus tracks, a 16-page booklet, a poster, two album cover cards, and a perfume sample–the perfume sample is only packaged with the US deluxe edition.

;Sample credits

"Where Have You Been" contains elements from the composition "I've Been Everywhere" written by Geoff Mack.

"Talk That Talk" contains samples from The Notorious B.I.G. recording "I Got a Story to Tell" written by Anthony Best, Sean Combs, Carl Thompson and Christopher Wallace.

"Cockiness (Love It)" contains samples from Greg Kinnear's performance of "Summertime" in the 2003 film "Stuck On You", originally performed by Billy Stewart, written by DuBose Heyward.

"Drunk on Love" contains samples from the recording "Intro" as performed by The xx and written by Baria Qureshi, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith.

"Red Lipstick" contains interpolations from the composition "Wherever I May Roam" as performed by Metallica and written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Contains a sample from the sound recording "Saxon" performed by Chase & Status and written by William Kennard and Saul Milton.

Personnel

Credits for ''Talk That Talk'' deluxe edition:

Musicians

Robyn Rihanna Fenty – Vocals, executive producer

Shawn Carter - Vocals

Calvin Harris - Vocals

Steve Wyreman - Bass, guitar

Nuno Bettencourt - Guitar

Production

Mike Anderson - Engineer

Ester Dean - Producer

Erik Madrid - Mixing assistant

Ciarra Pardo - Art direction, creative director

Marcos Tovar - Engineer, mixer, vocal engineer

Gabriela Schwartz - Marketing

Chris Galland - Mixing assistant

Da Internz - Producer

Aubry "Big Juice" Delaine - Engineer

Tor Erik Hermansen - Instrumentation

Maynard James Keenan;- Fluids and positive vibrations

The xx - Instrumentation

Sean Combs - Composer

Sam Holland - Engineer

Hit-Boy - Producer

Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young - Vocal engineer

Alejandra Barajas - Assistant engineer, assistant

Calvin Bailiff - Mixing assistant

T.E. Hermansen - Composer

Alex da Kid - Producer

Skylar - Engineer

JP Robinson - Art direction

John Hill - Programming, engineering

Shondrae "Mr. Bangladesh" Crawford - Composer, programming, instrumentation, producer

TT - Assistant

Alex Barajas - Assistant

Terius "The-Dream" Nash - Composer, producer

Cling Gibbs - Engineer

Mikkel S. Eriksen - Composer, engineer, instrumentation

Omar Loya - Assistant engineer

Omar Grant - A&R;

Abou Thiam - A&R;

Yusef Stephens - Hair stylist

Ursula Stephens - Hair stylist

Tyron Machhausen - Makeup

Mel Ottenberg - Wardrobe

Katie Mitzell - Production coordination

Jonathan Sher - Assistant engineer, assistant

Jennifer Rosales - - Assistant engineer, assistant

Daniella Rivera - Engineer, assistant engineer

Chris Sclafani - Assistant engineer, assistant

Ludovick Tartavelo - Assistant engineer

Cirkut - Programming, instrumentation, producer

Manny Marroquin - Mixing

Carl Sturken - Executive producer

Phil Tan - Mixing

Pat Thrall - Engineer

Lars Ulrich - Composer

Serban Ghenea - Mixing

Scott Marcus - A&R;

No I.D. - Producer

Kuk Hurrell - Engineer, vocal producer, vocal engineer

Deborah Mannis-Gardner - Sample clearance

Ellen von Unwerth - Photography

Stargate - Producer

Kevin Randolph - Composer, keyboards

Danny D. - Executive producer

Dr. Luke - Programming, producer, instrumentation

John Hanes - Mixing, mixing engineer

Fabian Marasciullo - Mixing

Chris Gheringer - Mastering

Phil Seaford - Mixing assistant, assistant

Kevin "KD" Davis - Mixing

Terese Joseph - A&R;

Eric Wong - Marketing

Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald - Composer

Rob Kinelski - Engineer

Irene Richter - Production coordination

Miles Walker - Engineer

Carol Corless - Package production

Chase & Status - Producer

Jay Brown - A&R;

Dan Tobiason - Assistant

Calvin Harris - Composer, programming, producer, engineer, mixing, instrumentation

Tim Blacksmith - Executive producer

Damien Lewis - Mixing assistant

Ghazi Hourani - Mixing assistant

Evan Rogers - Executive producer

James Hetfield - Composer

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peakposition
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Canadian Albums Chart
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Irish Albums Chart
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UK Albums Chart
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Year-end charts

Chart (2011)	Position
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German Albums Chart
Hungarian Albums Chart
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Swiss Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart

Certifications

!Country (Provider)	List of music recording certifications>Certification
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Europe (IFPI)
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Germany (BVMI)
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Spain (PROMUSICAE)
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Singles

1 12 30< — 41

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"	Title	Year	Peak chart positions										! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"		! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
"We Found Love"(featuring Calvin Harris)		2	3	|	1	1	1	1	1	1	1		*AUS: 5× Platinum	*GER: Gold	*NZ: 3× Platinum	*SWI: 2× Platinum	*UK: Platinum	*US: 3× Platinum
scope="row">"You Da One"	26	39	|	23	—	12	10	49	16	14		*AUS: Platinum<		*NZ: Gold	*US: Platinum
scope="row">"Talk That Talk (song)	Talk That Talk"(featuring Jay-Z)		28	—		|	24	—	38	37	11	25	31		* AUS: Gold
scope="row">"Birthday Cake (song)#Remix featuring Chris Brown	Birthday Cake"(featuring Chris Brown)	—	—	|	—	—	—	—	—	172	30
scope="row"	"Where Have You Been"	46	—	|	—	—	47	—	38	61	65

Release history

scope="col"	Region	Date	Format(s)	Label	Edition(s)
Australia		Compact Disc	CD, digital download	rowspan="5"
Germany
Ireland			Standard
Poland
Canada
France	rowspan="2"
Italy
United Kingdom
United States	Def Jam
Japan
India
Colombia	December 1, 2011
Indonesia	December 2, 2011	CD	Standard
China	January 9, 2012	CD, digital download	Standard, deluxe

References

External links

''Talk That Talk'' at Metacritic

Category:2011 albums Category:Albums produced by Alex da Kid Category:Albums produced by Bangladesh Category:Albums produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers Category:Albums produced by Chase & Status Category:Albums produced by Dr. Luke Category:Albums produced by Hit-Boy Category:Albums produced by No I.D. Category:Albums produced by Stargate Category:Albums produced by The-Dream Category:Def Jam Recordings albums Category:English-language albums Category:Rihanna albums Category:Albums certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association Category:Albums certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry Category:Roc Nation albums

ar:تكلم ذلك الكلام (ريانا ألبوم) bg:Talk That Talk ca:Talk That Talk cs:Talk That Talk de:Talk That Talk es:Talk That Talk fr:Talk That Talk fur:Talk That Talk ko:Talk That Talk hy:Talk That Talk hr:Talk That Talk id:Talk That Talk it:Talk That Talk he:Talk That Talk hu:Talk That Talk nl:Talk That Talk no:Talk That Talk pl:Talk That Talk pt:Talk That Talk ro:Talk That Talk ru:Talk That Talk sk:Talk That Talk sh:Talk That Talk fi:Talk That Talk tr:Talk That Talk uk:Talk That Talk vi:Talk That Talk

Name	Lex Luger
Names	Lex Luger
Height
Weight
Birth date	June 02, 1958
Birth place	Buffalo, New York
Billed	Chicago, Illinois (NWA/WCW)Atlanta, Georgia (WWF/WWE)
Trainer	Bob RoopHiro MatsudaBarry Windham
Debut	September 1985
Retired	September 18, 2006 }}

Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl (pronounced "Foal") (born June 2, 1958), better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy. He is best known for his work with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

Among other accolades in professional wrestling, Luger is a three-time world champion, having held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once; a record-tying five-time NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, and the longest-reigning champion in history; and the 1994 WWF Royal Rumble winner (with Bret Hart). Readers of ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' voted Luger the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year 1993.

Football career

Luger attended high school and played football in Orchard Park, New York. He then attended Pennsylvania State University on a football scholarship, but transferred to the University of Miami after his freshman year. A talented soccer player and lifelong fan of English soccer team Manchester United, Luger considered changing sports for some time but eventually decided his skills would be better suited to football. After sitting out the 1978 season, he started the 1979 season as a defensive tackle until his scholarship was terminated. He was joined at Miami by Jim Kelly, Jim Burt, Mitch Guittar, and Fred Marion among others. Upon leaving Miami, he played professional football for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He then signed with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, but never played in a game and thus is not listed on their all-time roster, though he did spend the entire 1982 season on the team's injured reserve list with a groin problem incurred during training camp. He returned to the Packers training camp in 1983, but he was released before the regular season began. In 1984, Luger finished his football career playing in the United States Football League for the Memphis Showboats. He also played for the Jacksonville Bulls and the Tampa Bay Bandits in the USFL, where he was a teammate with future WCW rival Ron Simmons.

Professional wrestling career

NWA Florida (1985–1986)

In 1985, Luger met Bob Roop at a celebrity golfing event in Florida and was given the chance to get into professional wrestling as Roop was greatly impressed with Luger's powerful bodybuilder physique. Roop arranged for Luger to be trained by Hiro Matsuda, who had previously trained Hulk Hogan and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. Luger adopted the ring name "Lex Luger", being a fan of the comic book villain Lex Luthor, and made his in-ring debut in September 1985. He was featured alongside Percy Pringle and Rick Rude.

Luger began wrestling in the NWA Florida territory. He got his first victory on October 31, 1985 against Ed "The Bull" Gantner and won the Southern Heavyweight Championship from Wahoo McDaniel the next month. On September 1, 1986, he fought NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair for the title at a show ''Battle of the Belts'', which resulted in a 60-minute draw. As a result, Flair retained the title. Towards the end of his run in Florida, Luger was involved in a steel cage match with Bruiser Brody, where Brody stopped cooperating, leading to Luger leaving the match.

National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling (1987–1992)

Four Horsemen (1987–1988)

In 1987, Luger went to work for Jim Crockett's World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner, with the nickname "The Total Package" and began using "The Human Torture Rack", an Argentine backbreaker, as his finisher. He was first booked as an associate to Ric Flair's "Four Horsemen" stable until Ole Anderson was kicked out and he became an official member of the group. Luger started wrestling as a heel. His first big feud was with Nikita Koloff, whom he defeated for his first NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on July 11, 1987. Manager J.J. Dillon threw a chair over the top of the cage while the referee, Earl Hebner, was down. Luger knocked Koloff unconscious with it and then lifted up Koloff in the Torture Rack. A revived Hebner then dropped Koloff's arm three times with no response and awarded Luger a submission victory.

He held the title until NWA's first pay-per-view event Starrcade in November, when he dropped it to Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage. This loss set the stage for Luger leaving the Four Horsemen, as manager Dillon's interference cost Luger the match. A steel chair thrown in by Dillon was dropped by Luger and Rhodes DDT'd Luger on it prior to pinning him for the win. Luger left the Four Horsemen in 1988 after he and his stablemates (Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and Dillon) were the sole wrestlers left in a Bunkhouse Stampede battle royal and Dillon asked the other wrestlers to eliminate themselves so he could win. Although Blanchard and Anderson complied, Luger refused and eliminated Dillon, leaving the Horsemen in the process.

Feuding with the Horsemen (1988–1989)

Luger turned babyface and befriended Barry Windham, his former Florida ally. They formed a tag team, dubbed "The Twin Towers". "The Twin Towers" first teamed on March 27, 1988 at ''Clash of the Champions'' to defeat Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Only a few weeks after the title win, a swerve took place in the NWA with Windham suddenly turning on Luger during a title defense (against Blanchard and Anderson) and joining his former stable, The Four Horsemen. Days later, the Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held with its first night in Greenville, South Carolina. A partner-less Luger was teamed with Sting (whose partner Ronnie Garvin had been kayfabe injured) and the impromptu team won the entire tournament, defeating Blanchard and Anderson in the finals.

Luger began a feud with the Four Horsemen and Windham. He began hunting their leader Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At the June 8 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', it was announced that Luger would challenge Flair for the NWA title at The Great American Bash on July 10 in Baltimore. The contract was signed on a yacht with Flair delivering the line "You gotta make it to Baltimore..." to Luger. As Luger arrived at ''The Clash'' in a limousine he was attacked by The Four Horsemen, leaving him (kayfabe) injured and bleeding in the parking lot on live television. While Luger had Flair in the "Torture Rack" and Flair was about to submit, the match was abruptly stopped by the referee who cited (kayfabe) "Maryland State Athletic Commission" rules about a cut that had opened up on Luger's forehead "bleeding excessively". Luger faced Flair in many rematches across the country, never winning the title. The Luger/Flair feud came to an end after December's Starrcade 1988: True Gritt where Flair pinned Luger in a rematch main event for the NWA title by illegally using the ropes.

United States Heavyweight Champion (1989–1990)

He was then matched up against old foe Barry Windham at The Chi-Town Rumble winning his second NWA United States Heavyweight Championship from him. Luger defended the U.S. Championship regularly. One of his major title defenses was against Jack Victory in a dark match on the April 2, 1989 edition of ''Clash of the Champions''.

He teamed up with Michael P.S. Hayes against Barry and Kendall Windham in a match which saw Hayes turn on Luger, setting himself as a contender to the U.S. Title. Hayes defeated Luger for the US title at WrestleWar 1989: Music City Showdown when a surprise appearance by Hayes's ex-Freebird teammate Terry Gordy helped cost Luger the match. Luger regained the U.S. Title from Hayes in a rematch a couple of weeks later, beginning a heel turn when he broke the rules by pulling Hayes's tights while pinning Hayes to win the match. The turn became "official" shortly after, when on the June 14 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'', Luger attacked the popular Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat after Steamboat had defeated Terry Funk by disqualification. Luger and Steamboat faced each other at The Great American Bash in July with Luger winning by disqualification after Luger refused to wrestle Steamboat until the match's no-disqualification clause had been waived.

Flyin' Brian Pillman challenged Luger at Halloween Havoc 1989: Settling the Score for the US Title, which Luger won. He also defeated Pillman in a rematch on the November 15 edition of ''Clash of the Champions'' to retain the title and end the feud. After the main event of the card, which saw Ric Flair and Terry Funk in an "I Quit" match, Luger made a surprise run in, attacking both Flair and Sting, who had come out to save Flair from a post match attack by The Great Muta. December's Starrcade featured an "Ironman" tournament between Flair, Sting, Luger, and Muta.

Though Sting eventually won the tournament, Luger was the only participant to go undefeated (Sting got pinfall victories over Muta and Flair, giving him the most points to win the tournament). This elevated Sting to the status of No.1 contender for Flair's world title. With Sting and Flair set to square off at WrestleWar in February, Luger was booked to defend the U.S. Title against "Dr. Death" Steve Williams on the card. A legitimate injury to Sting, however, caused the entire booking of the card to get changed. Luger was elevated to face Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. An injured Sting appeared in Luger's corner during the match, eventually being attacked by Ole and Arn Anderson. When Luger left the ring to help Sting he was counted out, giving the match to Flair. The idea here was to build Luger up as a "changed man" that had "gained self-respect" by saving Sting. Luger challenged Flair across the country in rematches. In the final match of the feud, a few months later at the innaugural (and only) Capital Combat event in Washington, DC, another screwjob finish occurred where Luger won by disqualification against Flair in a steel cage match when the cage rose up from the ground and outside interference marred the match.

In mid-1990, Luger's focus went back to defending his U.S. Championship while the NWA focused on Sting and his reign as World Heavyweight Champion. When Stan Hansen entered the company and the two of them feuded for a brief period of months, Luger eventually dropped the title to Hansen at Halloween Havoc, though he won it back at Starrcade 1990: Collision Course beginning his fourth NWA United States Heavyweight Championship reign. Luger's third title reign lasted a total of 523 days, making him, the longest reigning United States Champion in history. WCW withdrew from NWA in 1991 and the U.S. Title was renamed the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Luger started a feud with Dan Spivey, whom he defeated at WrestleWar to retain the U.S. Title. Following their match, Nikita Koloff suddenly appeared to attack Luger, reigniting their feud from 1987. It did not last long, however, as Koloff found himself being pushed into an angle with Sting instead of Luger, which began at SuperBrawl I: Return of the Rising Sun when Sting and Luger challenged The Steiner Brothers for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

During the match, Koloff interfered and hit Sting with a chain, which was intended for Luger. Luger again began to challenge Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after becoming No.1 contender by defeating The Great Muta on the June 14, 1991 edition of ''Clash of the Champions''. With the history of "screwjob finishes" between Flair and Luger, their title match was set to be contested at The Great American Bash in a steel cage match with the added stipulation that, should Flair get disqualified he would lose the title. The match never occurred, however, as Flair began to have disagreements with Jim Herd, the head of WCW, over his future and salary. He eventually quit the company (being "stripped" of the title in the process) and took the World Title belt with him.

World Heavyweight Champion and departure (1991–1992)

With the WCW Title now vacant, Barry Windham was declared the No. 2 contender and was set to face Luger in the cage match at The Great American Bash. During the match, a double turn took place when Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came to ringside and "ordered" Luger to execute a piledriver on Windham. He did it, winning his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

After Luger won the WCW Title, he got over top heel by participating in a controversial racial angle with Ron Simmons where he asked Simmons to join his entourage, but as a chauffeur. It was also around this time he abandoned the Torture Rack and started using the piledriver, which he dubbed the "Attitude Adjustment", as his finisher. Luger retained the title at Halloween Havoc in a two out of three falls match. Eventually, Luger began to have his own issues with WCW, and the contract he had seemed to have him wrestling less and less while still collecting money. After ending his feud with Simmons, Luger had a brief feud with Rick Steiner, defeating him on the November 19 edition of Clash of the Champions. The next month's Starrcade was booked with the BattleBowl format, with Sting winning No.1 contendership at the end of the night.

Luger's contract only required him to work a specific number of dates, and having fulfilled them he "sat out" the end of 1991 and beginning of 1992. This left Sting to build the feud against him on his own. Aside from one title defense against Masahiro Chono at WCW/New Japan Supershow II (Starrcade in Tokyo Dome), Luger did not wrestle a match until SuperBrawl II, where he lost his WCW title cleanly to Sting.

World Bodybuilding Federation (1992)

After losing to Sting at SuperBrawl, Luger negotiated a departure from WCW and joined Vince McMahon's World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF), appearing regularly as a co-host on its Saturday morning program, ''WBF BodyStars''. He also made an appearance at WrestleMania VIII, taking part in an on air interview with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon. He was slated to guest pose at a WBF pay-per-view event, but was injured in a motorcycle accident. By the time he recovered, the WBF was out of business.

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1995)

The Narcissist (1993)

After his accident and the closure of the WBF, Luger joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Bobby "The Brain" Heenan "unveiled" him with the persona of "The Narcissist" at Royal Rumble 1993. Luger posed before full-length mirrors before every match. The WWF also incorporated his motorcycle accident into his gimmick, capitalizing on the fact that he had a "metal plate" inserted into his forearm which was said to cause more damage when it struck an opponent. This caused a number of his opponents to demand that he wear a cover over it during matches when he had a streak of knocking people out. This eventually led to WWF officials demanding that Luger wear an elbow pad, though he would often remove it. The Narcissist's one major feud was with Mr. Perfect. The feud was based on Heenan, his advisor, referring to him as being "Beyond Perfection," in a slight at Mr. Perfect, his former managerial client. The rivalry ended at WrestleMania IX when Luger defeated Perfect. During a WrestleMania IX press conference, Luger knocked out Bret Hart, leading to a house show feud between the two, mostly concentrated in Canada, with few (if any) of these matches being televised. At King of the Ring, Luger participated in the first-ever King of the Ring tournament on pay-per-view, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals after a time limit draw with Tatanka.

The All-American (1993–1994)

In mid-1993, after Hulk Hogan's departure from the company, Luger was transformed from a heel to a "mega-face" with the nicknames "Made in the USA" and "The All-American". On July 4, he took part in a memorable event where he arrived (by a red helicopter) on the dock of the ''USS Intrepid'' and body slammed the near 600 pound (270 kg) WWF Champion Yokozuna after a number of other athletes, both inside the WWF and out, attempted and failed. Following this he began the "Lex Express" tour, traveling the country in a Red, White, and Blue painted bus to greet fans and to "campaign" for a shot at the WWF Title, thus beginning a feud with the champion Yokozuna. Luger got his shot at SummerSlam 1993, with the stipulation that this would be Luger's only shot at the title. Luger, with the use of the metal plate in his forearm, eventually won the match, but the count-out victory meant that Yokozuna retained the title.

In late 1993, Luger began a feud with another foreigner Ludvig Borga who disliked America because of pollution. At Survivor Series 1993, Luger captained a team dubbed "All-Americans" (Lex Luger, The Undertaker, and The Steiner Brothers) against Yokozuna's team "Foreign Fanatics" (Crush, Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, and Quebecer Jacques) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series match. Luger's team won the match after he pinned Borga. At Royal Rumble, Luger participated in the Royal Rumble match where he and Bret Hart were declared "co-winners" of the Royal Rumble match after both men went over the top rope and had their feet hit the ground simultaneously. As such, both received shots at the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X. Luger was disqualified in his title match against Yokozuna, and later that night Hart went on to win the title from Yokozuna.

Ever since he became a babyface in the summer of 1993, Luger aligned himself with Tatanka until rumors began to swirl that Luger was planning to join Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation in the summer of 1994. Tatanka and Luger's friendship was strained by the lack of trust between them, and a match between the two took place at SummerSlam. At the event, Tatanka defeated Luger and joined the Million Dollar Corporation. Luger continued to feud with The Million Dollar Corporation, leading a Survivor Series team consisting of himself, Mabel, Adam Bomb, and The Smoking Gunns, dubbed "Guts & Glory", to a loss against the Corporate team of Tatanka, King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, and The Heavenly Bodies at Survivor Series – with only King Kong Bundy and Bam Bam Bigelow surviving.

The Allied Powers and departure (1995)

In the beginning of 1995, Luger formed a team with Davey Boy Smith, dubbed The Allied Powers and they continued to feud with the Million Dollar Corporation. They made a good impact on the tag team division and made their pay-per-view debut as a tag team at WrestleMania XI, defeating the Blu Brothers. They wrestled and defeated jobbers on ''Raw'' and, after a victory over the newly-turned heel team Men on a Mission in June 1995, earned a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship against Owen Hart and Yokozuna at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks but failed to win the titles. Bulldog turned against partner Diesel in a match against Men on a Mission which Luger, who was scheduled to team with Smith, was unable to participate in. While Diesel fought King Mabel at Summerslam, Sir Mo tried to interfere but was attacked by Luger, who chased him to the back. The August 27 pay-per-view appearance proved to be Luger's last in the WWF.

Return to WCW (1995–2001)

Alliance to End Hulkamania (1995–1996)

In late August 1995, after expressing to Sting that he wanted to leave the WWF, Luger got a call from World Championship Wrestling Vice-President Eric Bischoff to set up a meeting about a contract and Luger possibly "jumping ship". Bischoff was initially reluctant to make the offer, as he didn't care for Luger personally or professionally, but relented due to both Sting's urging, and the idea that his appearance would make a big splash. Eight days after his appearance at SummerSlam, Luger made his return to WCW on the premiere of ''Nitro'', coming out during a match between Sting and Ric Flair. After Luger's debut, he acted as a sort of tweener character, not making his allegiances known, except for his long-time friendship with Sting. He merely claimed that he wanted to stake his claim at Hulk Hogan's World Heavyweight Title, facing him on the September 11, 1995 edition of ''Nitro,'' which Hogan won by disqualification. At Halloween Havoc, Luger officially turned heel, attacking Hogan after his match with The Giant and joining Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom stable. Later in the pay-per-view, Luger had a match where he lost to Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Luger and Savage had a rematch at World War 3, which Luger won. Later that night, Luger participated in the first-ever three-ring, 60-man battle royal for the vacant World Title, which was won by Savage.

Despite being a heel, Luger retained his friendship with Sting. At Starrcade, Luger participated in a WCW vs NJPW World Cup of Wrestling where he represented WCW in a winning effort against NJPW representative Masa Chono. Later that night, he participated in a triangle match with Sting and Ric Flair; Flair won after both Sting and Luger got counted out, making Flair No.1 contender to the WCW title. The two men teamed up to defeat Harlem Heat for their first World Tag Team Championship on the January 22, 1996 edition of ''Nitro'', with Luger constantly threatening dissent due to his allegiance to the Dungeon of Doom, but always seeming to stay on the same path as his friend. Luger also defeated Johnny B. Badd for the WCW World Television Championship on February 17, losing it back to him the next night. He regained the television title from Badd by beating him on March 6.

The Dungeon of Doom aligned with the Four Horsemen to form the Alliance to End Hulkamania, which feuded with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. At Uncensored, nine members from the Alliance participated in a "Tower of Doom Steel Cage match", but were unsuccessful in defeating the team of Hogan and Savage. Luger was blamed for the loss because he accidentally punched teammate Ric Flair and was kicked out of the stable, thus turning him face again.

Feud with the New World Order (1996–1997)

During the summer, Luger began a feud with The Giant for the World Heavyweight Championship, unsuccessfully challenging him at The Great American Bash. During this time, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, both former WWF superstars, began appearing on WCW television and claimed they were "taking over" the company. Randy Savage spearheaded the WCW wrestlers against them, with Luger and Sting by his side. Luger, along with Savage and Sting, took on Nash and Hall (who called themselves The Outsiders) and a third, mystery, partner that they claimed was an "insider" at Bash at the Beach. In the first few minutes of the match Luger went down to a kayfabe injury, leaving Sting and Savage on their own when the mystery partner revealed himself to be Hulk Hogan. With Luger no longer around, Savage and Sting were "easy prey" for the three who announced themselves as the New World Order (nWo).

Luger continued to be one of the leaders for the WCW's siege against the nWo, wrestling and feuding with a number of their members. At SuperBrawl VII, Luger and The Giant defeated the Outsiders to win the World Tag Team Championship. The title was returned to the Outsiders by nWo member and WCW President Eric Bischoff. Luger won a Four Corners match to become the No.1 contender for Hogan's WCW Title at Spring Stampede, and teamed with his new ally, The Giant, to defeat Hogan and basketball star Dennis Rodman at Bash at the Beach. On the August 4, 1997 edition of ''Nitro'', Luger defeated Hogan to win his second World Heavyweight Championship in an impromptu match, before dropping the title back to Hogan just five days later at Road Wild. His victory, however, marked the first time in a year that WCW had "won their world title back" from the nWo.

Luger began a program with Hall after both men pinned each other in tag team matches (Luger's partner was Diamond Dallas Page and Hall's partner was Randy Savage) before facing each other in a 1-on-1 match at Halloween Havoc which Luger won. He had a short feud with Buff Bagwell in the fall of 1997, culminating in a match at Starrcade, which Bagwell won. In the first half of 1998, Luger feuded with Savage and defeated him at Souled Out and SuperBrawl VIII. His final feud with the nWo was against Scott Steiner, whom Luger defeated at Uncensored. At Spring Stampede, he teamed with Scott's brother and former tag team partner Rick to defeat Scott and Bagwell.

Joining nWo Wolfpac (1998–1999)

After a long war with the nWo, Luger joined nWo Wolfpac, the babyface faction of the nWo. Luger played a central role in the group's war with Hogan's nWo Hollywood, and even convinced the long standing anti-nWo Sting to join. On the August 10, 1998 edition of ''Nitro'', he defeated Bret Hart to win his record-tying fifth, and final, United States Heavyweight Championship in an impromptu title match, before dropping the title back to Hart just one day later on ''Thunder''. He also took part in the incident in which both nWo factions united against the dominant Bill Goldberg in early 1999, turning heel for the first time in many years. He remained a member of the new nWo until he was sidelined with a (legitimate) biceps injury.

The Total Package and Totally Buff (1999–2001)

In August 1999 Lex Luger returned to WCW Monday Nitro during a Sting/Hogan angle for the World Heavyweight Championship. He eventually helped Sting win the World Title at the Fall Brawl PPV in September 1999.

After Fall Brawl, Luger claimed that Lex Luger was now "dead" and he was going by the name "The Total Package". He debuted on WCW Monday Nitro in September 1999 with a Terminator-style entrance symbolizing his "rebirth" and by bringing back Miss Elizabeth as his manager.[77] The Total Package’s entrance would often conclude with Miss Elizabeth tearing off his tracksuit in the middle of the ring. Luger would then pose down as if in a bodybuilding competition ending with a most muscular pose and fireworks.

During late November and into December 1999 The Total Package began to have some disagreements with his best friend Sting. He also began treating Miss Elizabeth badly that prompted Sting to intervene. At the Starrcade 1999 PPV in December 1999 Sting and The Total Package had a match with Miss Elizabeth eventually turning on Sting. After this Luger began appearing dressed up as Sting and mocking him.

Luger continued his Total Package angle with Miss Elizabeth through January 2000. He began a storyline where he would break the arms of his opponents by placing the arm inside a closed steel chair and stomping on it. In February 2000 he formed an alliance with Ric Flair to take out Hulk Hogan from WCW. They later formed a tag team under the name Team Package with Ric Flair. The team feuded with Sting and Hogan until April 2000 when WCW was reformatted with Vince Russo forming the New Blood causing Luger to turn face and joining the Millionaires Club.

Lex Luger would not return again to WCW until September 2000 when Vince Russo was still running the company. Luger would no longer pose in the ring with Miss Elizabeth and his hair was cut short. He would face Booker T on Nitro for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and Goldberg at the Mayhem 2000 PPV and then again at Starrcade 2000 with Goldberg’s career on the line. He also formed a tag team with Buff Bagwell named "Totally Buff". They defeated Goldberg and Dwayne Bruce in a tag team match at the WCW Sin. PPV in January 2001. Luger stayed in the team until the WWE purchased WCW in March 2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003;2006)

In late 2003 Luger began working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA); he teamed with Jeff Jarrett on November 12 in a loss to Sting and A.J. Styles. He returned to TNA in 2006, first appearing during the April 27 ''TNA Impact!'' as the second of Sting's potential tag team partners for Sacrifice. Throughout September and October, he appeared on ''Impact!'' as one of the people (along with Buff Bagwell) helping Sting to "prepare" for his upcoming match against Jarrett at Bound for Glory.

Semi-retirement

In late 2002, Luger joined the European tour of WWA. He debuted in November at Dublin, Ireland, teaming with Sting to defeat Buff Bagwell and Malice. At Retribution, Luger defeated Sting to win the vacant WWA World Heavyweight Championship after Jeff Jarrett interfered on his behalf. In Manchester, England on December 7, Luger and Sting faced Bagwell and Jarrett in a match in which both Luger's WWA World Heavyweight Championship and Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship were on the line, though neither title changed hands, as Sting pinned Bagwell. Luger made his final appearance with WWA on December 13, in Zürich, Switzerland, when he lost the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to Sting in a three way dance that also featured Malice.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, Luger made sporadic appearances on the independent circuit. Luger is also included as a downloadable character in ''WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011''.

On September 22, 2007- Lex was inducted into the XWF Hall of Fame in Moundsville, WV by Jack Blaze at their "XWF Mountain Madness 2007" event. XWF was later renamed LPW (Legends Pro Wrestling) where Lex is still honored in their Hall of Fame- Class 2007.

Return to WWE (2011–present)

In 2011, Luger began working again with WWE on their Wellness Policy. In regards to this role he stated:

Personal life

Luger is divorced from Peggy and has two children, a son, Brian (born 1 January 1986), and a daughter, Lauren Ashley (born 24 September 1990).

On September 28, 2006, Luger appeared on ''Praise the Lord'', the flagship talk program of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and declared himself a born again Christian. In an interview conducted by guest host, one-time wrestling tag-team partner Steve "Sting" Borden, Luger emotionally discussed the downward turn of his career and personal life—including the events surrounding Elizabeth Hulette's death—and how it led to his religious conversion. Luger credits Steve Baskin, the pastor of Western Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, with pulling him from a terminal tailspin. The jail chaplain met Luger in early 2006.

Legal problems

On April 19, 2003, Luger was involved in a domestic dispute with Elizabeth Hulette, then his live-in girlfriend, in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia, during which Luger allegedly struck her. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head, and a cut lip. Luger was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Luger was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car. According to the police report, Luger had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, and could not locate his driver's license. Luger had a 9mm handgun in the car (which was legal in Georgia). Hulette was a passenger in the vehicle and was sent home in a taxi. Luger was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003 for a hearing on a previous offense of driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance.

On May 1, 2003, Hulette died in the townhouse they shared in Marietta, after mixing pills of hydrocodone, Alprazolam (Xanax), and anabolic steroids (testosterone and saizen) with vodka. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, and Alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. He was released the following day on $27,500 bail. Hulette's death was eventually ruled accidental. Luger pleaded guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was given a $1,000 fine, sentenced to five years probation, and required to submit to periodic drug testing.

In December 2005, Luger and fellow wrestlers Marcus Bagwell and Scott Steiner were removed from a flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Winnipeg, Manitoba. They were detained for several hours before Bagwell and Steiner were released, while Luger was held without bail as a result of his outstanding felony charges (he had neglected to obtain permission to leave the country from his parole officer). Luger was detained in the Hennepin County jail for two weeks before being extradited to Georgia to stand trial on December 22, 2005. Luger was sentenced to nine weeks imprisonment, and was released in February 2006.

Spinal stroke

On October 19, 2007, Luger suffered a nerve impingement in his neck that led to temporary paralysis. He underwent intravenous antibiotic treatment and was expected to make a full recovery. Nearly a month after his spinal stroke, Luger was still in a quadriplegic state, having no movement in either his arms or legs. As of June 2008, Luger was said to be able to stand on his own for short periods of time and walk using a walker. As of 2010, Luger has stated in an interview that he is able to walk more comfortably, and is able to drive around after being paralyzed from the neck down before. Luger has stated in an interview he now resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

''Ace is the Place Elbow'' / Running forearm smash

''Attitude Adjustment'' (Piledriver)

''Rebel Rack'' / '' Torture Rack '' (Argentine backbreaker rack)

Signature moves

*Atomic drop, sometimes inverted

*Hip toss

*Knee

*Vertical suplex

'''Nicknames

*The Total Package

*The Narcissist

*The American

*Made In USA

Championships and accomplishments

Championship Wrestling from Florida

NWA Florida Bahamian Championship (1 time)

NWA Florida Television Championship (1 time)

NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship ''(Florida version)'' (3 times)

Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-Atlantic version)'' (1 time) – with Barry Windham

*WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Sting (1), and The Giant (1)

WCW World Television Championship (2 times)

Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup (1988) – with Sting

Legends Pro Wrestling

:* XWF/LPW Hall of Fame Inductee- Class 2007 (9/22/07)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

*PWI Comeback of the Year (1993)

*PWI Feud of the Year (1987) Four Horsemen vs. Super Powers and the Road Warriors

*PWI Feud of the Year (1988, 1990) vs. Ric Flair

*PWI Match of the Year (1991) with Sting vs. The Steiner Brothers at SuperBrawl

*PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1993)

*PWI Rookie of the Year (1986)

*PWI Wrestler of the Year (1997)

PWI ranked him #20 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003

World Wrestling All-Stars

WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Federation

Royal Rumble (1994)¹

Yokozuna Bodyslam Challenge Winner (1993)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

*Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta, and The Ultimate Solution vs. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, Uncensored, Towers of Doom match, Tupelo, Mississippi, March 24

*Most Improved (1989)

¹Luger co-won the Royal Rumble with Bret Hart after both simultaneously eliminated each other

See also

Sting and Lex Luger

References

External links

Official Website

Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:American bodybuilders Category:American Christians Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American television actors Category:People from Erie County, New York Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Marietta, Georgia

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