Sidney Howard Barnsley (1865 - 1926)

British Architect. He was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. He trained under Norman Shaw. He and his brother, Ernest, established a Guild Crafts Workshop in Pinsbury Park and at Daneway in Sapperton, Gloucestershire with Ernest Gimson. His works include St. Sophia’s in Surrey, Beechanger in Sapperton, Gyde Almshourses in Painswick, and blocks of cottages […]

Jenő Barcsay (1900 - 1988)

Artist. He was considered the Master of the Human Form. Born in Transylvania in the town of Katona, but moved to Budapest in 1919. He spent a year in Paris after graduating from art school in Hungary. He was influenced a great deal by the artist Cezanne. While visiting Italy he was then greatly influenced […]

Francisco Baños Martos (1970 - 2006)

Painter. He was born in Linares (Jaén) and died in Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana), Spain. Among his works, he is best remembered for his religious paintings such as the mural of the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Linarejos and the presbitery of the Church of San Isidoro (Valencia). He was cremated in Valencia. (bio by: José […]

Hugo Ballin (1879 - 1956)

Artist, Director, Writer. As a painter his first ceiling mural was in the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison in 1913. In 1917 he received commissions for murals at the Los Angeles Times Building and the City Hall in Burbank, California. These caught the eye of film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who hired him as a […]

Tonico “Antonio” Ballester Vilaseca (1910 - 2001)

Artist. He was born in Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana) and died in Alella (Catalunya). He was a representative of the Vanguard sculpture in the 1930s in Spain, during the Second Spanish Republic. He was the son of sculptor Antonio Ballester Aparicio and the cousin of baritone Vicente Ballester Aparicio. Also, his sisters Rosita and Manuela were […]

Arturo Ballester Marco (1892 - 1981)

Painter, illustrator and poster designer. He was born and died in Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana, Spain). He attended the School of Arts and Trades at the School of San Carlos of Valencia. Afterwards, Ballester worked as an illustrator for several Valencian magazines such as La Traca Nova, El Guante Blanco or Rondalles Noves. The posters he […]

John Bacon (1740 - 1799)

Sculptor. His original technique did much to improve the transition of statues from artificial stone to marble. In 1769 he was awarded the first gold medal by the Royal Academy for sculpture. His many works and monuments can be found at St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. (bio by: s.canning)

Henry Bacon (1866 - 1924)

Architect. Raised in and around Wilmington, North Carolina, where his father was a civil engineer, Henry spent a year at the University of Illinois. Beginning in 1885 as a draftsman, briefly in Boston, and then in the office of McKim, Mead and White in New York City. After four years, a fellowship enabled him to […]

Gunnar Asplund (1885 - 1940)

Noted Architect. He was a leader of modern design, whom the magazine “Architectural Review” called “high priest of functionalism in Sweden.” Born in Stockholm he studied there at the Technical High School and the Academy of Art, graduating in 1909.  In the same year he entered an architectural competition for the Swedish Church in Paris. […]

Jean Arp (1887 - 1966)

Artist, Poet. Born in Strasbourg, France, he began his career as a poet, before he developed a succesful work on sculpture and painting (but never abandoing writing poetry). He was a founding member of the Dada movement, becoming one of the most respected abstract artists of his time. In 1950, he executed a relief for […]

Boris Aronson (1899 - 1980)

Theatre Stage Scenic Designer.  Born in Kiev, in the Russian Empire in present day Ukraine. He was the  son of a Jewish rabbi. Boris enrolled in art school during his youth. He became an apprentice to the designer Aleksandra Ekster, who introduced him to the directors Vsevolod Meyerhold and Alexander Tairov, who influenced Boris to […]

Peter Arno (1904 - 1968)

Cartoonist. Born Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. to Edith Theresa Haymes and State Supreme Court Justice Curtis Arnoux Peters in New York City. He attended the venerable Hotchkiss boarding school and Yale University where he organized his own band, developing a reputation as a playboy. After leaving school he settled in New York’s Greenwinch Village, and […]

Débora Arango (1907 - 2005)

Artist. She was born in Medellín (Colombia) and died in Envigado (Antioquía, Colombia). She was the disciple of painters Eladio Vélez and Pedro Nel Gómez. In 1939, she shocked the hypocrite moral of colombian society of her time, with her nude painting “Cantarina de Rosa.” She was hardly criticized and almost excommunicated by the catholic […]

Manuel Encarnacion Amador Torreros (1869 - 1952)

Artist, Diplomat. He is best recognized as the designer of the Panamanian flag. Amador studied in Cartagena, Colombia and the United States, receiving his degree in accounting, before taking a position in the Treasury Department. Following independence of the Republic in 1903, he was appointed Minister of Finance. From 1904 until 1908, he served as […]

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema (1852 - 1909)

Artist. The second wife of noted Dutch-born artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, she had a significant career as a painter in her own right. Raised in London, Laura met the somewhat older Alma-Tadema in late 1869 at the home of artist Ford Madox Brown. Lawrence, who had just lost his wife, was apparently taken with her, […]

Berenice Abbott (1898 - 1991)

Photographer. She is best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City, New York architecture and urban design of the 1930s. She attended the Ohio State University, but dropped out in early 1918. In late 1918 she moved with friends from Ohio to Greenwich Village in New York. She pursued journalism, but soon became […]

John Leech (1817 - 1864)

Illustrator. Leech illustrated many works for Charles Dickens and was the greatest friend of William Makepeace Thackerey. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Sydney Lee (1866 - 1949)

Lee was a painter, a printmaker & an engraver. He was best known for his paintings & prints of mountains, landscaped, town scenes & architectural subjects. He studied art at the Manchester School of Art & later worked in Paris. He was a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1920. Many of […]

S. Charles Lee (1899 - 1990)

S. CHARLES LEE As the motion picture capital of the world, Los Angeles was the perfect place for architect S. Charles Lee to launch one of the most celebrated and prolific careers in theatre design. Born Simeon Charles Levi in Chicago in 1899, Lee attended Chicago Technical College and graduated with honors in 1918. He […]

Arthur Tracy Lee (1970 - 1879)

US Army Colonel, Artist. He was commissioned as second Lieutenant in the 5th US Infantry in October 1838, and transferred to the 8th US Infantry the following month. After service in Wisconsin and Florida, he transferred to Texas in 1845 as part of the “Army Of Occupation”, a force designed to protect white settlers on […]

Alois Lecoque (1891 - 1981)

Artist born in Prague who adopted a French name to help his career. His “Rooftops of Prague” was presented to Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower. (bio by: Alan Lopez)

Odon Lechner (1845 - 1914)

Highly art nouveau architect whose use of polychrome tiling and mosaic gives Budapest much of its character.

Pietro Lazzari (1895 - 1979)

Sculptor. Pietro received his formal education from the Ornamental School of Rome (Master Artist). After the end of the First World War, Lazzari joined the Italian Futurist movement and exhibited with such artists as Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini. He then moved to Paris for several years before returning to Rome where his first solo […]

Robert Lawson (1892 - 1957)

Author and Illustrator. He is considered one of the finest creators of children’s books of his time. Lawson was the first to receive both of the top two American prizes in this field: the Caldecott Medal for “They Were Strong and Good” (1940), and the Newbery Medal for “Rabbit Hill” (1945). His tales often observe […]

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830)

Artist. Born the son of an innkeeper in Bristol, he was a child prodigy who began drawing portraits at a very young age, and by 12 had his own studio. Studied at the Royal Academy, and was appointed Royal Artist to George III in 1792 at the age of 20. He was knighted in 1815 […]

Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941)

John Lavery was born in Belfast, the son of a publican. John was orphaned at an early age and moved to Glasgow, where he became apprenticed to a photographer. It was here that he began to be interested in painting, as a result of retouching the negatives and adding tinted colour to the prints. Later, […]

Lady Hazel Martyn Lavery (1880 - 1935)

Hazel Martyn was the daughter of a Chicago industrialist of Irish descent. In 1904, she was on holiday in Brittany, where she met John Lavery (q.v.), thirty years her senior, who had been a widower since 1891. Hazel was engaged to a Canadian doctor, who died shortly after their marriage; and, in 1910, she married […]

John Lautner (1911 - 1994)

Architect. Lautner’s first building experience came when he helped his parents build a chalet-style retreat in Michigan, designed by his mother, that looked out over Lake Superior from a hillside high above it. After graduating with a degree in English from the Northern Michigan University, he became an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright for six […]

Henri Laurens (1885 - 1954)

Sculptor.  Family links:  Spouse:  Marthe Laurens (1886 – 1957)* *Calculated relationship

Marie Laurencin (1883 - 1956)

Painter.  She became noted for her dreamlike pictures of beautiful women.  Initially influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec and Cubism,  she later developed an individual,  feminine decorative style,  using flat forms and  delicate pastel tones.  Many view her work as 20th Century French painting at its finest.  Laurencin was born in Paris and was trained as a painter […]