James Goodwin Batterson (1823 - 1901)

Architect. He was head of the New England Granite Works in Hartford, Connecticut when the Civil War began. Because of his position as chairman of the State War Committee he chose not to serve in the Army but sought to be a construction consultant for the Union. With strong political support in the General Assembly, […]

Ricardo Bastid Peris (1919 - 1966)

Painter, Writer. He was born in Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana. Loyal to the Government of the Spanish Republic, after the Spanish Civil War, he was enjailed. He made his first exhibition in the 50s, but he was forced to exile to France and later to Argentina. As painter, is remembered for works such as “Vista de […]

Saul Bass (1920 - 1996)

Graphic Designer. He was born in New York. He is known as one of the best ever graphic designers for film, specially for the Alfred Hitchcock Film “Psycho” (1960) of which he co-directed the very famous shower scene. Also he is remembered for his creations for Alfred Hitchcock films “Vertigo” (1958) and “North by Northwest” […]

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 - 1988)

Artist. The protege of pop artist Andy Warhol, he was the son of middle-class Brooklyn parents, and had a precocious success with his paintings from the start. His career was incubated by the short-lived graffiti movement, which started on the streets and subway cars in the early 1970s. Having no art training, he never tried […]

Gabriele Basilico (1944 - 2013)

Photographer. Called the “Genius of the Black and White” because of his photographic technique, he is regarded by many as one of the greatest contemporary documentary photographers and is remembered for his photographic reportages of the urban landscapes of some of the largest cities in the world. After studying architecture in 1973, he started his […]

Raleigh Bond (1935 - 1989)

Actor. He appeared in “The Onion Field” (1979), “Pennies from Heaven” (1981), “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982), and as ‘Raleigh’ on the television series “Alice”(1979 to 1981). (bio by: Ginny M)

Marie Bashkirtseff (1858 - 1884)

When she died at age 24 she had managed to fill 84 volumes of a diary with passionate observations and candid descriptions of the famous people she knew personally.  It was published posthumously to the consternation of many who were in the books.  She was a promising painter.  Most of her work went to the […]

Pedro Bas Codina (1899 - 1972)

Artist. He was born in Xàbia, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana. He was disciple of the painter Leopoldo García Ramón. In 1925, he moved to Paris, where worked as fan’s painter. There, he knew the illustrator Bagarías and the musicians Amparo and José Iturbi and Joaquín Rodrigo. He was powerfully influenced by paintings of Maurice Denis. In […]

Antoine Louis Barye (1796 - 1875)

Sculptor. Antoine Louis Barye was born in Paris in 1796. At the age of 13 he began training with a master engraver learning metal techniques. Later, he became a passionate observer of living animals and studied their anatomy. He was known and admired for his sculptures in America long before his 1867 election to the […]

Ralph Barton (1891 - 1931)

Cartoonist, Illustrator. One of America’s most famous artists of the 1920s. His stylish celebrity caricatures, playful yet not mocking, became synonymous with the “Jazz Age” and were widely influential. “It is not the caricaturist’s job to be penetrating”, he said. “It is his job to put down the figure a man cuts before his fellows […]

Margaret “Maggie” Blye (1939 - 2016)

American Actress. Blye first appeared on television in a 1964 episode of ‘Channing’ and would go on have roles in such shows as ‘Hazel’, ‘The Virginian’, ‘Gunsmoke’, ‘Ben Casey’, ‘The Iron Men’, ‘The Rockford Files’, ‘Kodiak’, ‘Harry O’, ‘Hart to Hart’, ‘In the Heat of the Night’, ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ […]

Albert Bartholomé (1848 - 1928)

Artist. Born in Thiverval-Grignon, Yvelines, France . Albert  began his career as a painter, studying briefly at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Wanting to prepare a monument to his dead wife, he turned to sculpture in 1886. Though he had no formal training, he made a careful study of nature and of the masterpieces of the […]

Lisa Blount (1957 - 2010)

Actress, Producer. She is best known for her role of Lynette Pomeroy in the hit 1982 picture “An Officer and a Gentleman”, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Raised in Jacksonville, Arkansas, she attended the University of Arkansas, and landed her first movie part in the film “September 30, 1955” (1977), followed by […]

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834 - 1904)

French sculptor renowned for his monumental works, the most famous being the Statue of Liberty.  Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was born at Colmar, in Alsace, France, on April 2, 1834. At first he studied painting, but soon abandoned it for sculpture under the influence of the Parisian, Jean Francois Soitoux, working from the very first on […]

James Barry (1741 - 1806)

Artist. He is best remembered for his six part series of paintings entitled The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts. Born in Cork, Ireland his father was a builder and later a coastal trader between Ireland and England. He convinced his father to allow him to study […]

David Francis Barry (1854 - 1934)

Photographer. Went out on his own at about the age of 17 as a photography apprentice to Orland Scott Goff, and became a famous photographer of Native American Indians. He counted as friends such figures as Sitting Bull, Chief Gall, “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Kit Carson, General George Armstrong Custer among other late 1800s notables.  Family […]

Montgomery Barrett (1897 - 1949)

Cartoonist and author.  In 1927 he began the syndicated cartoon strip “Jane Arden.”  He wrote various magazine articles and historical novels.  Three of his books with Texas backgrounds were “Sun in Their Eyes” (1944), “Tempered Blade” (1946) and “Smoke up the Valley” (1949).  Family links:  Parents:  Edward W Barrett (1866 – 1950)  Clara Prow Barrett […]

Raoul Barré (1874 - 1932)

Pioneer Cartoonist.  Born Vital Achille Raoul Barré in Montreal,  Quebec,  he went to Paris in 1891 to study at the School of Fine Arts and remained there for several years as a political cartoonist.  His attacks of the French military over the Dreyfus affair (1898) proved too controversial and he returned home soon afterwards.  In […]

Francis James Barraud (1856 - 1924)

Artist. He is remembered for the painting of “Nipper”, the dog on the His Master’s Voice record label. The son of the painter, Henry Barraud, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools, at Heatherley’s Art School in London, and at the Beaux Arts in Antwerp. His brother, Mark, was a painter of stage sets in […]

Rafael Barradas (1890 - 1929)

Painter. Born of Spanish parents in Montevideo, Uruguay,  he moved to Barcelona in 1913, where he would spend most of his career. He worked as illustrator for the magazine “Alfar”,  and with Jorge Luis Borges for “Tableros.” Barradas became a leader of the avant-garde in Spanish painting. Among his works are “Los Emigrantes”, “García Lorca […]

Georgia Bitner (1926 - 2012)

Film and Television Actress. She was an African American film and television actress whose career expanded over a period of seven decades. Born Georgia Rose Bitner, in honor of the state in which she was born, “Georgia”. During her younger years she adored such actors as Hattie McDanial and Josephine Baker so much until her […]

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 […]

Arthur Ernest Barnsley (1863 - 1926)

British Architect. He was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. He trained under architect Sedding. He and his brother established a Guild Crafts Workshop at Pinsbury Park and Daneway in Sappertown, Gloucestershire with Ernest Gimson. Some of his works include interiors at Pinsbury Park, Upper Dorvel House in Sappertown, Rodmarton Manor, and Cottages in Rodmarton […]

Francelia Billington (1895 - 1934)

Actress,  Cinematographer.  Blonde,  slender star of silent films.  Born and raised on a ranch near Dallas,  Texas,  she entered films in 1912 with the Kalem Company and was quickly promoted to leads after the departure of their star,   Alice Joyce.  Her expertise in horse riding made her a natural for westerns though she was […]

Frank A. Barney (1862 - 1954)

Artist. An Impressionist of the American School and one of the most prolific of the artists hired by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression, Barney created more than 3000 works during his long career.  A native of the scenic Finger Lakes region of Central New York which inspired much of his artistic […]

Henrietta Barnett (1851 - 1936)

Social reformer and author.  Along with her husband, Samuel Augustus Barnett, they founded the at Toynbee Hall in 1884, as well as the Henrietta Barnett School in the Hampstead Garden Suburb.  She was awarded the CBE in 1917 and made a  Dame Commander of the OBE in 1924.  She and her husband were buried in […]

Regina Bianchi (1921 - 2013)

Actress. She will perhaps be best remembered for her leading role in the successful play “Filomena Marturano”. Born to parents of French origin, she was cast at young age in Raffaele Viviani’s company theater and then in that of Eduardo De Filippo becoming one of the most popular actresses of the Neapolitan theater. Regina was […]

Will Barnet (1911 - 2012)

Painter. A somewhat difficult artist to classify, he used oil, watercolors, and drawing to create images of attractive ladies and the Maine coast. Raised in the Boston suburbs, he began his art career by sketching Colonial era grave stones in the local cemetery and as a child was able to observe the great portraitist John […]

George N. Barnard (1819 - 1902)

Photographer. He was born in Coventry, Connecticut, and opened his first daguerreotype gallery in Oswego, New York, in 1843. After years of practice with portraiture and landscapes, in 1853 he took 2 landmark images, shots of a gigantic Oswego mill fire, that were among the world’s first news photographs. After moving his studios to Syracuse […]

George Grey Barnard (1863 - 1938)

Artist. A sculptor, he was born Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Kankakee, Illinois. He first studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts while working in P. T. Cavelier’s atelier in Paris in 1883–1887. He resided in Paris for twelve years, then returned to America in 1896. His early […]