Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895 - 1972)

Fashion Designer. He was born in Getaria, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain. In 1914, he opened the House of Balenciaga in San Sebastián, and he get a big success between the aristocratic clients. In the 30’s, he moved to Paris, where developed almost all his career. He is considered as designer’s designer, a master of haute […]

Jürgen Baldiga (1959 - 1993)

Photographer.  Born in rural Germany, the son of a miner, the young Baldiga moved to Berlin in 1979. There, he undertook a number of odd jobs to support himself, including bartender, cook, and prostitute. By 1985, he had become known on the Berlin art scene as a self-taught photographer and as a popular figure in […]

Frances Elizabeth Bavier (1902 - 1989)

Actress, most noted for her performance as “Aunt Bee” on the Andy Griffith Show TV series. She appeared in 10 films and 4 television series. Born in New York City, she began her acting career in April 1925, on Broadway, in the play “The Poor Nut.” During World War II, she travelled with the USO […]

César Baldaccini (1921 - 1998)

Artist and Sculptor. Born in Marseille, his studies were at the Marseille academy from 1935 to 1939 and at the Paris academy from 1943 to 1947. He began making sculptures by welding together pieces of scrap metal in 1952 and first made his reputation with solid welded sculptures of insects, various kinds of animals, and […]

George Balanchine (1904 - 1983)

Choreographer. The son of a composer, he began studying the piano at the age of five and started his dance studies at the age of nine at the St. Petersburg academy. He was graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in 1921 and then enrolled in the state’s Conservatory of Music where he studied piano and […]

Léon Samoilovitch Bakst (1866 - 1924)

Artist. A co-founder of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, his boldly-colored creations for that troupe had an international influence on fashion and interior design. (bio by: Mademoiselle)  Family links:  Spouse:  Lyubov Pavlovna Tretyakov Gritsenko (1870 – 1928)*  Children:  Andre Lvovich Bakst (1907 – 1972)* *Calculated relationship

George Poston Baker (1931 - 1997)

Acclaimed Sculptor. Well-known for his abstract works, such as “Nebraska Wind Sculpture,” which is located along Interestate 80 at the Kearney, Nebraska interchange. Other celebrated works include a fountain at the World Trade Center in Long Beach, California, and a kinetic fountain at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He has many other works […]

Edward Hodges Baily (1788 - 1867)

Sculpted statue at the head of Nelson’s Column and the busts of Lawrence, Byron and Faraday.

Martine Bartlett (1925 - 2006)

Actress.  Martine Bartlett was born the middle child of three to George Daniel Bartlett, an attorney, and his wife, Martine Fons. She graduated from private schools, John Burroughs School and then Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  She received a Masters degree from the Drama School at Yale University. While in St. Louis, she gained […]

Joseph Alexis Bailly (1825 - 1883)

Sculptor. The son of a Parisian cabinetmaker, Joseph attended the École des Beaux-Arts before being drafted into the Army during the Revolution of 1848. He assaulted an officer, deserted, and fled to England where he studied briefly under the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. After traveling to the United States and Argentina, he settled in Philadelphia […]

Joseph Badger (1707 - 1765)

Artist. He began his working life as a house painter and glazier. He became a famous portrait artist whose works hang in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Harvard University Art Museum, the Worcester Art […]

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)

Wendy Barrie (1912 - 1978)

In 1932, Wendy Barrie made her screen debut in the film Threads, which was based upon a play. She went on to make a number of motion pictures for London Films under the Korda brothers, Alexander and Zoltan, the best known of which is 1933’s The Private Life of Henry VIII, which starred Charles Laughton, […]

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 […]

Francis Bacon (1909 - 1992)

Artist. Noted for paintings in which the human figure was often distorted, twisted and placed within boxlike enclosures, he was a self-taught painter. After exhibiting his painting, Three Studies at the Base of a Crucifixion, in 1944 at the Lefevre Galleries, he became the most controversial painter in post-war England. Bacon said of his paintings: […]

Frédéric Back (1924 - 2013)

Film Animator. He was a Canadian artist and director, world renowned for his short animated films. In 1952, he began his career as an illustrator in the graphics department of Radio-Canada’s first-ever television station. Branching from television illustrations to directing short animated films, he produced his first animation short, “Abracadabra” in 1970. Over the next […]

Platt Delascus Babbitt (1823 - 1879)

Photographer. Born in Lanesbourough, Massachusetts, he became one of the first daguerreotypists to specialize in tourist photography. In 1853 he opened a permanent studio at Niagara Falls and worked there at Point View and Prospect Point. However his best known image is an early news photo,  entitled “Man stranded on rocks in the Niagara River”, […]

Fedora Barbieri (1920 - 2003)

Opera Singer, Actress. Born in Trieste, Italy, she was an mezzo-soprano with one of the longest careers in opera history. She made her official debut in Florence in 1940 and quickly established her reputation performing in opera houses in Europe, South America, America and Asia, until 1999. Considered a formidable actress as well as a […]

Tex Avery (1908 - 1980)

Cartoon Animator, Director. Primarily worked for the Walter Lantz Studios. Created the memorable cartoon characters “Daffy Duck”, “Droopy”, “Screwy Squirrel”, and “Chilly Willy”. He is also credited with creating the personality of “Bugs Bunny”, and was the one who coined the phrase “What’s up, doc?” (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Parents:  George Walton Avery […]

Milton Avery (1885 - 1965)

Artist. He was an acclaimed American painter, yet his work is not widely known to the general public. Today his works can be found at the Whitney and the Metropolian Museum of Art. (bio by: Laurie)

Pauline Auzou (1775 - 1835)

Artist.  Born Jeanne-Marte-Catherine Desmarquets, she was a successful French Neoclassic painter who made her mark as one of the few women artists who excelled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  In 1802 she studied at French artist Jean-Baptiste Regnault’s studio and painted legendary nude Greek figures, unheard of for a female artist.  In […]

Tony Auth (1942 - 2014)

Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoonist, Journalist. He was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning (1976) for “O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain”. He was bedridden during his early youth and at this time, he occupied himself by drawing and sketching. After his family moved to Los Angeles, he received […]

Lucille Ball (1911 - 1989)

Legendary comedic actress, best known for the title role in the hit television sitcom of the 1950’s “I Love Lucy.” She was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York.  Intent on becoming an actress, she left high school at age 15, and tried unsuccessfully to get into drama school in […]

Mary Hunter Austin (1868 - 1934)

Artist, Author, and Lecturer. Best known for her sketches of desert life. (bio by: Laurie)

John C. Austin (1870 - 1963)

Architect, Civic Leader. Educated in England, Austin moved to the United States in the late 1880s and worked as a draftsman for an architect in Philadelphia from 1891–1892, before relocating to San Francisco where he worked a draftsman from 1892-1895. He moved to Los Angeles in 1895, and became one of the city’s leading architects. […]

Gaetana “Gae” Aulenti (1927 - 2012)

Italian architect and designer. Best known as designer of the Orsay Museum in Paris. Graduated in Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan, her career is divided between the university teaching and the design and restructuring of important works, including the “National Museum of Catalan art” in Barcelona, the “Scuderie del Quirinale” in Rome, the Italian […]

John James Audubon (1785 - 1851)

Artist. Indelibly linked with the painting of birds, Audubon was the son of a French sea captain and his Creole mistress. Educated in his father’s native France, he had spent a disastrous year at a military school before studying art in Paris with the great David. At age 18 he emigrated to the United States, […]

Ugo Attardi (1923 - 2006)

Artist. He was born in Sori, Liguria, Italy. He was an internationally known sculptor, painter and writer. In Rome in 1947, he signed the Abstraction manifesto “Forma Uno” (One Form) as one of the founders, together with Perilli, Dorazio, Turcato and Consagra. He also received an award at the IX Exhibition of Valle Rovato. In […]

Jean-Michel Atlan (1913 - 1960)

Poet, Artist.  Born in Constantine, French Algeria. Leaving Istanbul in 1930 to study philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris where he also worked as a teacher afterwards. Jean-Michael and his family were jewish. During the occupation, Jean-Michel lost his teaching license and lived in poverty in Montparnasse. During that time he taught himself painting. Due […]

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. […]