Artists, Architects & Photographers

Leonardo da Vinci created the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering....

Hailed by listeners and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences....

In 2012, facing the death of his father and impending fatherhood, Toby Ferris set off on a seemingly quixotic mission to track down and look at - in situ - every painting still in existence by Pieter Bruegel the Elder....

In the tradition of John Richardson's Picasso, a commanding new biography of the Italian master's tumultuous life and mysterious death....

A powerful memoir that reckons with mental health as well as the insidious ways men impact the lives of women.

Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière....

Coco Chanel created the look of the modern woman and was the high priestess of couture. She believed in simplicity, and elegance, and freed women from the tyranny of fashion. She inspired women to take off their bone corsets and cut their hair....

In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces....

A riveting story of how dueling ambitions and the power of prodigy made America the cultural center of the world—and Picasso the most famous artist alive—in the shadow of World War II....

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes comes the first major biography of John James Audubon in forty years and the first to illuminate fully the private and family life of the master illustrator of the natural world....

The world’s most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the masters—exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art history lesson wrapped in sex, drugs, and Caravaggio....

A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy, and religion to better understand the mercurial genius of William Blake....

Los Angeles in the 1960s: riots in Watts and on the Sunset Strip, wild weekends in Malibu, late nights at The Daisy discotheque, openings at the Ferus Gallery, and the convergence of pop art, rock and roll, and the New Hollywood....

The definitive, authorized, and first-ever biography of Terry Allen, the internationally acclaimed visual artist and iconoclastic songwriter who occupies an utterly unique position straddling the disparate, and usually distant, worlds of conceptual art and country music.

When Harry Met Pablo intertwines the biographies of Harry Truman and Pablo Picasso, the history of modern art, and twentieth-century American politics, but at its core, it is the story of two old men who meet for the first time and realize they have more in common than they ever imagined....

The definitive biography of a fascinating and paradoxical figure, one of the most influential artists of his - or any - age....

An illuminating new biography of one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, Elizabeth Bishop....

The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was forty-four years old when she broke with the academic tradition in which she had been trained to produce a body of radical, abstract works the likes of which had never been seen before....

Perfect for old and new fans alike, Dancing on the Edge is an intimate and powerful story about the singular life of one of our most gifted storytellers, artists, and stars of the silver screen.

From the award-winning and nationally best-selling author of Hemingway's Boat and Sons of Mississippi - an illuminating, pathbreaking biography that will change the way we understand the life, mind, and work of the premier American architect....

Arriving as a young writer in an ancient Dutch town, Benjamin Moser found himself visiting—casually at first, and then more and more obsessively—the country's great museums....

In Montparnasse begins on the eve of the First World War and ends with the 1936 unveiling of Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. As those extraordinary years unfolded, the Surrealists found ever more innovative ways of exploring the interior life....

From the acclaimed biographer and author of Balzac's Omelette comes an engaging new work on the life of "the father of Impressionism" and the role his Jewish background played in his artistic creativity....

Socialist, philosopher, and poet William Morris (1834 - 1896) was at the center of the design renaissance of the 1880s, not only because of his celebrated hostility to aspects of machine culture, but because of his success as a designer and businessman....

Renowned naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers to show how what they saw (and what they missed) reflects how we perceive and understand the natural world....

Bernard Marks and Martha Alford met by chance. No real reason for it, just a series of fluky coincidences. The odds were long that they would hit it off. That wasn’t in the cards they’d been dealt at birth. “It’ll never last,” people whispered after they got engaged. “Poor probability of success” was the general consensus when they married. But Bernie and Martha ignored the naysayers. Gamblers in love, they rolled the dice.

Clarence Gilyard is a celebrated Hollywood actor known for his iconic roles in "Die Hard" and "Matlock." Hailing from Moses Lake, Washington, Clarence's journey to stardom is a tale of perseverance and passion. As an African-American actor, he has been a trailblazer for diversity and representation in the entertainment industry, breaking barriers and inspiring aspiring talents worldwide. Beyond his onscreen charisma, Clarence's linguistic talents, musical abilities, and philanthropic endeavors add depth to his captivating personality. Get yourself a duplicate of this book by TOGGLING the ...

Get ready to embark on a rollercoaster ride, with Grammy & Emmy-winning artist, songwriter, producer and author, Skip Martin. He is best known for his tenure as a lead singer and trumpeter for two legendary groups, Kool & the Gang and The Dazz Band. Skip Martin unveils his life's journey through a captivating audio adventure: 'Fables of a Paid Piper.' This collection of short stories takes you on a thrilling ride through life's twists and turns, revealing the moments that shaped him and his iconic career.

Perfect for old and new fans alike, Dancing on the Edge is an intimate and powerful story about the singular life of one of our most gifted storytellers, artists, and stars of the silver screen.

In the summer of 1925, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Pamplona for the infamous running of the bulls. He then channeled that trip’s drunken brawls, sexual rivalry, midnight betrayals, and midday hangovers into a novel that redefined modern literature. Lesley Blume tells the full story behind Hemingway’s legendary rise for the first time, revealing how he created his own image as the bull-fighting aficionado, hard-drinking literary genius, and expatriate bon vivant. In all its youth, lust, and rivalry, the Lost Generation is illuminated here as never before.

Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are classics of American literature, taught in schools nationwide. Her philosophy of Objectivism has ignited an intellectual movement across the globe. Forty years after her death, Rand’s cultural presence continues to grow. This book sheds light on some little-discussed yet interesting facets of Rand’s life and career. The essays collected here, presenting curated sidelights rather than a sustained narrative, are deeply sourced in the Ayn Rand Archives — the world’s most comprehensive repository of materials about Rand’s ...

The definitive, authorized, and first-ever biography of Terry Allen, the internationally acclaimed visual artist and iconoclastic songwriter who occupies an utterly unique position straddling the disparate, and usually distant, worlds of conceptual art and country music.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes comes the first major biography of John James Audubon in forty years and the first to illuminate fully the private and family life of the master illustrator of the natural world.

The paparazzi life was a crazy life... Waking up every day and wonder what celebrity I would chase or photography... Four years I did that crazy job. A decade later, I finally sat down and wrote about it. A pregnant Nicole Richie walking into the CNN building for her interview with Larry King Live. The photo was taken on April 4th, 2009 at 1:15 pm. That’s me on the reflection. I followed Nicole from her home alongside a paparazzi train (more than a dozen cars following). I was two cars behind Richie’s and had to run many red lights while honking to not lose the chase (with more cars ...

In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as diverse as it was at war with itself, beset with poverty and crime but alive with art and creative energy. And every single one of these drawings was done by Keith Haring.

This gripping true-life account, "The King's Kid" unveils the compelling and intriguing journey of a unique kid growing up in the sixties in Essex, England. He was born a boy, but he innately felt the “girl” inside of him. He also strongly felt lost and sensed that he did not belong in his family. This courageous kid set out on an arduous mission to follow his instincts in seeking the truth. He not only became the girl that he knew he was, but she made an amazing discovery!

Merton Clivette once dominated the 1920s and 1930s art world. He ruled the Orpheum Circuit as a magician, shadowgraphist, mindreader, and acrobat. He performed in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Clivette worked with Houdini and PT Barnum, and he inspired Mark Twain. He taught Sir Arthur Conan Doyle how to be a medium. He went by names such as Clivette the Great, The Man in Black, The Mysterious Stranger, and many others. Clivette led a remarkable life then, like the magician he was, he disappeared from the history books after his death in 1931.

Why the term Sketch Book in the title of this book and not the term Notebook? Because Sketch Book is part of a book title by Washington Irving who was my late wife Jeri's favorite author and Notebook is associated with a title of a book by one of our greatest authors F. Scott Fitzgerald but not a favorite of Jeri's and this is a book about Jeri so her favorite author takes immovable precedent over all others. Though I should mention that it is a series of random notes more akin to F Scott’s Notebook. Regardless, Jeri was a noted New York artist who worked in wood construction, collage, ...

Quoting extensively from Eliot's poetry and prose as well as drawing on new interviews, archives, and previously undisclosed memoirs, Crawford shows how the poet's background in Missouri, Massachusetts, and Paris made him a lightning rod for modernity. Most impressively, Young Eliot reveals the way he accessed his inner life—his anguishes and his fears—and blended them with his omnivorous reading to create his masterpieces "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and The Waste Land.

The Post-Impressionist artist and writer Paul Gauguin led an extraordinary, troubled and restlessly itinerant life; he came late to painting and spent most of his last decade in the Pacific islands of Tahiti and the Marquesas, where he produced paintings loosely based on Polynesian tradition that heralded the emergence of primitivism and would exert a profound influence on modernist artists from Picasso and Matisse to Jackson Pollock. But his art, despite its growing popularity following Gauguin’s death in 1903, has provoked mixed responses.