Showing titles in Artists, Architects & Photographers

Frank Lloyd Wright, designer of some 800 buildings, is widely regarded as the twentieth century's greatest architect - an unconventional genius who transformed both residential and commercial building design with his concept of "organic" architecture. In this charming memoir, Wright the architect and father, "a rebel" and "a jolt to civilization," comes to life through the vivid recollections and firsthand knowledge of his son.

Salvador Dalí era un maestro de lo surrealista. Sus pinturas son conocidas como "fotografías de sueños": instantáneas de pesadillas que cobran vida con asombroso detalle. Dalí era un virtuoso a nivel técnico, pero a diferencia de los grandes maestros que admiraba, como Johannes Vermeer y Diego Velázquez, eligió usar su habilidad para representar lo irreal y lo absurdo.

In the 1990s, Megan Margulies' Upper West Side neighborhood was marked by addicts shooting up in subway stations, frequent burglaries, and the "Wild Man of 96th Street", who set fires under cars and heaved rocks through stained glass church windows. The world inside her parents' tiny one-bedroom apartment was hardly a respite, with a family of five - including some loud personalities - eventually occupying the 550-square-foot space.

On Zulema's fourth date with the man who is now her husband, they created a "Life List" of adventures they would share together, from skydiving to luxurious trips around the world, and as wine collectors, traveling the wine regions to meet their favorite producers. Wildly successful and in love, Zulema was living a fairy tale. But, two years into their marriage, the Life List took on a shocking urgency when she was diagnosed with sarcoma, an exceedingly rare and incurable form of cancer, along with a host of other complex and mysterious medical conditions.

Antony Armstrong-Jones, photographer, designer and film-maker, gained worldwide attention when he married Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, Princess Margaret in 1960—the first non-aristocrat to marry into the Royal Family for 400 years. How did a "commoner" come to marry a princess, a woman whom he had long admired from afar? In fact, "Tony" descended from Welsh gentry, the son of a barrister and a society hostess. His family shared a long-established link with the Mountbatten arm of the Royal Family.

Jane Jacobs is universally recognized as one of the most important figures in American urbanism, and The Death and Life of Great American Cities one of the most important books on cities. However, because of her David-versus-Goliath battles with "power broker" Robert Moses and the urban-renewal establishment, Jacobs has received more attention for being an activist than a thinker, despite having written a list of influential books on cities, economies, and other subjects.

What do you do when your world ends? At 28 years old, Krista Schlyer sold almost everything she owned and packed the rest of it in a station wagon bound for the American wild. Her two best friends joined her - one a grumpy, grieving introvert, the other a feisty dog - and together they sought out every national park, historic site, forest, and wilderness they could get to before their money ran out or their minds gave in.

De geheimen van de grootste genie uit de geschiedenis. Leonardo da Vinci wordt gezien als het meest creatieve genie ooit. Naast zijn wereldberoemde werk als schilder was hij ook uitvinder, schrijver, architect, beeldhouwer, componist, anatomist, filosoof, natuurkundige, scheikundige en ingenieur. Op basis van duizenden pagina's van Da Vinci's aantekenboeken en nieuwe ontdekkingen over zijn leven en werk vertelt Isaacson een prachtig verhaal over hoe Da Vinci's kunst verweven is met de wetenschap.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir stands alongside Claude Monet at the very peak of Impressionist painting, and though neither of them can be credited with founding the movement (that honor likely goes to Edouard Manet or Edgar Degas), Renoir and Monet remain inextricably tied to the key characteristics of Impressionism: loose brushwork; outdoor painting; an emphasis on capturing natural light and shadow; and a focus on remaining in Paris and the surrounding countryside.

Art dealer Stan Lauryssens made millions in modern art, but he sold only one name: Salvador Dalí. The surrealist painter's work was a hot commodity for the newly rich, investors, and businessmen looking to launder their black-market cash. Lauryssens didn't mind looking the other way; he just hoped the buyers would look the other way as well.

While the majority of scholarship on early Washington focuses on its political and physical development, in Incidental Architect Gordon S. Brown describes the intellectual and social scene of the late 1700s through the lives of a prominent couple whose cultural aspirations served as both model and mirror for the city’s own.

On Friday, August 12, 1988, around 5:30 pm, the young graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was found dead lying on the floor, face down in his studio he rented from the Warhol Estate at 57th Great Jones Street. His body was discovered by a friend and assistant of his at the time, 22-year-old Kelly Inman. She called 911, and shortly after, the ambulance arrived to pick up Basquiat's body, and took him to Cabrini Medical Center where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A fascinating look into the life of a tortured genius. Using Van Gogh's letters as a primary source, the author discusses the artist's life, his approach to his work, and his mental illness. The letters vividly show the artist's life was no bed of roses. Whereas Van Gogh perfectly knew what was sellable, he continued to produce what he considered as honest, truthful art, regardless of current taste.

From Life tells the story of the greatest portrait photographer of the Victorian age, Julia Margaret Cameron. Born in Calcutta in 1815, she married and settled down to the life of a typical Victorian colonial matron; but, beneath this conventional exterior, she was increasingly interested in photography. After moving to England, Cameron acquired her first camera in 1863, ultimately emerging as the leading portrait photographer of the Victorian art world.

Gustav Klimt, painting genius of art déco: Life and works in a short biography! Everything you need to know, brief and concise. Infotainment, education and entertainment at its best.

When Adam Parfrey tracked down Walter Keane - the credited artist of the weepy waifs - for a San Diego Reader cover story in 1992, he discovered some shocking facts. Decades of lawsuits and countersuits revealed the reality that Keane was more of a conman than an artist and that he forced his wife, Margaret, to sign his name to her own paintings. As a result those weepy waifs may not have been as capricious an invention as they seemed.

Today's high-flying, high-rolling conglomarateurs and corporate raiders are a tame lot compared to their immediate predecessors. The most notorious of these is Robert Vesco, the Kingfish himself, who in 1973 fled the United States accused of looting $250 million from Investors Overseas Services. Now, in this riveting account, noted author Arthur Herzog tells the astounding story of this high school dropout from Detroit, who parlayed cunning, ambition, a brilliant mind, and above all, other people's gullibility and money into a vast financial empire.

When 8-year-old Lou Del Bianco finds out that his Grandpa Luigi was the Chief Carver on Mount Rushmore, his young life is instantly changed. Follow Lou's journey as he and his Uncle Caesar make the painful discovery that Luigi is not even mentioned in the most definitive book on Rushmore. Cheer them on as you hear the historic documents they unearth from the Library of Congress that not only tell Luigi's story but also prove his great importance. Finally, ride the roller-coaster of the 25 year journey to get Luigi the recognition he deserves. Out of Rushmore's Shadow is the dramatic and touching story of Luigi's legacy and the immigrant's struggle.

Rembrandt's life has always been an enigma. How did a miller's son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist in the world? To find out, Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city, and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first 25 years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.

Berna González Harbour firma una deslumbrante narración biográfica sobre el artista que mejor supo retratar nuestro país: Francisco de Goya.