Famous Artists Biographies

Blavatsky, Madam (1831 – 1891)

Russian noblewoman who espoused the philosophy of Theosophy.

Bocklin, Arnold (1827 – 1901)

A Swiss painter who mainly painted imaginary allegorical and fantastical landscapes that have an eerie, dream-like atmosphere.  In the 1870, he turned to fantastic scenes from German legends, paralleling Richard Wagner’s use of similar subjects in opera.  His later works, such as Isle of the Dead (1880, Metropolitan Museum, New York City) became increasingly dream-like and nightmarish.  Because of these qualities, his work had profound effects upon later Surrealists.

Breton, Andre (1896 – 1966)

A French poet and critic who became leader of the surrealistic movement.  He studied medicine and worked in psychiatric wards during World War I.  Later, as a writer in Paris, he was a pioneer in the anti-rationalist movements in art and literature, known as Dadaism and Surrealism.  His study of the works of Sigmund Freud and his experiments with automatic writing influenced his eventual development of Surrealist theory.  He expressed his views in Surrealist periodicals, which he helped found and edited for many years.  He developed the theories of  Surrealism in three manifestos, 1924, 1930, and 1942.

Darius and Xerxes

Powerful rulers of the Persian Empire. Members of the Achaemenid Dynasty.

Dat-so-la-lee

The most well-known Washo basket weaver.

Gudea

The ruler of the Neo-Sumerian city of Lagash which rose to power 2125 - 2025 BCE

Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s painted figures are unified through geometric design They are tense, exacting and twisting.  They appear solid and three-dimensional because of his gradations of values within each color.  The crisp outlines are4 always evident to emphasize the sculptural shapes.  Later on, his figures became limper with different proportions—more elongated, contorted, with more grim expressions.

Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844 – 1900)

This German philosopher emphasized people’s will o power as their chief motivation in life.  For him the ultimate achievement of the struggle for survival was the “superman” or idealized superior, dominating man.  Nietzsche became preoccupied with the concept of nihilism or the destructiveness towards one’s self and the world.  He noted the superficiality of things, the break-down of values, and concluded that the Christian God was no longer believable, hence the phrase, “God is dead.”

Sargon of Akkad ca. 2370 BCE

Charismatic leader of the city of Akkad who introduced the new idea of royal power and unswerving loyalty to the king rather than to the city-state.

Schopenhaur, Arthur (1788 – 1860)

A German philosopher who taught that the ultimate, all-compelling force is the will to live.  Human beings encounter problems because of desire.  Only by renouncing desire can people find happiness.

Stieglitz, Alfred

A photographer and art dealer who ran the avant-garde art gallery called “291” after its street address) in New York City.  He took a long series of photographs of the young painter Georgia O’Keefe.  As her mentor, dealer and later husband, he took charge of her career, mounting shows of her work from 1926 to 1946, the year of his death.

Van Gogh, Vincent

Van Gogh expressed his inner turmoil in his paintings with bright, broken colrs, short, chopopy brushstrokes, and swirling lines.  His work was less realistic and more symbolic.  He used trees, waving sheaves of grass, and moss on roofs to symbolize his inner world of thought and feeling.

Zoroaster

The founder of the Persian religion whose belief in the struggle between the spirit of good (Ahura Mazda) and the spirit of evil (Ahriman) offered believers a method for positively changing the world.