Georgia Totto O'Keeffe is one of my favorite American artists. She was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin in 1887, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Students League of New York. She was a teacher in Texas from 1913 to 1918. In 1916, she came to the attention of the American photographer and art gallery director Alfred Stieglitz (whom she married in 1924) when she sent a packet of drawings to a mutual friend, by way of keeping in touch. Stieglitz exhibited her work at 291, his gallery in New York City until he died in 1946. To learn more about her, follow this link. O'Keeffe was famous for her flower paintings, her abstracts and her paintings of the New Mexican desert.
Ansel Adams is one of my favorite artists.
He was born in San Francisco in February of 1902. As a child, he had difficulties in school -- a problem which was partially remedied when his parents arranged for private tutors. A 1916 family trip to Yosemite National Park was to change his life -- his parents had given him his first camera before the trip. As a result of this, Adams developed two life-long passions; photography and nature. Adams was a commercial photographer for 30 years before starting the work he is most famous for -- his nature photography. Adams taught his first Yosemite photography workshop in 1940 with Edward Weston. He won three Gugenheim awards to photograph the National Parks (1944 -1958). He founded the f/64 group with Weston in 1932. He also developed the theory of zone exposure, and authored The Camera, The Negative, and The Print to explain his technique. A lifelong nature lover, Adams served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club for many years. Adams was an active teacher, artist and conservator until his death in 1984.
To learn more about his life, follow this link.
Francois-Auguste Rodin was born in France in 1840. He attended the Petite École, a government-run school for art and design, and, though he won awards for his work, was rejected by the École des Beaux-Arts, the prestigious art academy of France. After his rejection, Rodin worked for various decorators and ornamentalists. In 1862, Rodin's beloved sister Maria died. In response, Rodin entered the Monastic Order of the Holy Sacrement. For more than a decade, Rodin worked for various artist and traveled around Europe. It was in 1875 that Rodin visited Italy, where he first saw the works of the great Italian Masters. Rodin's lifelike sculptures were influenced enormously by the works of Michelangelo. In 1877, Rodin exhibited The Bronze Age. He was accused of having cast it from a living model, rather than having sculpted it. It was at this point that Rodin became the acclaimed sculptor that the the world has come to know. In 1889, he became a founding member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. This was the first in a series of honors that included appointment as Grand Officer of the Légion d'Honneur, appointment as member of the Conseil Supérieur des Beaux-Arts and awards of Honorary Doctorates from the University of Iéna, Glasgow and Oxford. Rodin died in 1917 as one of the most influential and acclaimed sculptors in the world.
To learn more about him, follow this link.
Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato Mexico, in 1892. He studied at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City and in the carving workshop of artist José Guadalupe Posada. In 1907, after exhibiting in Mexico, Rivera began a tour of Europe, a tour which was to introduce him to many new movements and theories of painting, such as Cubism, which were to be important to his later work. After spending time painting and studying art in Europe, he returned to Mexico where he became fascinated with pre-colombian forms of art. An outspoken Socialist, many of Rivera's works illustrate his interest in and sympathy with the working man. His murals, especially, were also meant to be displayed and seen by people in everyday contexts, instead of being hidden from the public in salons or muesums. His style was realist; a blend of modern, classical and pre-colombain forms brought to the public in murals and canvas. He died in 1957 as one of the modern era's most vital and colorful artists. To learn more about Diego Rivera's work and life, follow this link.