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.

Rhodes shows us young Audubon arriving in New York from France in 1803, his illegitimacy a painful secret, speaking no English but already drawing and observing birds. We see him falling in love, marrying

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Art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions. 'The meanings of his art depend on the way he lived and who he was,' as Gopnik writes. 'That's why the details of his biography matter more than for almost any cultural figure,' from his working-class Pittsburgh upbringing as the child of immigrants to his early career in commercial art to his total immersion in the 'performance' of being an artist, accompanied by global...

Presents an illustrated introduction to the life and work of artist Horace Pippin, describing his childhood love for drawing and the World War I injury that challenged his career.

""The first thing I can remember," Ben said, "I drew." As an observant young child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees-and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers' rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too. So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings with him both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what's right. As he grows, he speaks...

"Profusely illustrated account of the life and career of 19th century American artist Winslow Homer, with background information on other artists of that time." --

"Brush up your knowledge on popular American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell with this exciting Who Was? title. Norman Rockwell often painted what he saw around him in nostalgic and humorous ways. After hearing President Franklin Roosevelt's address to Congress in 1943, he was inspired to create paintings that described the principles for universal rights: four paintings that portray iconic images of the American experience. Over the course...

"Presents information about Georgia O'Keeffe, from her childhood in Wisconsin where she developed her fascination with nature to her exhibits around the world." --

"Mark Rothko was not only one of the most influential American painters of the twentieth century; he was a scholar, an educator, and a deeply spiritual human being. Born Marcus Yakovlevich Rotkovitch, he emigrated from the Russian Empire to the United States at age ten, already well educated in the Talmud and carrying with him bitter memories of the pogroms and persecutions visited upon the Jews of Latvia. Few artists have achieved success as quickly,...