A giant in American decorative arts, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements. Tiffany, who was born, built his business an
Washington Irving, born the year the Revolutionary War ended, was America’s first “Man of Letters.” As much as the Founding Fathers structured our government, Irving, with his quirky wit, shaped the i
Chronicles the life of John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), our thirty-fifth president, from childhood to war hero to his legacy of pushing the nation to strive for equal rights, advancements in science, and
Auguste Rodin did not follow the prescribed path for a nineteenth century artist, but forging his artistic growth in his own way may have been the driver that made him the most innovative sculptor of
Chronicles the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), a New-England born American essayist, lecturer and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the 19th century. Some of his best known essay
Pierre-Auguste Renoir filled his paintings with light and beauty. Unlike his contemporaries, plein-air painters of landscapes, he filled his canvases with human movement: the swish of silk; the crackl
Martha Washington, never guessing what she had signed on for, set a standard of style and grace for all the First Ladies to come. Even though she and George were born into an era of political and econ
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1929 - 1994) was a First Lady with elegant style, wit and intelligence. She traveled the world as a young woman and celebrated culture. Nothing in her experience would prep
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, courageously brought our country successfully through the Civil War by fighting to uphold the Constitution and signed the 13th Amendment, making s
When President Calvin Coolidge was asked to choose between the artist John Singer Sargent or the photographer John Garo to make his official presidential portrait, Coolidge chose Garo. Although unknow
Self-taught Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is internationally known for her dramatic, brightly colored, and imaginative works, filled with symbols from indigenous Mexican culture and religion
Recognized as the “Mother of American Modernism,” American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is best known for her paintings of flowers (magnified at close range), New York skyscrapers, and landscap
Applewood Books debuts a new series of short artist biographies with titles on Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent. Each beautiful little hardcover book includes a co
Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1755 – 1854), was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, He was our first Secretary of the Treasury and founded our financial systems, the Coast Guard, and establish
Chronicles the life of Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862) the 19th Century writer and philosopher from Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau was best known as a Naturalist, and his journals a
Frederick Law Olmsted practiced the art of landscape architecture with a combination of elegance and practicality. He held a deep understanding of managing the human impact on the land. In addition to
Ronald Reagan had not one, but three full careers in his lifetime. He was a major film star, governor of California, and fortieth president of the United States. He had big dreams and made them come
John Muir: passionate, eccentric, inventive, tenacious. All these words together add up to the story of one of America’s most beloved conservationists. His legacy lives on in the Sierra Club that he c
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker of the Realism Movement who is particularly known for his marine subjects – fishermen, storms at sea, beaches, and shorelines
James Abbott McNeill Whistler painted a number of exquisite paintings, but is largely remembered for one titled Arrangement in grey and black No. 1, and assigned an indelible nickname by an approving