Famous Artists a to z

Ansel Adams was an American photographer best known for his iconic images of the American West, including Yosemite National Park.

Robert Adamson was a Scottish chemist and photographer who is best known for producing 2500 Calotype photographic prints with painter David Octavius Hill.

Charles Addams was an American cartoonist whose work was frequently featured in The New Yorker. His most famous creation was the humorously macabre Addams Family.

British photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield achieved success in personal royal portraits, and created the well-known Unipart calendar.

Photographer Diane Arbus's distinctive portraits showed the world how crazy (and beautiful) New Yorkers were in the 1950s and '60s. She was married to actor Allan Arbus.

John James Audubon was an American ornithologist, artist and naturalist known for his studies, drawings and paintings of North American birds.

American photographer Richard Avedon was best known for his work in the fashion world and for his minimalist, large-scale character-revealing portraits.

Tex Avery was an American cartoonist best known for creating characters such as Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Droopy and Chilly Willy.

Banksy is the pseudonym of a "guerrilla" street artist known for his controversial, and often politically themed, stenciled pieces.

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi designed and executed New York City’s Statue of Liberty to mark the Franco-American alliance of 1778.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a Neo-Expressionist painter in the 1980s. He is best known for his primitive style and his collaboration with pop artist Andy Warhol.

Frédéric Bazille was a French painter who helped found the Impressionist movement of the late 19th century, before dying in combat in the Franco-Prussian War.

Sir Cecil Beaton was an English fashion photographer who is also known for his work as a diarist, interior designer, and Oscar-winning stage and costume designer.

Thomas Hart Benton was an esteemed 20th century painter and muralist renowned for works like “America Today” and “Persephone.”

Larry Birkhead, ex of the late Anna Nicole Smith, is raising their daughter, Dannielynn, after confirming in 2007 that he's the girl's biological dad.

William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a major poet and an original thinker.

Hieronymus Bosch was a European painter of the late Middle Ages. His two most famous works are "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and "The Temptation of St. Anthony."

Fernando Botero is a Colombian artist known for creating bloated, oversized depictions of people, animals and elements of the natural world.

Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-era. He contributed to the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and painted the immortal The Birth of Venus.

Leigh Bowery was an Australian fashion designer, club promoter and performance artist, known as the proprietor of the hedonistic London nightclub Taboo.

Christian Brando was the eldest son of Hollywood legend Marlon Brando. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing his half-sister’s boyfriend.

Georges Braque, the French painter who invented Cubism, with Pablo Picasso, and became the first living artist to be exhibited at The Louvre in 1961.

André Breton was a French writer, editor and critic who was a key figure in the Dada and Surrealist art movements.

Director, producer and screenwriter Tim Burton is known for such films as Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, which blend themes of fantasy and horror.

Painter John Butler Yeats was the father of poet William Butler Yeats and artist Jack Butler Yeats. His portrait of John O'Leary is considered his best work.

Caravaggio, or Michelangelo Merisi, was an Italian painter who is considered one of the fathers of modern painting.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer whose humane, spontaneous photographs helped establish photojournalism as an art form.

Artist Elizabeth Catlett celebrates African-American workers in sculptures and prints. She's known for works like "Negro Woman," "Sharecropper" and "Survivor."

Marc Chagall was a French artist whose work was generally based on emotional association rather than traditional pictorial fundamentals.

Judy Chicago is an American artist, educator and writer, and a leading figure in feminist art. She received critical acclaim in the 1970s for her art project "The Dinner Party."

Chuck Close is noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face. He rose to fame in the late 1960s for his large-scale, photo-realist portraits.

Jean Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, artist and film director. He was associated with the group Les Six.

Le Corbusier was a Swiss-born French architect who belonged to the first generation of the so-called International school of architecture.

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, researcher, photographer and documentary host who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He also conducted underwater expeditions and produced films and television series, including the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. 

American illustrator and artist Robert Crumb is best known for his distinctive style and satirical tone and creating the cartoon character Fritz the Cat.

Post-Impressionist French painter Paul Cézanne is best known for his incredibly varied painting style which greatly affected 20th century abstract art.

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter and a genius in many realms of science. He is best known for two paintings: the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper."

Salvador Dali is best known for his long surrealist painting career.

Gala Dalí is best known as the wife, business manager and muse of Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.

Jacques-Louis David was a 19th century painter who is considered to be the principal proponent of the Neoclassical style, which moved art briskly away from the previous Rococo period. His most famous works include "The Death of Marat" and "Napoleon Crossing the Alps."

Sometimes called the father of modern art, Spanish artist Francisco de Goya painted royal portraits as well as more subversive works in late 1700s and early 1800s.

French painter Georges La Tour is considered a major influence on Caravaggio for his use of simple lighting, like candles, in a realistic manner.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a 19th century French artist known for works like “The Streetwalker” and “At the Moulin Rouge.”

Roy DeCarava was an American photographer who created some of the most iconic images we have of the Civil Rights Movement and jazz musicians in motion.

Painter and sculptor Edgar Degas was a highly celebrated 19th-century French Impressionist whose work helped shape the fine art landscape for years to come.

Eugène Delacroix, considered one of the greatest French Romantic painters, was influential in the development of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting.

André Derain was a French painter of the Fauvist school and a book illustrator. He was friends with Henri Matisse.

Italian sculptor Donatello was the greatest Florentine sculptor before Michelangelo (1475–1564) and was the most influential individual artist of the 15th century in Italy.

Aaron Douglas was an African-American painter and graphic artist who played a leading role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Eadweard Muybridge's photography of moving animals captured movement in a way that had never been done before. His work was used by both scientists and artists.

Thomas Eakins was a naturalist figure painter, portraitist and sculptor. He is considered one of the most influential artists in U.S. history.

El Greco was a Greek artist whose painting and sculpture helped define the Spanish Renaissance and influence various movements to come.

Tracey Emin is a British artist who emerged in the 1980s, during the "Young British Artists" movement. She is noted for her provocative and controversial pieces, including "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995," "My Bed" and "The Last Thing I Said To You is Don't Leave Me Here."

M.C. Escher was an artist known for his realistic, detailed prints that achieve bizarre optical and conceptual effects.

Roger Fenton was a British photographer best known for his 1855 documentation of the ravages of the war in Crimea.

Thomas Gainsborough was an 18th century English painter known for his suggestive portraiture and landscapes.

Alexander Gardner was a Scottish photographer who moved to the United States and took some of the most memorable photos of the American Civil War.

French artist Paul Gauguin's bold colors, exaggerated body proportions and stark contrasts helped him achieve broad success in the late 19th century.

Artemisia Gentileschi, daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, was a Baroque-period painter known for such works as "Madonna and Child, "Susanna and the Elders" and "Judith Slaying Holofernes."