Showing titles in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers

Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine he was editing. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death 30 years later. Fascinated by the artist's brilliance and charisma, Peppiatt accompanied him on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club and casino, seeing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life' and meeting everybody around him.

This is the beautifully told story of charismatic and unconventional pop artist Martin Sharp, from his lonely privileged childhood to the heady days of the underground magazine Oz to Swinging London and beyond. Sharp blurred the boundaries of high art and low; he drew rock stars and reprobates into his world, collaborated with Eric Clapton, obsessively championed eccentric singer Tiny Tim, was haunted by Sydney's Luna Park and, paradoxically, became a recluse whose phone never stopped ringing.

Jean Renoir's career almost spans the history years of cinema - from the early silent movies, to the naturalism of the talkies, committed cinema, film noir, Hollywood studio productions, the Technicolor-period comedies and fast television techniques. His film The Grand Illusion remains one of the greatest movies about the effects of war.

With unprecedented access to newly discovered sources, Donna M. Lucey illuminates the lives of four extraordinary women painted by the iconic high-society portraitist John Singer Sargent. With uncanny clairvoyance, Sargent's portraits hint at the mysteries, passions, and tragedies that unfolded in his subjects' lives.

Warning: This book makes jokes about the Third Reich, the Reign of Terror, World War I, cancer, Millard Fillmore, and Chernobyl. When advertising legend Jim Riswold is stricken with leukemia and prostate cancer, he quits the business that made him famous to become a "fake artist", creating a controversial body of work with a controversial cast of characters, from Hitler to Mao to Kim Jong-Il. It was a decision that would save his life.

"A majestic book." --Bessel van der Kolk, MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score A unique joint memoir by a U.S. Marine and a conflict photographer whose unlikely friendship helped both heal their war-wounded bodies and souls "The dueling-piano spirit of SHOOTING GHOSTS works because its authors...

Before there was Steve Jobs, there was Norman Bel Geddes. A ninth-grade dropout who found himself at the center of the worlds of industry, advertising, theater, and even gaming, Bel Geddes designed everything from the first all-weather stadium to Manhattan's most exclusive nightclub to Futurama, the prescient 1939 exhibit that envisioned how America would look in the not-too-distant 1960s.

Penguin presents the complete unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Gone by Min Kym, read by Rebecca Yeo. 'The hours fell away as I read this spellbinding tale of love, loss, and above all devotion to art. You probably don't know what it feels like to be a child prodigy or a world class...

The enthralling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and whose genius we still benefit from today. Thomas Telford's name is familiar, his story less so. Thomas was born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders; his father died in Thomas' infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford's life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy. Few people have done more to shape our nation.

Ten years ago, an FBI investigation was about to expose a scandal in the art world that would have been front-page news in New York and London. After a trail of fake paintings of astonishing quality led federal agents to art dealers, experts, and major auction houses, the investigation inexplicably ended, despite an abundance of evidence. The case was closed and the FBI file was marked “exempt from public disclosure”. Now that the statute of limitations on these crimes has expired and the case appears hermetically sealed shut by the FBI, this audiobook, Caveat Emptor, is that artist, Ken Perenyi’s, confession.

Donna Seaman brings to dazzling life seven forgotten artists, among the best of their day: Gertrude Abercrombie, with her dark, surreal paintings and friendships with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins; Bay Area self-portraitist Joan Brown; Ree Morton, with her witty, oddly beautiful constructions; Loïs Mailou Jones of the Harlem Renaissance; Lenore Tawney, who combined weaving and sculpture; Christina Ramberg, who drew on pop culture and advertising; and Louise Nevelson, an art-world superstar.

Roz Chast brings her brilliant, hilarious artwork to No Fair! No Fair! and Other Jolly Poems of Childhood by Calvin Trillin and The African Svelte: Ingenious Misspellings That Make Surprising Sense by Daniel Menaker, as well as her own memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?. Join us for a conversation moderated by Adam Gopnik ( The New Yorker) between the artist and authors, plus readings by Jane Curtin and Reg Rogers ( The Knick).

At the age of 17, Adolfo Kaminsky had narrowly escaped deportation to Auschwitz and was living in Nazi-occupied Paris, using forged documents to hide in plain sight. Due to his expert knowledge of dyes and his ability to masterfully reproduce official documents with an artistic eye, he was recruited to join the Jewish underground. He soon became the primary forger for the Resistance in Paris, working tirelessly with his network to create papers that would save an estimated 14,000 men, women, and children from certain death.

Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a listen of Guggenheim's life that will enthrall enthusiasts of 21st-century art as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs.

Determined, imperious, flighty, charming, Beryl McBurnie was born in Trinidad and went to New York in the early 1940s to study dance and drama. She also made a name for herself as a dancer and singer, Belle Rosette. But she turned her back on the bright lights to return to Trinidad. There she continued the work she had begun before World War II, researching and performing the dances of the Caribbean. This book portrays the woman, explores the influences that shaped McBurnie and those whom she influenced in turn, and tells of her struggle to realize a vision she nurtured for decades.

Sanna adopteras som fyraåring från Iran till Sverige och växer upp på Lidingö. Hon känner sig ibland annorlunda och utanför. Efter ett antal livskriser börjar hon söka sina rötter i Iran. Mötet med den annorlunda kulturen blir omtumlande och svaren på varför hon blivit bortlämnad skapar en känsla av att ha blivit bortvald. Samtidigt möts hon av stor kärlek. Mitt emellan två kulturer försöker Sanna hitta sin egen väg.

På natten den sista november 2005 somnade artisten, skådespelaren och småbarnspappan Micke "Svullo" Dubois för allra sista gången. Han tog sitt liv i ett cykelförråd - bara 46 år gammal. Ångesten blev till sist för svår. I nästan tio år var Gitte Nilsson sambo med Micke Dubois. Tillsammans har de tre barn. Gitte kände varenda skrymsle av Mickes hemlighet med depressionerna, ångesten och de förtvivlade ropen på hjälp. Tillsammans med journalisten Niklas Bodell berättar Gitte om glädjen, vreden och vanmakten. Om livet och lidandet med Den Stora Kärleken. Om människan Micke Dubois.

Ascolta e scopri il capolavoro della più famosa pittrice messicana! Nel mondo dell'arte, Frida Kahlo è una delle donne più famose, insieme a pochi altri nomi noti come Tamara de Lempicka, Artemisia Gentileschi ed Elisabetta Sirani. Simbolo per eccellenza del suo Paese, il Messico, e della condizione sociale della donna nella metà del secolo scorso, Kahlo visse una vita breve ma molto intensa, tra incredibili sofferenze fisiche, un matrimonio con Diego Rivera che le portò tante gioie quanti dolori e una carriera altalenante.

Gli audiobook della serie "Leonardo: i volti del genio" ti guidano nel mondo di Leonardo da Vinci, mente visionaria che ha rivoluzionato le arti e le scienze nel Rinascimento, incuriosendo gli uomini di ogni tempo con le sue idee innovative e incredibilmente moderne. Scopri tutti i lati del genio poliedrico di Leonardo con questi audiobook curati da uno dei massimi esperti italiani di Leonardo, letti da una voce professionista.

Gli audiobook della serie "Leonardo: i volti del genio" ti guidano nel mondo di Leonardo da Vinci, mente visionaria che ha rivoluzionato le arti e le scienze nel Rinascimento, incuriosendo gli uomini di ogni tempo con le sue idee innovative e incredibilmente moderne. Scopri tutti i lati del genio poliedrico di Leonardo con questi audiobook curati da uno dei massimi esperti italiani di Leonardo, letti da una voce professionista.