Aug 24 2026
Born on August 24, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, Nancy Spero spent more than half a century using art to confront war, political violence, inequality, and the persistent marginalization of women. Her work could be furious, unsettling, fragile, celebratory, or even playful, but it was rarely passive. Spero developed a visual language unlike that of almost …
Aug 18 2026
Born on August 18, 1931, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Myrna Báez became one of the most important Puerto Rican painters and printmakers of the second half of the 20th century. Across a career lasting more than six decades, she explored landscape, portraiture, the human figure, interior spaces, printmaking, color, and above all the extraordinary qualities …
Aug 12 2026
Born on August 12, 1928, in Sydney, Australia, Charles Blackman became one of the most distinctive painters of postwar Australian art. His mysterious schoolgirls wandering through city streets, dreamlike interpretations of Alice in Wonderland, lovers, flowers, children, gardens, and solitary figures created an artistic world in which everyday life could suddenly become strange, poetic, or …
Aug 11 2026
Born on August 11, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, Walter H. Williams became one of the most distinctive African American expatriate artists of the postwar era. A painter, printmaker, and ceramicist, Williams created an instantly recognizable visual world populated by Black children, sunflowers, butterflies, birds, modest houses, cotton fields, and glowing suns. At first glance, …
Aug 08 2026
Born on August 8, 1922, in Balatonszemes, Hungary, Károly Reich became one of the country’s most beloved illustrators and graphic artists. Over a career spanning roughly four decades, he created images for hundreds of books, bringing fairy tales, poems, novels, animals, children, mythological figures, and some of the best-known characters in Hungarian literature to life. …
Aug 07 2026
Born on this day, August 7, 1932, in Schiedam, Netherlands, Rien Poortvliet became one of the most recognizable Dutch illustrators of the twentieth century. His richly detailed paintings and drawings celebrated wildlife, rural traditions, history, family life, and an imaginary world populated by remarkably convincing gnomes. Whether he was painting a fox disappearing into the …
Jul 07 2026
Born on this day, July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, then part of the Russian Empire and now in Belarus, Marc Chagall became one of the most distinctive artists of the 20th century. Lovers floated above rooftops, musicians appeared beside farm animals, villages tilted beneath brilliant skies, and memories of childhood mingled freely with folklore, religion, …
Jul 06 2026
Born on this day, July 6, 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Frida Kahlo created some of the most recognizable paintings of the 20th century. Her self-portraits, vivid colors, symbolic imagery, and unflinching explorations of identity made her an artist whose work seems intensely personal while reaching far beyond the circumstances of her own life. Kahlo …
Jun 28 2026
Born on this day, June 28, 1915, at Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, José Rey Toledo became an important 20th-century Pueblo artist whose paintings combined artistic skill with an unusually close knowledge of the communities, traditions, clothing, dances, and landscapes he depicted. Known by the Towa name Sho-bah-won-hon, or Morning Star, Toledo worked primarily in …
Jun 03 2026
Born on this day, June 3, 1877, in Le Havre, France, Raoul Dufy became one of the great colorists of 20th-century French art. Sailboats move across brilliant blue harbors. Flags flutter above crowded streets. Racehorses circle paddocks beneath open skies. Musicians perform under chandeliers while fashionable spectators gather at regattas, casinos, concerts, and seaside resorts. …
