Biography category: 101305 books

The first full-scale biography of one of the most elusive and enigmatic painters of our time -- the self-proclaimed Count Balthus Klossowski de Rola -- whose brilliantly rendered, markedly sexualized portraits, especially of young girls, are among the most memorable images in contemporary art. The...

Norman Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post...

Kurt Cobain was an American musician and artist, who was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the grunge band Nirvana. Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut...

“A warm and intelligent biography . . . that successfully and lovingly evokes the world of one of the cinema’s true giants” (Kirkus Reviews). Hailed by Orson Welles as “the greatest of all directors,” Jean Renoir had a career that spanned five decades, and more than forty films—from...

* Chronicles all three of Mallory's Everest expeditions * Illuminates how Mallory reconciled his ambitions on Everest with his unquestioned love for his wife and family Since the discovery in 1999 of George Mallory's body on Everest, controversy has raged over whether Mallory and Andrew Irvine could...

Mark Twain, the American comic genius who portrayed, named, and in part exemplified America’s “Gilded Age,” comes alive in Justin Kaplan’s extraordinary biography. With brilliant immediacy, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain brings to life a towering literary figure whose dual persona symbolized...

A stunning biography of the magisterial author behind The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors Henry James is an absorbing portrait of one of the most complex and influential nineteenth-century American writers. Fred Kaplan examines James’s brilliant and troubled family—from his brother,...

A biography of one of the few Victorian ladies whose legacy has lasted well into the 21st century, and whose recipes are still used in thousands of kitchens today Eliza Acton is the forgotten hero of the culinary past, and a debt of gratitude to her is what Delia Smith, Elizabeth David, and Mrs. Beeton...

Brought completely up to date, this insightful biography remains "a must for any self-respecting Coen fan" (Screentrade). This fully updated edition of the first biography of the Coen Brothers includes their complete work so far, from Blood Simple to Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), with a reassessment...

Literary biography. According to Wikipedia: "Honore de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850) was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comedie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in...

Coco Chanel is best known for her contributions to the design and fashion industry. The famous French designer is believed to be the inventor of the little black dress and for instigating the notion that tanned skin is beautiful. Her designs changed the way we approached the female form, and Hollywood...

Drawing on exclusive and unprecedented access to David Hockney’s extensive archives, notebooks, and paintings, interviews with family, friends, and on Hockney himself, Christopher Simon Sykes provides a colorful and intimate portrait of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Born...

Joint winner of the 2015 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Non-Fiction This landmark biography by Darleen Bungey, the author of the celebrated biography of Arthur Boyd, graphically depicts the forces that drove John Olsen to become one of the country's greatest artists. An exhilarating book,...

Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most distinguished women artists of the early 20th century with an international reputation. This much-anticipated biography appears at a time of renewed interest in Dame Laura's extensive repertoire. Laura Knight: A Life probes beneath the myths and fictions...