Taj Books: 48 books

Gauguin’s paintings are redolent of the South Sea islands, full of exotic women, vibrant flora, and brilliant color. In addition, his scenes range from normal life in France’s Brittany, to Provence where he painted and lived briefly with Vincent van Gogh, to French Polynesia. Eugène Henri Paul...

Edvard Munch’s career is effectively divided into two periods: those before and after his mental breakdown in 1908. Prior to his psychiatric treatment and recuperation, the underlying themes of his work bounced between dark sorrow and an overt, aggressive sexuality. But after his breakdown, when...

Georges Seurat was one of the most important Post-Impressionist painters to lead the way toward the modern era in art. He is best known for developing pointillism, an exacting and time-consuming technique whereby tiny dots of paint are combined to create a composition. His work is stylized and considered,...

Paul Cézanne, a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter, was an important catalyst to the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavor to the modern and radically different world of art that emerged full bore in the 20th century. Cézanne successfully melded the structural...

Eugène Delacroix was highly influential in the 19th-century Romanticism art movement and is considered by many art historians to be the most important of the Romantic painters. Delacroix is often attributed with refining Romanticism, not only aesthetically but philosophically, as his work influenced...

Edith Head is probably the most iconic of all Hollywood costume designers. Beginning in the early 1930s until her retirement in 1977, Edith Head costumed the stars of over 500 films. With 35 Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design, she won 8—the closest to come to her record is Irene Sharaff,...

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as simply Sandro Botticelli, was born in Florence, Italy, probably in or around 1445. Serendipitously winning a high-profile commission from the Florentine court, he was catapulted to notoriety as wealthy patrons, in particular the Medici family,...

When Liberace was just seven years old, he memorized the full 17-page score of Mendelssohn’s“Midsummer Night’s Dream” in one day. No matter your opinion of Liberace’s ostentatious and flamboyant style, his talent on the piano is unarguable. He learned the entertainment business as a teenager...

Hans Memling was one of the greatest artists working in northern Europe in the late medieval period. He made his home and his name in the city of Bruges, Belgium, where he lived and worked for almost 30 years. Often described as a Flemish Primitive, he almost singlehandedly transformed Bruges into...

Edgar Degas began as a classical painter of genre history scenes and died as one of the greatest and most innovative names in French art—although as with so many other artists, he did not receive a great deal of recognition in his lifetime. Along the way his style changed completely from strict...

Texas was built on stories of cactus, cattle, and cowboys that have stretched as big as the state itself to encompass the even more fabulous tales of railroads, oil, and the bravest of settlers. Railroads brought commerce, people, and vitality to early Texas creating such strong growth and welcoming...

The earliest known decks of tarot cards created in Italy in the late 15th century were used as a game. The tarot’s association with fortune telling and gypsies did not come about until the late 1700s. The first decks were hand painted for wealthy families who had the money to commission the decks...

Charlie Chaplin literally fell into the genre of slapstick comedy when he was 18 years old. Long out of work and anxious to secure a part in an upcoming third-rate London production of Casey’s Circus, entering the audition Chaplin slipped, tried to right himself, slipped again, fell on all fours...

The Civil War—like all civil wars—was divisive, costly, and savage. More Americans died in this war than in World War I and World War II combined. Brother was pitted against brother and neighbor against neighbor. There are no civilians in a civil war and both sides’ scorched earth policies meant...