Arthur Tracy Lee (1970 - 1879)

US Army Colonel, Artist. He was commissioned as second Lieutenant in the 5th US Infantry in October 1838, and transferred to the 8th US Infantry the following month. After service in Wisconsin and Florida, he transferred to Texas in 1845 as part of the “Army Of Occupation”, a force designed to protect white settlers on […]

Alois Lecoque (1891 - 1981)

Artist born in Prague who adopted a French name to help his career. His “Rooftops of Prague” was presented to Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower. (bio by: Alan Lopez)

Odon Lechner (1845 - 1914)

Highly art nouveau architect whose use of polychrome tiling and mosaic gives Budapest much of its character.

Pietro Lazzari (1895 - 1979)

Sculptor. Pietro received his formal education from the Ornamental School of Rome (Master Artist). After the end of the First World War, Lazzari joined the Italian Futurist movement and exhibited with such artists as Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini. He then moved to Paris for several years before returning to Rome where his first solo […]

Robert Lawson (1892 - 1957)

Author and Illustrator. He is considered one of the finest creators of children’s books of his time. Lawson was the first to receive both of the top two American prizes in this field: the Caldecott Medal for “They Were Strong and Good” (1940), and the Newbery Medal for “Rabbit Hill” (1945). His tales often observe […]

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830)

Artist. Born the son of an innkeeper in Bristol, he was a child prodigy who began drawing portraits at a very young age, and by 12 had his own studio. Studied at the Royal Academy, and was appointed Royal Artist to George III in 1792 at the age of 20. He was knighted in 1815 […]

Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941)

John Lavery was born in Belfast, the son of a publican. John was orphaned at an early age and moved to Glasgow, where he became apprenticed to a photographer. It was here that he began to be interested in painting, as a result of retouching the negatives and adding tinted colour to the prints. Later, […]

Lady Hazel Martyn Lavery (1880 - 1935)

Hazel Martyn was the daughter of a Chicago industrialist of Irish descent. In 1904, she was on holiday in Brittany, where she met John Lavery (q.v.), thirty years her senior, who had been a widower since 1891. Hazel was engaged to a Canadian doctor, who died shortly after their marriage; and, in 1910, she married […]

John Lautner (1911 - 1994)

Architect. Lautner’s first building experience came when he helped his parents build a chalet-style retreat in Michigan, designed by his mother, that looked out over Lake Superior from a hillside high above it. After graduating with a degree in English from the Northern Michigan University, he became an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright for six […]

Henri Laurens (1885 - 1954)

Sculptor.  Family links:  Spouse:  Marthe Laurens (1886 – 1957)* *Calculated relationship

Marie Laurencin (1883 - 1956)

Painter.  She became noted for her dreamlike pictures of beautiful women.  Initially influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec and Cubism,  she later developed an individual,  feminine decorative style,  using flat forms and  delicate pastel tones.  Many view her work as 20th Century French painting at its finest.  Laurencin was born in Paris and was trained as a painter […]

Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865 - 1940)

Artist. Famous for painting and photographing the Alaskan wilderness. Struggling and needing money, he decided in 1904, at the age of 38, to try the hard life of a pioneer prospector and joined the crowd seeking gold and riches in Valdez, Alaska. He painted little in his first years in the territory, instead prospected for […]

Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764 - 1820)

America’s first professional architect and engineer – he immigrated to America in 1795.  After designing Philadelphia’s first water system, Latrobe went on to design or consult on more than 60 private homes in America, as well as dozens of public buildings.  Only three Latrobe designed, preserved,  residential homes remain in the entire country.    He […]

Karin Larsson (1859 - 1928)

Renowned Swedish Designer and Artist. Born Karin Bergöö. Wife of famed Swedish artist Carl Larsson. As a couple they formed an aesthetic partership. Acknowledged as ”the creator of the Swedish style,” meaning interior design and decorations of textiles and furniture among other things. She was educated at the Academy of Arts and The Arts and […]

Mikhail Larionov (1881 - 1964)

Painter, Stage Designer, Theorist. One of the most influential artists of Russia’s pre-World War I avant-garde. Born in Tiraspol, Moldova,  he was raised in Moscow and entered its Art Institute in 1898.  There he met fellow student Natalia Goncharova,  who became his lifelong companion.  Initially attracted to Symbolism,  Larionov sought his own path with modern […]

Angelo F. Lanzini (1909 - 1998)

Artist and Architect. He came to this country from Venice, Italy, in 1927 after being educated at the “Royal Acadamie of Arts” in Europe. He served his country in the Army Air Corps in WWII where he was a topographical map maker. He designed and decorated hundreds of churches in his career, and, in 1961, […]

Walter Lantz (1899 - 1994)

Cartoonist. He created the cartoon character “Woody Woodpecker,” which was voiced by his wife, Gracie Lantz.  Family links:  Spouse:  Gracie Lantz (1903 – 1992)

Harry Lange (1930 - 2008)

Harry Lange (December 7, 1930 – May 22, 2008) was a German film production designer and art director. Lange was born in 1930 in Eisenach, Thuringia. After World War II, Thuringia became part of Soviet-controlled East Germany; Lange went across the border to West Germany, where he studied art before moving to the United States in 1951. […]

Fitz Henry Lane (1804 - 1865)

Artist. Also known as Fitz Hugh Lane, he was a maritime painter who pioneered the luminist style, so called because his paintings celebrated the transcendence of light in ordinary scenes. He was a wealthy painter of seascapes, harbor scenes and ship portraits, for which he was commissioned by their owners. But he was first recognized […]

Edwin Landseer (1802 - 1873)

Artist.  Born in London, the youngest son of the engraver John Landseer. Edwin Landseer was something of a prodigy whose artistic talents were recognised early on. He studied under several artists, including his father, and the history painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, who encouraged the young Edwin to perform dissections in order to fully understand animal […]

Charles Landseer (1799 - 1879)

Charles Landseer was born in London on 12 August 1799, the second son of the engraver John Landseer, and the elder brother of the animal painter, Sir Edwin Landseer. He trained under his father, and the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. He was awarded the silver palette of the Royal Society of Arts for a drawing […]

George Lambert (1873 - 1930)

George Lambert began exhibiting his pictures at the Art Society and the Society of Artists, Sydney in 1894. Lambert began contributing pen-and-ink cartoons for The Bulletin in 1895 and began painting full-time in 1896. In 1899 he won the Wynne Prize with Across the Blacksoil Plains. He studied at Julian Ashton’s art school in Sydney […]

René Lalique (1860 - 1945)

Glassmaker. Born Rene Jules Lalique in the village of Ay in the Champagne district of France. He apprenticed with the Parisian Jeweler Louis Aucoq in 1876. Between 1878 and 1880 he attended Sydenham Art College in London. He married Augustine-Alice in July 1902 and opened a new business. By 1891 he has created jewelry for […]

Alfred Laliberté (1878 - 1953)

Artist. Born in Ste-Élisabeth-de-Warwick, Arthabaska, Québec in 1878, he began carving with his pocket knife as a youth, produced woodcarvings so impressive that they gained the attention of the public. A Montreal newspaper, “La Presse,” organized a scholarship drive to raise money to send him to Paris, France to study art at the École des […]

Genaro Lahuerta (1905 - 1985)

Painter. He was born and died in Valencia. During the 1930s, he represented the vanguard’s art in Comunidad Valenciana. He was influenced by the Fauvism movement, but during his travels to Africa, he was very impressed and began a collection of personal landscapes. Among his paintings are “Mi Madre,” “Retrato de Azorín,” “Paisaje de Secano” […]

John Lafarge (1835 - 1910)

Artist. Born in New York City to wealthy French parents and was raised bilingual. John Lafarge received his first artistic training at the age of six and learned to use watercolors while still in grammar school. At the age of 24, after studying law for a time, John went to Paris to study painting under […]

Neville Labovitch (1927 - 2002)

Acclaimed British architect and organiser of both high profile royal and public events. One of the greatest impresarios of special occasions in twentieth century London, his works ranged from the now legendary Pavarotti concerts in Hyde Park to the greatest children’s party ever produced, in 1979 during the International Year of the Child. The queen […]

Pierre Charles L’Enfant (1754 - 1825)

Engineer. Born Pierre Charles L’Enfant in France, he came to America in 1777 and joined the Continental Army a volunteer during the War of Independence, and attained the rank of major of engineers, and served to the end of the war. In 1791, when Congress decided to build a capital city on the Potomac, George […]

Ezra F. Kysor (1834 - 1907)

Architect. He was a pioneer of the building boom that helped transform Los Angeles from a frontier hamlet into an important city in the late 19th Century. Some of his surviving work is part of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District (El Pueblo de Los Angeles), which was declared a National Landmark in 1972. His […]

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (1878 - 1927)

Painter, his work includes “Merchants Wife.” Student of Ilya Repin.