Hamilton Rowan Gamble (1798 - 1864)

Civil War Missouri Governor. After moving to St. Louis to practice law with his older brother, Gamble became Secretary of State of Missouri in 1824. His reputation in his profession grew steadily & in 1851 resulted in his election to the Missouri Supreme Court. Gamble’s most famous opinion while on Missouri’s highest court was his […]

Charles Demuth (1883 - 1935)

Painter. An outstanding watercolorist, he later pioneered abstract art in the United States with a style called Precisionism. His most famous painting, “The Figure 5 in Gold” (1928), was a forerunner of the Pop Art movement and greatly influenced such figures as Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he […]

John William “Will” Fritz (1896 - 1984)

Lawman, Kennedy Assassination Figure. As head of the Dallas Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide unit in 1963, he was Lee Harvey Oswald’s primary interrogator.  Law enforcement officers led by him interrogated Oswald over the less than 48 hours between his arrest and death. John Fritz was present for more of the questioning than any other officer.  Family […]

Jelka Delius (1868 - 1935)

Painter. Born Jelka Rosen in born in Belgrade, Serbia, she was best remembered for being the wife of English composer Frederick Delius. Becoming a successful painter in her own rights, she studied and practiced art in Paris, exhibiting in the Salon des Indépendants. She met Delius in 1896, they married in 1903 and she inherited […]

Eugène Delacroix (1798 - 1863)

Painter. His father was the Foreign Minister under the Directory and Prefecture of Marseilles. He become an orphan at the age of 16. In 1816 he entered the School of Fine Arts. In 1822 he presented his first Masterpiece “The Barque of Dante.” He went to England in the summer 1825 and made some lithograph […]

Roswell Martin Field (1807 - 1869)

Dred Scott’s lawyer, father of famous author and poet Eugene Field. Field was admitted to the bar by the time he was 18. He served at state’s attorney for his country from 1832 to 1835. Fields came to St. Louis in 1839 & after several difficult years, his fortune changed in 1853 when he became […]

Delia Del Carril (1884 - 1989)

Argentinian Painter. She studied in Paris with Léger and André Lothe. Her paintings were influenced by expressionism and Mexican muralism. In 1934, she met Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and began a relationship that spanned twenty years. They were married in 1943. Among her works “Cantar de los Cantares,” “Caballo y Luna” and “Señora Yegua.” (bio […]

Ted DeGrazia (1909 - 1982)

Noted Artist. Known for his paintings of various Southwest Native American children. In 1965, he opened the Gallery in the Sun in Tucson, Arizona. In 1982 the DeGrazia Foundation was established to insure the continued operation of the Gallery. He is buried on the grounds of the Gallery, which include his studio, his house, and […]

Judge Macon Bolling Allen (1816 - 1894)

Judicial Figure. He was the first African-American in United States history to received a law degree and to receive a judgeship. Born in Indiana as a freeman, he was self taught, and ultimately becoming a school teacher in Indiana where he taught for five years. In the late 1830’s he elected to move to Portland, […]

Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917)

Painter and sculptor. He was son of a banker. Although prepared for the law, he abandoned it for painting, studying at the School of art and in Italy, copying 15th- and 16th-century masters. He was gifted as a draftsman and a brilliantly subtle and penetrating portraitist. He exhibited for six years in the Salon (1865 […]

Roy DeForest (1930 - 2007)

Artist. He is regarded as one of the most important artists of his generation and a founding member of modern “Funk Art”. In the 1960s, his art captured world wide attention for it’s cartoon-like images and pop-culture themes. DeForest painted compositions filled with images of birds, farm animals, humans and other figures, some of them […]

Billy DeBeck (1890 - 1942)

Cartoonist. He drew the comic strip “Barney Google” from 1919 to 1942. Another of his well known characters was ‘Snuffy Smith’. (bio by: Ginny M)

Alphonse Marie Adolphe de Neuville (1835 - 1885)

Artist. A French Academic painter, he is remembered for his battle scenes from the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, and the Anglo-Zulu War. Born into a wealthy family, after earning his Bachelor of Letters he entered the naval school at Lorient, in Brittany, France in 1856. While there, he became interested in painting and worked […]

Sir Roger De Grey (1918 - 1995)

British Artist. He studied art at Chelsea Polytechnic from 1936 under Harold Williamson and Raymond Coxon. His studies were interrupted by World War II, when he served with the Royal Armoured Corps. After the war he taught at Kings College, Newcastle University, the Royal College of Art, and the City and Guilds of London Art […]

Arthur Dawson (1858 - 1922)

Artist. His works include Portraits of John Barton Payne, Generals Tillman, Barry, Biddle and McArthur. (bio by: Laurie)

Stuart Davis (1892 - 1964)

Artist. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was considered a forefather of the Pop Art movement, who translated visual imagery into iconographic abstract paintings of squiggly lines and flashy colors. At the age of 16, he dropped out of high school to study with Robert Henri at the artist’s school in New York City. In 1913, […]

Homer Calvin Davenport (1867 - 1912)

Son of Oregon Pioneers.  Political cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner in 1892 – 85 and New York Journal starting in 1895.  Author of “The Country Boy” and “My Quest of the Arabian Horse”.  First horse breeder to bring Arabian horses to the United States.  William Randolph Hearst had his body shipped back to Silverton […]

Felix Weihs De Weldon (1907 - 2003)

Artist. He was the sculptor of over 1,200 monuments, the most famous piece being the United States Marine Corps monument that depicts the six Flag Raisers on Iwo Jima at Arlington National Cemetery.

Nicolas de Stael (1914 - 1955)

Artist. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he studied art in Brussels, Belgium. After serving in the Second World War, he settled in France, where he joined the group of the abstract painters Jean Arp, Georges Braque, Sonia and Robert Delaunay. His career spanned 15 years and more than thousand works, becoming one of the most […]

Filippo De Pisis (1896 - 1956)

Italian Painter. He started to study drawing at the age of six. At eighteen he entered the University of Bologna, where he studied literature and philosophy and continued to paint. After graduating he went to Rome and worked for four years as a teacher, and began dedicating himself seriously to painting. In the early 20s, […]

Philip James De Loutherbourg (1740 - 1812)

Painter, Stage Designer. He was born and trained in France, initially by his father, a miniature painter and engraver to the court of Darmstadt. In 1766 he was elected to the French Royal Academy and made Royal Painter to Louis XVI, but in 1771 he traveled to London in search of commissions and to escape […]

Tamara de Lempicka (1898 - 1980)

Polish painter, born Tamara Gorska in Warsaw. She died in Cuernavaca, Mexico. According to her wishes, she was cremated and her ashes scattered into the Popocatepetl (a Mexican volcano). Tamara remained forgotten until the early 1990 when Barbra Streisand bought her painting “Adam and Eve” in an auction. (bio by: Alberto Blanco)

Quentin De la Tour (1704 - 1788)

Artist.  A French Rococo portrait painter who worked primarily with pastels, he is remembered for his portraits of prominent French citizens of his era, including Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), Jean-Jacques Rosseau, King Louis XV, and Madame de Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson).  Born in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, Picardy, France, his father was a musician who objected to his […]

Antonio de la Gandara (1861 - 1917)

Artist.

Elaine de Kooning (1918 - 1989)

Artist and Wife of Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning (1904-1997 cremated). Born Elaine Marie Catherine Fried in Brooklyn, New York, she studied at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School and the American Artists School in New York City. She met Willem de Kooning in 1938, and they were married at City Hall, New York, in […]

Sir Roger De Grey (1918 - 1995)

British Artist. He studied art at Chelsea Polytechnic from 1936 under Harold Williamson and Raymond Coxon. His studies were interrupted by World War II, when he served with the Royal Armoured Corps. After the war he taught at Kings College, Newcastle University, the Royal College of Art, and the City and Guilds of London Art […]

Anthony De Francisci (1887 - 1964)

Sculptor. He is best remembered for designing the Peace Dollar, issued for circulation in the US from 1921 until 1935. He immigrated to the US in 1905 and studied sculpting under coin designers James Earle Fraser, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, and Adolph Alexander Weinman. In 1913 he became a naturalized US citizen and two years later […]

Edgar De Evia (1910 - 2003)

Photographer, Artist, Author. He was born in Merida, capital of the Yucatan, as the only son of noted Parisian born pianist Miirrha Alhambra and her husband Dom Evia. He moved with his parents to New York City when he was about five years old and was graduated from the Dalton School.  He is best know […]

Francis de Erdely (1904 - 1959)

Influencial 20th century artist. Forced to flee his native Hungary after angering the Gestapo with his powerful, horrific imagery derived from his experiences in World War I. After many years living in several European cities, he settled in California in 1944 where he produced the majority of his body of work. Served as dean at […]

Jean de Brunhoff (1899 - 1937)

French Author, Illustrator. He is best remembered for creating the Babar the Elephant books, about an orphaned baby elephant, that was first appeared in 1931 and became an instant success. Born the youngest of four children, his father was a publisher. He attended Protestant schools, including the prestigious Ecole Alsacienne. During the latter part of […]