Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1924)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
At the turn of the 20th century, Charles Robert Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft were at the vanguard of English handmade metalware and jewelry. More so than any other British designer or manufacturer, they successfully combined the ideological and the aesthetic ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Takahashi Hisachika (b. 1940)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Born in 1940 in Tokyo, Takahashi Hisachika attended Tama Art University. In 1961, at the age of twenty-one, he sold a large-scale sculpture to the city of Yokosuka which paid for his one-way voyage to Europe by cargo boat. Throughout his career, Takahashi worked with influential mentors at the forefront of international pop and conceptual art, including Lucio Fontana and Robert Rauschenberg, but ultimately chose the path of a professional artist's assistant.
Yuki Kimura (b. 1971)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Yuki Kimura was born in 1971 in Kyoto, Japan where she continues to live and work.
Wood & Hughes (1845-1899)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In 1833, silversmiths Jacob Wood and Joseph Hughes left the firm of William Gale, Sr. eventually forming their own firm, aptly named Wood & Hughes.
Félix Vallotton (1865-1925)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Born in Lausanne, Félix Vallotton moved to Paris in 1882 and studied at the Académie Julian, alongside Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, and Edouard Vuillard. In 1899 he married Gabrielle Rodrigues-Henriques, a wealthy widow with three children.
Soga Shohaku (1730-1781)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Soga Shohaku was an outstanding eccentric artist of his day. The history of the Soga School, whose name Shohaku adopted, stretched back to ink painting artists at Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto in the 15th century. This line of early Soga School artists was broken following the collapse of traditional daimyō -patron support in the 16th century.
Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1539-1613)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Tosa Mitsuyoshi was a member of the Tosa school of painting, which is typically associated with yamato-e or Japanese style painting. Yamato-e emerged in the Heian period (794-1185) and was concerned with Japanese subject matter such as seasonal events, genre scenes, and themes from classical literature.
Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) is a seminal figure in Zen Buddhism. He is the reviver and de facto founder of the Rinzai tradition, one of the largest Buddhist organizations in Japan today. All present-day priests trace their religious heritage to him.
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
A leading member of the group of avant-garde artists who called themselves the Nabis, Pierre Bonnard worked in a broad range of media and styles. In addition to his primary work as a painter, he was among the most inventive draftsmen and lithographers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bonnard was born in 1867 in Fontanay-aux-Roses, a suburb of Paris. He received a classical education with instruction in philosophy, literature, and Greek culture.
Wilkinson, George (American, born in England, 1819-1894)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
George Wilkinson is the quintessential example of a foreign designer in America during the mid-19th century. Born in the metalworking center of Birmingham, England, Wilkinson trained at the Birmingham School of Design in the 1830s, served an apprenticeship, and went into business for himself in the 1840s. In 1854, he was brought to America by the Ames Co. of Chicopee, Massachusetts.