Famous Kansans » Arts » Fine Art
Architecture
John G. Haskell
- Born: February 5, 1832
- Died: November 25, 1907
- Connection to Kansas: Lived in Lawrence
Achievement:
John G. Haskell was one of the few architects in the early territorial days of Kansas. He was appointed architect of the Kansas Capitol in 1867 and oversaw the construction of the east wing. He designed many other buildings throughout Kansas.
Photo courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society
Drawing / Painting
John Steuart Curry
- Born: November 14, 1897
- Died: August 29, 1946
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Dunavant
Achievement:
John Steurt Curry was an artist who was noted for his painting depicting life in Kansas. He painted the murals in the Kansas Capitol building and his most famous work his depiction of John Brown titled Tragic Prelude which is located next to the governor's office.
Photo by Rudolf Hoffman
Aaron Douglas
- Born: May 26, 1899
- Died: February 3, 1979
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Topeka
Achievement:
Aaron Douglas was the most prominent African-American artist of the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s. A modernist style painter, he was dubbed the "Father of African-American Art."
Photo courtesy of Fine Art America
Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton
- Born: October 27, 1909
- Died: March 15, 1993
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Wellsville
Achievement:
Grandma Layton began creating "blind" contour drawings at the age of 68 that gained national attention and culminated with a one-woman show at the Smithsonians's National Museum of American Art. Her work has been displayed in more than 200 art museums throughout the United States.
Photo courtesy of the Lawrence Journal-World
Birger Sandzén
- Born: February 5, 1871
- Died: June 19, 1954
- Connection to Kansas: Lived in Lindsborg
Achievement:
Birger Sandzén was an artist who is best known for his landscape paintings of the American Southwest. He produced most of his artwork during his 52-year career as an art professor at Bethany College in Lindsborg. Bethany College dedicated the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery on the college campus in his honor.
Photo courtesy of the Sven Birger Sandzen Gallery of Art
Mort Walker
- Born: September 3, 1923
- Died:
- Connection to Kansas: Born in El Dorado
Achievement:
Mort Walker is a cartoon artist who created the Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois newspaper comic strips. He founded the National Cartoon Museum, the first museum devoted to the art of comics.
Mort Walker Studios
Rudolph "Rudy" Wendelin
- Born: February 27, 1910
- Died: August 31, 2000
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Herndon
Achievement:
Rudy Wendelin was the artist who made the Smokey the Bear character famous for the U.S. Forest Service through his promotional posters and other drawings.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service
Photography
William M. Gallagher
- Born: February 27, 1910
- Died: September 28, 1975
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Hiawatha
Achievement:
William Gallagher was a photographer who won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his photo of ex-Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson with a hole in his shoe taken during the 1952 Presidential campaign.
Photo courtesy of the The Flint Journal
Gordon Parks
- Born: November 30, 1912
- Died: March 7, 2006
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Fort Scott
Achievment:
Gordon Parks was a groundbreaking photographer, musician, writer and film director. He is best remembered for his photo essays for Life magazine. He was also a co-founder of Essence magazine. He was named "Magazine Photographer of the Year" in 1961 by the American Society of Magazine Photos and in 1972 was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colord People (NAACP).
See also under Performance.
Photo courtesy of Time, Inc.
Sculpture
Blackbear Bosin
- Born: June 5, 1921
- Died: August 9, 1980
- Connection to Kansas: Lived in Wichita
Achievement:
Blackbear Bosin was a Native American sculptor and painter of Comanche-Kiowa descent. He was the artist who created Wichita's iconic Keeper of the Plains statue on the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers and also created the logo for the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant.
Photo by Howard Eastwood
Pete Felten
- Born: 1933
- Died:
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Hays
Achievement:
Pete Felten is a sculpture artist whose famous works include the Monarch of the Plains in Hays and the Four Kansans in the rotunda of the Capitol building.
Painting by Bruce Burkholder
Waylande Gregory
- Born: 1905
- Died: 1971
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Baxter Springs
Achievement:
Waylande Gregory was an innovative and prolific ceramic sculptor that created groundbreaking techniques for creating large ceramic sculpture and developed revolutionary glazing and processing methods. He was one of the key sculptors in the American art-deco movement.
Photo courtesy of the Pittsburg State University Leonard H. Axe Library
Stan Herd
- Born: 1950
- Died:
- Connection to Kansas: Born in Protection
Achievement:
Stan Herd is a noted crop artist who creates earthworks on large areas of land that when seen from above appear as paintings on the ground. He has created numerous earthworks including portraits of Kiowa War Chief Satanta, Amelia Earhart and Will Rogers.
Photo by Matt Carr / Getty Images