Possessing the soul of an artist and the ingenious mind of an mathematician, world famous graphic artist M.C. Escher’s art was lauded and studied by scientists, mathematicians and crystallographers. Escher (1898-1972), a Dutchman, was himself a contradiction, disliking flat shapes as much as he disliked mathematics, yet his intrinsic knowledge inspired him to create visual ironies that defied concepts of infinity. Working with lithography, woodcutting and mezzotints, he manipulated space and geometric patterns, created implausible multi-dimension images of mathematical perfection.

Maxfield Parrish (1877 – 1966) was an American illustrator renowned for romanticized, fantasy images cast in a dazzling aura of color and magic. Parrish first discovered his artistic talent while recuperating from typhoid fever when his father eased his pain by teaching him how to draw. Inspired by the Old Masters and Pre-Raphaelites, Parrish meticulously depicted historic and romantic subjects with a proportional format called Dynamic Symmetry in brilliant colors. For 40 years, he illustrated national magazines, books, advertisements, calendars and greeting cards. Parrish devised many innovative techniques which no other major artist has successfully copied, and single-handedly shaped the Golden Age of Illustration.

The bodily distortions, explicit eroticism and anguish which made Egon Schiele’s artworks unpopular during his lifetime are the same features which make them so mesmerizing today. Schiele (1890 – 1918) was an exceptionally prolific Austrian Expressionist who was a protégé of Gustav Klimt, and whose formidable talents were fully matured when he was a teenager. He created emotionally charged self-portraits and allegories, but was best-known for his nude or semi-nude drawings of women, portraying them in awkwardly contracted poses to convey distress. Arrested for immorality and seduction, he created numerous watercolors and drawings during his two-week imprisonment. Dying prematurely from the Spanish flu, Schiele left a legacy of almost 3,500 compelling artworks.

Elegant, seductive women peer alluringly from the works of Tamara de Lempicka, who is the most famous painter of the Art Deco period. Born in Poland, de Lempicka (1898 – 1980) lived in Russia, fleeing to Paris during the Bolshevik Revolution. There, she became a prolific artist, producing immaculately structured work in her distinctive, bold, cool style of Soft Cubism, which implemented artistic elements designed to arouse overwhelming desire. De Lempicka also participated in the bohemian lifestyle she painted, engaging in numerous scandalous affairs. In 1960, she changed her style to abstract art and created works with a spatula.

Andy Warhol’s pioneering Pop Art defined a decade and a culture, distinguishing him as one of the most influential, creative and prolific artists of the 20th century.