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Arts & Letters
Novelists, poets, musicians, actors, directors and designers who made the country's culture.
Role:
Any
Actor 58
Novelist 46
Singer 39
Songwriter 31
Musician 30
Filmmaker 26
Painter 26
Composer 18
Poet 14
Author 11
Photographer 11
Comedian 10
Activist 9
Founder 8
Playwright 8
Sculptor 8
Educator 7
Broadcaster 6
Journalist 6
Rapper 6
Designer 5
Illustrator 5
Producer 5
Choreographer 4
Executive 4
26 people
Andy Warhol 1928–1987Visual Arts & DesignPop art pioneer whose Campbell's soup cans and celebrity portraits defined contemporary American art.
Georgia O'Keeffe 1887–1986Visual Arts & DesignModernist painter known for her enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes.
Norman Rockwell 1894–1978Visual Arts & DesignIllustrator whose idealized depictions of American life graced magazine covers for nearly 50 years.
Jackson Pollock 1912–1956Visual Arts & DesignAbstract expressionist whose drip painting technique revolutionized modern art.
Edward Hopper 1882–1967Visual Arts & DesignRealist painter whose depictions of urban isolation, like Nighthawks, became iconic American images.
Mark Rothko 1903–1970Visual Arts & DesignAbstract expressionist known for his large color-field paintings that evoke deep emotional responses.
Winslow Homer 1836–1910Visual Arts & DesignPainter and illustrator whose seascapes and scenes of American life captured the nation's spirit.
John Singer Sargent 1856–1925Visual Arts & DesignPainted the Gilded Age at full length, then closed the portrait studio at the height of the demand.
Mary Cassatt 1844–1926Visual Arts & DesignImpressionist painter and printmaker who depicted the intimate bonds between mothers and children.
Jean-Michel Basquiat 1960–1988Visual Arts & DesignNeo-expressionist painter who rose from graffiti artist to one of the most celebrated artists of the 1980s.
Keith Haring 1958–1990Visual Arts & DesignStreet artist whose bold, cartoon-like figures addressed social issues and brought art to public spaces.
Roy Lichtenstein 1923–1997Visual Arts & DesignPop artist whose comic-strip-inspired paintings became icons of 1960s American art.
James Whistler 1834–1903Visual Arts & DesignPainter and etcher best known for Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, commonly called Whistler's Mother.
Grant Wood 1891–1942Visual Arts & DesignRegionalist painter best known for American Gothic, one of the most parodied images in American art.
Willem de Kooning 1904–1997Visual Arts & DesignAbstract expressionist whose gestural paintings helped define the New York School.
Frederic Remington 1861–1909Visual Arts & DesignPainter and sculptor whose depictions of the American West defined the cowboy mythos.
Jasper Johns b. 1930Visual Arts & DesignPainter and printmaker whose Flag and Target paintings bridged Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
Thomas Eakins 1844–1916Visual Arts & DesignRealist painter celebrated for his anatomically precise portraits and scenes of athletes and surgeons.
Jacob Lawrence 1917–2000Visual Arts & DesignPainter whose Migration Series chronicled the Great Migration of African Americans to the North.
Robert Rauschenberg 1925–2008Visual Arts & DesignMixed-media artist whose Combines broke down boundaries between painting and sculpture.
Romare Bearden 1911–1988Visual Arts & DesignArtist who used collage to depict African American life and culture in the 20th century.
Faith Ringgold 1930–2024Visual Arts & DesignArtist and author whose story quilts combine painting, quilting, and narrative to explore Black identity.
Chuck Close 1940–2021Visual Arts & DesignPhotorealist painter who created monumental portrait grids and continued working after paralysis.
Kara Walker b. 1969Visual Arts & DesignContemporary artist whose silhouette installations confront the brutal history of American slavery and racism.
Charles Burchfield 1893–1967Visual Arts & DesignPainter known for his visionary watercolors of nature and American small-town life.Benny Andrews 1930–2006Visual Arts & DesignAfrican American painter and sculptor whose collage works addressed civil rights and social justice.