Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

400 results found

Kane, John

(Encyclopedia)Kane, John, 1860–1934, American primitive painter, b. Scotland. He came to Pittsburgh at the age of 19 and worked for years as a day laborer, painting in his spare time. His paintings exhibit a deli...

Ixtapa

(Encyclopedia)Ixtapa ēshtäˈpä [key], resort town, Guerrero, SW Mexico, on the Pacific. Its broad bay was largely untouched until the late 1960s. In 1972 the Mexican government began developing a planned, strict...

Crabtree, Lotta

(Encyclopedia)Crabtree, Lotta, 1847–1924, American actress, b. New York City. A protégée of Lola Montez, she became, while still a child, a favorite in California mining camps with her sprightly singing, dancin...

fabliau

(Encyclopedia)fabliau, plural fabliaux both: fäblēōˈ [key], short comic, often bawdy tale in verse that deals realistically and satirically with middle-class or lower-class characters. Fabliaux were often direc...

Baccaloni, Salvatore

(Encyclopedia)Baccaloni, Salvatore sälvätôˈrā bäk–kälōˈnē [key], 1900–1970, Italian operatic bass, b. Rome. Baccaloni studied architecture before he made his singing debut in Rome in 1921. In 1926 he ...

Solís y Rivadeneyra, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Solís y Rivadeneyra, Antonio de äntōˈnyō ᵺā sōlēsˈ ē rēˌväᵺānāˈrä [key], 1610–86, Spanish historian and dramatic poet. His intricate comic dramas were popular at court and the b...

Baggesen, Jens

(Encyclopedia)Baggesen, Jens yĕns bägˈəsən [key], 1764–1826, Danish poet and satirist, b. Sjæland. Although a Germanophile, Baggesen was considered the leading Danish poet of his day. His elegant, imaginati...

Meredith, George

(Encyclopedia)Meredith, George, 1828–1909, English novelist and poet. One of the great English novelists, Meredith wrote complex, often comic yet highly cerebral works that contain striking psychological characte...

Perelman, S. J.

(Encyclopedia)Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph Perelman) pĕrˈəlmən [key], 1904–79, American comic writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He entered the magazine world as a cartoonist for a New York weekly, soon turning from...

Lee, Stan

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Stan, 1922–2018, American comic-book writer and editor, co-creator of a number of iconic American superheroes, b. New York City as Stanley Martin Lieber. At 17 he was hired by Timely Comics, wh...