Born 20 February 1912 (according to multiple reputable sources, or it could be Feb 12th if you prefer Wikipedia, but the website quoted on Wiki provoked my virus checker – so who knows?) in New York City, Johnson was associated with the Abstract Imagists. She received many awards and was featured in Peggy Guggenheim’s 1943 show “Exhibition by 31 Women” at the Art of This Century gallery in New York. And in 1993, MoMA Ps1 held a retrospective dedicated to her work. Random Fact: At the age of 26, the Kingdom of Redonda awarded her the title of Duchess de la Nera Castilla de Redonda, bestowed by H. M. the Crown Prince and Pretender to the Throne of Redonda, John Gawsworth, who was crowned King Juan I in 1947. There has to be a story there, surely? This is: Mist (1960)

Born February 12, 1884 in Leipzig, Beckmann was one of many German artists to be classified as degenerate in the 1930s as a result of Hitler and the Nazi’s hatred of modern art. He personally disliked the concept of Expressionism, and did not want to be so classified, instead he joined with the New Objectivity movement. His work often feels stark and moody – provoking a sense of unease in the viewer. His later works amplified this tendency with more horrifying images, no doubt amplified by the socio-political situation in Germany at the time. Many of his works are self portraits, and these tend to be the most valuable. This is: Self Portrait with Crystal Ball

Born February 12, 1910 in New York, Abelman is usually described as a Social Realist. Known for her graphic work, particularly murals, she was very active during the Depression years. She was heavily influenced by Constructivism, Surrealism and Social realism, with her work often combining mechanical parts with human or organic forms to convey both the positive and negative aspects of a mechanized society. This is: Near Wallabout Market

Born 8 February 1880 in Munich, Marc is possibly one of the least known of the great artists. (Spoiler alert: he also ranks highly amongst my favourite artists). He founded The Blue Rider (Der blaue Reiter) journal, which became a whole art movement in itself, also featuring August Macke and Vassily Kandinsky. Highly influential, the group was active at a time of massive change, both in art and the world in general. His most creative years coincided with the run-up and start of the First World War, and this possibly influenced his shift to starker, more intense, spritually colourful works. He served in France until 1916, and was killed by a shell fragment, just after receiving papers calling him back to Berlin for protection. The Nazis declared him to be a degenerate artist but most of his work survived and his work is on view in many eminent galleries and museums. This is: The foxes (Die Füchse)

Born February 5 in Chur, Switzerland, Giger was best known for his “biomechanical” airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines. He was also responsible for creating the “Alien” creature for the film of the same name. His work is permanently featured in a dedicated museum in Gruyères. This is: Mikrokosmos (it reminded me of the cover of the Emerson, Lake and Palmer album – Brain Salad Surgery, and it turns out he created that too.)

Born February 4, 1881 in Argentan France, Léger was a key influence on pop artists of the . Initially trained as an architect, he switched to painting and developed his own style based on (and named similarly to) cubism – he called this tubism, due to his frequent use of tubular and conical forms. He survived two years in the trenches during WW1 and understandably was highly influenced by what he had experienced. His paintings, even those of humans, took on an industrial aspect, and were often based around stylized geometric forms. This is: Railway Crossing

Born January 29, 1914 in Minnesota, Kamrowski was a pioneer in the American Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist Movements. He is best known for his work with Jackson Pollock (and William Baziotes) moving from Surrealist image-coaxing techniques to Action Painting, after a session experimenting with dripping laquer paint. This is: The Open Twist

Born January 25 1908 in Oklahoma, Zornes became known for his watercolour works in the “California Style”. An early talent for drawing developed but he was unable to settle down, studying architecture and engineering but not really being prepared to study for either. Reverting to his passion for art, during The Depression he focused on watercolours on paper, possibly due to their inexpensive nature compared to oil and canvas. He had an urge to travel but many of his works depict American landscapes. This is: Mount San Antonio.

Born January 23 1920, Perlmutter referred to himself as an abstract realist, although this appears to combine two seemingly irreconcilable artistic styles. His works were typically built around recognizable urban scenes, such as railroad tracks, urban crowds and buildings or bridges. He typically overlaid his work with busy linear forms, often in bright colors – this is: Boardwalk.

Born 9 January 1900 in New Jersey, Mattei was a painter of primitive landscapes, primarily of Alaska and northern US states. Little known, he sold most of his work through a small gallery in his home town of Ogunquit, Maine. This is: Perkins Cove.

Born January 6, 1889 in Ukraine, Louis Ritman was an American impressionist painter. He is best known for his paintings of women. He moved with his family to Chicago around 1900 and studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts before moving to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His favourite subject was the female nude, often painted in dappled sunlight or in chromatic interiors. This is: In the Garden

Born January 4 1869 in Illinois, Gearhart was an American printmaker and watercolorist. She was known for her boldly drawn and colored American landscapes, typically woodcut or linocut prints featuring California’s coasts and mountains. She worked in a traditional Japanese relief-printing method, being one of the first artists to bring this technique to Europe and America, creating a separate block for each color in the final print, with individual prints requiring up to eight separate blocks. This is: Fair Weather