Philip Johnson was a modernist architect who sought clean lines, used steel and glass construction, and valued function in his design. Inspired by the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe, Johnson designed his own house in Connecticut as made almost entirely of glass. The rectangular abode is now a tourist site, along with Johnson's entire property, including other buildings and his massive art collection.

John Augustus Roebling, a German immigrant, was the leading designer of bridges throughout the mid-nineteenth century in America. His masterpiece, however, was the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever built. Unfortunately, Roebling died in 1870, just as it was beginning construction, and his son Washington Roebling had to take over construction.

La Sagrada Familia was planned as a massive church in Barcelona that would rival its Cathedral in size. After breaking ground in 1882, the church is still not totally finished. Importantly, its architect Antoni Gaudí was killed in a 1926 tram accident, and the work had to continue on under architects with different design aesthetics than its singular original designer.

Gehry, a modernist architect well known for flowing lines and unusual shapes, has built concert halls, museums, and government buildings around the world. Among his most notable works is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, constructed out of titanium and glass, in shapes that are meant to evoke the countryside of Bilbao's Basque region.

All Mayan cities and temple structures revolved around the pyramid. Typically featuring steps to the top of the pyramid and terraces, the Mayas used the pyramid for temples, palaces, and most other important buildings. The use of the pyramid was highly influential for later Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Aztecs.

Hindu temple architecture follows guidelines which call for a circular inner sanctum with the rest of the structure emanating from the center room. As with most ancient Hindu artistic traditions, the basic structures and rules for Hindu temple architecture are found in the group of works known as the Shilpa Shastras.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was a famous photographer and technical innovator who developed a process of developing film known as "the Zone System" and used the newest photographic technology of his time. The ability of Adams and his technology was seen through his many photographs of National Parks, particularly in the American West. Adams' photographs were most well known for their sharp focus and deep shading in black and white.

Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist who belonged to the artistic movement known as De Stijl ("The Style" in Dutch.) The principles of De Stijl were to reduce artistic forms to their simplest, most functional forms. Mondrian's specific form, which he developed in Paris between the World Wars and called "Neo-plasticism," featured mostly white canvases, which were bisected at various parts by perpendicular black lines and had fields of color only in the three primary colors.

Wassily Kandinsky was the most influential expressionist of the early twentieth century. Kandinsky's style, which was dominated by abstract forms, expressive lines, and flowing brushstrokes, would prove to be immensely popular among fellow artists, while his theoretical writing, which connected art to music, also proved influential. Kandinsky had to flee both the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Nazis in the 1930s because of his controversial artwork.

Georgia O'Keefe developed a unique, instantly recognizable style that focused on flowers presented in vivid colors in an extreme close-up perspective. This style grew out of Modernism and its use of bright color and different perspective. O'Keefe proved influential in her ability to capture nature and natural images in paintings in a striking manner.