In this visually compelling program, historical artist Len Tantillo and author Russell Shorto compare their methods of bringing New York’s origins to life, focusing on the search for the Stuyvesant “Bowery” home.
Len Tantillo is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a licensed architect who left the field of architecture in 1986 to pursue a career in the fine art of historical and marine painting. Since that time, his work has appeared internationally in exhibitions, publications and film documentaries. He is the author of four books, and the recipient of two honorary degrees. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists. His work is included in the collections of the Fenimore Art Museum, the Minnesota Museum of Marine Art, numerous historical societies, and corporate and private collections in the USA and abroad. In 2004 he was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create a painting depicting the Daniel Winne house as it may have appeared in 1755. He has produced over 300 paintings and drawings of New York State history. In 2016 he was elected a Fellow of the New York Academy of History.
Russell Shorto was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He has three children (Anna, Eva, and Anthony) and three step-children (Reinier, Hector, and Benjamin). He writes books of narrative history; he believes history is most meaningful to us when it manifests itself through individuals in conflict. His books have been published in fourteen languages and have won numerous awards. He is senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine. His interests include the past, the present and the future, not necessarily in that order.
