biography of William GROPPER (1897-1977)

Birth place: NYC

Death place: Great Neck Estates, NY

Addresses: Croton-on-Hudson, NY; Great Neck Estates, NY in 1976

Profession: Painter, lithographer, cartoonist, illustrator

Studied: NAD, 1913-14; Ferrer School, 1912-15, with Henri and Bellows; New York School Fine & Applied Art, 1915-18 with Giles and Hambidge.

Exhibited: Soc. Indep. Artists, 1924; Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1941-53; PAFA, 1939-48, 1952, 1966; VMFA; AIC; CI; WMAA; NAD; WFNY, 1939; LOC (prize); MMA (AV), 1943 (first prize lithography); John Herron AI, 1943 (first prize lithography); Los Angeles Mus. Art, 1945; ACA Gal., New York; Los Angeles Heritage Gal.; Piccadilly Gal., London, England; Manne Mus., Prague; Univ. of Miama (retrospective traveling show, 1967-68). Awards: Guggenheim fellowship, 1937; Ford Foundation artist-in-residence award, 1966; Tamarind Lithographic fellowship, 1967.

Member: An Am. Group; Audubon Artists; Am. Newspaper Guild; NIAL

Work: MMA; MoMA; WMAA; NMAA; Phillips Mem. Gal., Wash., DC; Mus. Western Art, Moscow, USSR; Nat. Gal., Prague, Czech.; Wadsworth Atheneum; PMG; Newark Mus.; CAM; Walker AC; Univ. Arizona; PAFA; FMA; AIC; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Mus. New Mexico. Collection. Commissions: WPA murals, New Interior Bldg., Washington, DC, U.S. Post Office, Freeport, NY, Northwestern Postal Station, Detroit, MI; murals at Wayne State Univ., Detroit & Schenley Corp.

Comments: WPA muralist, cartoonist, and painter of biting social commentary. After visiting eastern Europe in 1948, he decided to make one painting a year as a memorial to the victims of Warsaw's Ghetto. Positions: staff artist, New York Tribune, 1919; staff cartoonist, The Post, Morning Freiheit, 1924-; editorial board, New Masses, 1936-(for which he also drew illustrations and cartoons); contributor of cartoons to Vanity Fair. Illustrator, Lidice, 1942; The Crime of Imprisonment, 1945. Publications: author, The Golden Land, 1927; author, Gropper (collection of drawings); author, Caprichios; author, The Little Tailor (portfolio); author, Twelve Etchings (portfolio); author, The Shtetl ( color lithographs).

Sources: WW73; WW47; Baigell, Dictionary; August Freundlich, William Gropper: Retrospective (exh. cat., Univ. of Miami, 1968); P&H Samuels, 198; Falk, Exh. Record Series.