biography of Joseph POLLET (1897-1979)

Birth place: Albbrück, Germany

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC/Woodstock, NY

Profession: Painter, graphic artist, writer, lecturer, teacher

Studied: ASL with John Sloan, Robert Henri (1920-22), Homer Boss (1923); Paris, Munich, and Amsterdam, 1930 (Guggenheim Fellowship, 1930-31)

Exhibited: Whitney Studio Cl., 1924-29 (duo with Reginald Marsh, 1924; solo in 1927); S. Indp. A., 1925-31; Corcoran Gal biennials, 1928-51 (4 times); PAFA Ann., 1929-34, 1942; Salons of Am., 1930-33, 1936; WMAA, 1932-37, 1940, 1944-48, 1951; Downtown Gal., NYC, 1926 (solo); Dudensing Gal., NYC, 1925-28; Albright Art Gal., Buffalo, 1928-32; Cleveland MA, 1928-32; Woodstock AA, 1931, 1933-34, 1944, 1979 (memorial); PAFA, 1926-44; MoDA, 1930; CI, 1929-45 (hon. mem., 1929, annual intl. exh.); AIC, 1929-36; NY Mun. Exh., 1933; VMFA; Newark Mus., 1944; WFNY 1939; WMAA, 1923-46; Midtown Gal., 1950; Schoelkopf Gal., NYC, 1964-65, 1967 (solos); Brusson il Principio, Val d"Aosta, Italy, 1967, 1981 (memorial); ACA Gal., NYC, 1986; James Cox Gal., Woodstock, NY, 1995 (solo).

Member: ASL (life mem., 1932); Soc. Indep. Artists; Woodstock AA; Am. Soc. P. S. & Gravers; Ind. Artists' Cl.; Eighth Street Cl., 1948 (with DeKooning, Jack Levine, Calder, and Stuart Davis)

Work: Newark Mus.; WMAA; LACMA; Dartmouth Col.; NYU; PMG; WPA mural in USPO, Pontotoc, MS; Woodstock AA

Comments: Emigrated to NYC in 1911, and at age 21 had a promising career as advertising copywriter. At the same time, he studied painting and his landscapes were immediately successful in NYC galleries. From 1954-61, he lived in Paris and Italy. In 1971, a fire in his Greenwich Village studio destroyed 100-150 of his paintings. Position: teacher at Byrdcliffe Arts & Crafts Center, Woodstock, 1929; dir., Sawkill Sch. Art, Woodstock, NY, 1935-42 (dir.); instructor of painting, New York Univ., 1946-47.

Sources: WW59; WW47; Falk, Exh. Record Series. More recently, see Woodstock's Art Heritage, 120-121; and exh. cat., Joseph Pollet, A Knowing Inocence (James Cox Gal., Woodstock, 1995); Woodstock AA