biography of Herman J. CHERRY (1909-1992)

Birth place: Atlantic City, NJ

Death place: Woodstock, NY

Addresses: Los Angeles, CA, 1924-45; NYC/Woodstock, NY, from 1945; NYC, 1973

Profession: Painter, educator, craftsman, lithographer, writer

Studied: Otis AI; ASL, Los Angeles, with S McDonald Wright; ASL, New York, with Thomas Hart Benton; and in Europe.

Exhibited: MMA; MoMA; WMAA; PAFA; Walker AC; AIC; SFMA; NAD; Denver MA; P. & S., Los Angeles, 1935; All Calif. Exhib., 1939; Am. Artists Congress, 1940 (prize); Pomona State Fair, 1941 (prize); Rose Galleries, Hollywood, 1942; Oakland Art Gal., 1943 (prize); Los Angeles Mus.; Univ. of Mississippi, 1958 (solo); Stable Gal., 1955 (solo); Oakland Mus., 1961 (solo); Pasadena Mus., 1961 (solo); Bridgehampton, NY, 1972 (solo); Weyhe Gal. (solo); Woodstock AA; PAFA; Santa Barbara MA; CPLH; Benson Gallery, plus many other shows in USA, Paris, France & Athens, Greece; Luise Ross Gal., NYC, 1991 (last solo)

Member: Artists Union, Los Angeles (founder); Woodstock AA

Work: Chaffey Jr. College, Ontario, CA; PAFA; BM; UC, Berkeley; Santa Monica Library; Woodstock AA

Comments: A mural painter for the WPA, he assisted MacDonald-Wright and Lorser Feitelson on WPA projects in Los Angeles. He established an art gallery in the Stanley Rose Bookstore, Los Angeles, and gave the first shows to Reuben Kadish and Fletcher Martin. He became an abstract painter and was a contemporary of the Abstract Expressionists. Positions: chairman, First & Second Nat. Art Conference, Woodstock, NY, 1947-48. Teaching: instructor, private classes; Univ. Mississippi, 1957; instructor, Southern Illinois Univ., 1958; visiting prof. art, UC, Berkeley, 1959-65; Univ. Sask., summer 1963; Colorado Colegel, 1964; artist-in-residence, Univ. Kentucky, 1966-67; Univ. Oregon, 1968; Southampton College, summer 1968-70; Univ. Minnesota, 1969; New Paltz College, 1970; Kingsborough Community College; New York Studio School; plus many lectures on Italian & French painters & sculptors & contemporary art at various colleges, universities & museums. Author: G I artists in Italy & France," Numero; "The Art of the Artist," Craft Horizon; "Warren Brandt," ArtNews.

Sources: WW73; WW47; articles in: Life and Arts; Woodstock AA"