Dublin Core
Title
Description
At first glance, everything about Weissbuch's etching indicates rural squalor and decline. Fallen tree limbs and roughly cut stumps are scattered across the composition; even standing trees seem to be in a state of decay. The shed itself has been constructed of bricks and roughly cut limbs for its roof joists. Only a man tucked into the frame at far right shows that the structure still is in active use. For all of that, however, it still looks sturdy and tucked into the side of this hill. Weissbuch uses darker, denser lines to portray the foreground, which is set against a conventionally picturesque valley in the background, delineated with a few lighter strokes to indicate a fence and farm- or pastureland. One implication is that a close-up visit to any location in this rural area will provide a similarly unrefined view: the reality of rural America exceeds pastoral fantasies or squalid ruins.
About the Artist
The son of Romanian immigrants, Weissbuch grew up in Brooklyn and already was working at a hat factory by the age of fifteen. Weissbuch studied at the Yale University School of Fine Arts, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League (where he likely encountered the influential abstractionist Hans Hoffman). Beginning in 1934, Weissbuch worked on various WPA programs for seven years (Public Works of Art Project, Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, Federal Art Project), altogether producing 23 recorded prints. His works were widely exhibited in New York (including MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and Albright-Knox Museum), along with traveling shows to California, England, and Scandinavia. Weissbuch also became an important mentor within the Graphic Arts Division. For a short time he was appointed its supervisor, and along with his predecessors was “liked and respected by the artists. They showed sympathy and understanding and stood up for the artists under the pressures of the Project administration, which in turn was under political pressure” (Kainen 170). One such pressure by the late 1930s was a call for graphic works supporting European Allies and military preparation, rather than landscapes or social criticism. Late in 1941, Weissbuch began teaching at the newly established Utica Art School, created by the Munson – Williams – Proctor Arts Institute. Its egalitarian mission announced that faculty, “when executing their own professional work, will welcome students and the general public who may thus observe their methods in practice” (Art Digest 1 Dec. 1941: 29). Alongside American art generally, Weissbuch’s work during the 1940s moved in a direction of increasing abstraction—for example, “Backyard in Summer” (1942) and “Rooftops, No. 1” (1943)—and then fully embraced it by the end of his life in works like “Sea Motif” (1948). Given Weissbuch’s fascination with motific patterns and textures seen in FAP prints of the 1930s, though, perhaps abstraction makes sense as a latent potential within his earlier work. He was a brief, but meaningful influence upon the Pop artist Robert Indiana, who took classes at the Utica Art School while stationed near there in the amy (Ryan 271). But it seems there had been many other apprentices taught by Weissbuch along the way. 18 works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2 works at the National Gallery of Art. 2 works at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 4 works at Munson Museum. 1 work at the Wolfsonian-FIU. 4 versions of “Gypsy Fortune Teller,” illustrating stages of the woodcut printing process, at Wesleyan University Davison Art Collection. 5 images at FAP.
Works Consulted: Olga M. Viso, “The Golden Age of American Printmaking, 1900-1950” (1994), courtesy TFAO Link; Edward Lewis, “3 Shows Open at Print Club,” Philadelphia Inquirer 27 Mar. 1938: 16; Jacob Kainen, “The Graphic Arts Division of the WPA Federal Arts Project,” in The New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs, ed. Francis V. O’Connor (1972) Link; Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech (2000); Peter Hastings Falk, ed., Who Was Who in American Art (1999) Link
About the Artist
The son of Romanian immigrants, Weissbuch grew up in Brooklyn and already was working at a hat factory by the age of fifteen. Weissbuch studied at the Yale University School of Fine Arts, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League (where he likely encountered the influential abstractionist Hans Hoffman). Beginning in 1934, Weissbuch worked on various WPA programs for seven years (Public Works of Art Project, Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, Federal Art Project), altogether producing 23 recorded prints. His works were widely exhibited in New York (including MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and Albright-Knox Museum), along with traveling shows to California, England, and Scandinavia. Weissbuch also became an important mentor within the Graphic Arts Division. For a short time he was appointed its supervisor, and along with his predecessors was “liked and respected by the artists. They showed sympathy and understanding and stood up for the artists under the pressures of the Project administration, which in turn was under political pressure” (Kainen 170). One such pressure by the late 1930s was a call for graphic works supporting European Allies and military preparation, rather than landscapes or social criticism. Late in 1941, Weissbuch began teaching at the newly established Utica Art School, created by the Munson – Williams – Proctor Arts Institute. Its egalitarian mission announced that faculty, “when executing their own professional work, will welcome students and the general public who may thus observe their methods in practice” (Art Digest 1 Dec. 1941: 29). Alongside American art generally, Weissbuch’s work during the 1940s moved in a direction of increasing abstraction—for example, “Backyard in Summer” (1942) and “Rooftops, No. 1” (1943)—and then fully embraced it by the end of his life in works like “Sea Motif” (1948). Given Weissbuch’s fascination with motific patterns and textures seen in FAP prints of the 1930s, though, perhaps abstraction makes sense as a latent potential within his earlier work. He was a brief, but meaningful influence upon the Pop artist Robert Indiana, who took classes at the Utica Art School while stationed near there in the amy (Ryan 271). But it seems there had been many other apprentices taught by Weissbuch along the way. 18 works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2 works at the National Gallery of Art. 2 works at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 4 works at Munson Museum. 1 work at the Wolfsonian-FIU. 4 versions of “Gypsy Fortune Teller,” illustrating stages of the woodcut printing process, at Wesleyan University Davison Art Collection. 5 images at FAP.
Works Consulted: Olga M. Viso, “The Golden Age of American Printmaking, 1900-1950” (1994), courtesy TFAO Link; Edward Lewis, “3 Shows Open at Print Club,” Philadelphia Inquirer 27 Mar. 1938: 16; Jacob Kainen, “The Graphic Arts Division of the WPA Federal Arts Project,” in The New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs, ed. Francis V. O’Connor (1972) Link; Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech (2000); Peter Hastings Falk, ed., Who Was Who in American Art (1999) Link
Creator
Weissbuch, Oscar (1904-1948)
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Cooper, Ken (description and biography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Source
New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY
Object #FA 27776
Object #FA 27776
Format
jpeg, 1.8 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Etching on paper