Harry Gottlieb
(1895-1993)
Harry Gottlieb was a painter, screenprinter, lithographer, and educator, who was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1895. He emigrated to America in 1907, and his family settled in Minneapolis, MN. From 1915 to 1917, Gottlieb attended the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. After a short stint as an illustrator for the U.S. Navy, Gottlieb moved to New York City in 1918. He also became a scenic and costume designer for Eugene O’Neill’s Provincetown Theater Group. He studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. Gottlieb was one of America’s first Social Realist painters, influenced by the movement led by Robert Henri. He was also a pioneer in screen printing, which he learned while working for the WPA. He married Eugenie Gershoy, and the couple joined the artist colony at Woodstock, New York. He lectured widely on art education and in 1931, spent a year abroad studying under a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1935, Gottlieb joined the Federal Art Project, where he was one of the first members of the WPA/FAP’s Silk Screen Unit. He died in 1993.