The Shoemaker

Oil on Masonite, signed.
Provenance: ACA Galleries, New York City.

Painting: 17” x 14.25”
Frame: 24.25” x 21.25”

Painter and illustrator William Gropper pursued his career in his native New York City. Trained at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, he became a staff artist for the New York Tribune. He also drew for The New Masses, a periodical that championed Marxist views and labor reforms.

In keeping perhaps with that publication’s sensibilities, The Shoemaker depicts a man astride a work bench. Clasping a tool or some material in both hands, he focuses on his task, shoulders hunched and head tiled in concentration. The solid forms and bright colors of the composition recall Chaim Soutine’s thoughtful portraits of laborers.

Gropper is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Phillips, and he is listed in Who Was Who in American Art (Falk, 1999)