Paul Meltsner
Encyclopedia
Paul Raphael Meltsner was an American
artist
who was widely recognized for his WPA
era painting
s and lithographs
, and who was later known for his iconic portraits of celebrities in the performing arts
.
for $25. He was born in New York City
and attended public schools in Harlem
before graduating Flushing High School
in 1922. Meltsner later studied at the National Academy of Design
and did illustration work for Coronet
and Bachelor magazines.
, visiting farms and factories. His works represented the social realism
that was popular with WPA artists of the time. His oil paintings portrayed rural landscapes, industrial city scapes, and laborers at work. His colors were bright and bold and his depictions were simple yet iconic.
Meltsner's 1937 mural, Ohio, in the Bellevue
, Ohio
post office, depicted a heroic scene of laboring Ohio farmers and factory workers and remains an exemplary specimen of the mural work that was awarded by the Department of the Treasury's
Section of Painting and Sculpture
.
In 1937, Meltsner painted a self-portrait titled Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh. In the work, he poses in his studio with his daughter and his wire fox terrior
, holding a workman's hammer instead of a paint brush. The painting was purchased by the Luxembourg Museum in Paris
, but during the German occupation of France, it was confiscated by the Nazis
because Meltsner was Jewish
. He painted a copy of the work in 1940, and Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh (No. 2) now hangs in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
in Kansas City
.
In 1935, printmaking became a separate WPA unit formed for the purpose of employing artists and stimulating public interest in print collecting. The New York print shop would be the most prolific of the 16 established across the country. Because Meltsner’s work was characterized by large areas of color and simplified angular lines, they were ideal for reproduction. People identified with his working class
motifs and he identified with the people whom he depicted. While some social realist artists of the time were focused on exposing the injustices of industrialism, Meltsner also celebrated the workers who were part of it. Perhaps in contrast with his proletarian themes, or perhaps in concert with their vision, his lithographs were popularly received and collected by both average individuals and by museums of fine art.
, complete with a banana hat, helped to popularize Miranda’s image and was acquired by the Brazilian Government
for the National Museum of Brazil
in Rio de Janeiro
as “representing the typical Latin American woman.” Meltsner would become widely recognized for his depictions of performers in the dramatic arts also including Gypsy Rose Lee
, Dorothy Stickney
, Gertrude Lawrence
, Lynn Fontaine
, John Barrymore
, Marian Anderson
, and was perhaps most recognized for his multiple paintings of Martha Graham
. One of Meltsner’s Graham portraits is housed in the National Portrait Gallery
at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and another hangs in the National Museum of Argentina
in Buenos Aires
.
In 1944, Meltsner auctioned 8 portraits at the I. Magnin
in Beverly Hills
with the proceeds to benefit the Fifth War Loan Drive
. The pictures of Albert Einstein
, Gertrude Lawrence
, Vera Zorina
, Carmen Amaya
, Lynn Fontanne
, John Barrymore
, Carmen Miranda
and Marian Anderson
brought in a combined total of $2,715,000.
, Oscar Serlin, Billy Rose
, and President Franklin Roosevelt who hung his work in the White House
.
Meltsner was a member of The Mural Painters
, the Society of Independent Artists
, and was a fellow at The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
.
Later in life, he left his downtown New York studio and settled in Woodstock, New York
. There he joined an artist colony
that included many of his contemporaries. He lived a simple life painting in a barn studio and did not own a phone or car. Meltsner died in Woodstock in 1966.
Meltsner paintings and lithographs are today held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
, The National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art
in New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago
, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Dayton Art Institute
, The Hermitage (acquired from the Museum of Modern Western Art in Moscow
), the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art
, the Dallas Museum of Art
, the Detroit Institute of Arts
, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Wichita Art Museum
, and the national art galleries of both Brazil and Argentina.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who was widely recognized for his WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
era painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s and lithographs
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, and who was later known for his iconic portraits of celebrities in the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
.
Education and training
Paul Meltsner sold his first painting when he was eight years old to the government of PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
for $25. He was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and attended public schools in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
before graduating Flushing High School
Flushing High School
Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education....
in 1922. Meltsner later studied at the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
and did illustration work for Coronet
Coronet (magazine)
Coronet was a general interest digest magazine published from October 13, 1936, to March 1971 and ran for 299 issues. The magazine was owned by Esquire and published by David A. Smart from 1936 to 1961.-Typical issue:...
and Bachelor magazines.
WPA era work
In the 1930s, Meltsner participated in the Federal Arts Project of the WPA. He toured the country in an old FordFord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, visiting farms and factories. His works represented the social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
that was popular with WPA artists of the time. His oil paintings portrayed rural landscapes, industrial city scapes, and laborers at work. His colors were bright and bold and his depictions were simple yet iconic.
Meltsner's 1937 mural, Ohio, in the Bellevue
Bellevue, Ohio
Bellevue is a city in Erie, Huron, Sandusky and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 8,193 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Bellevue as a Tree City USA....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
post office, depicted a heroic scene of laboring Ohio farmers and factory workers and remains an exemplary specimen of the mural work that was awarded by the Department of the Treasury's
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
Section of Painting and Sculpture
Section of Painting and Sculpture
The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture , commonly known as "the Section," was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury....
.
In 1937, Meltsner painted a self-portrait titled Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh. In the work, he poses in his studio with his daughter and his wire fox terrior
Fox Terrier (Wire)
The Wire Fox Terrier is a breed of dog, one of many terrier breeds. It is an instantly recognizable fox terrier breed. Although it bears a resemblance to the Smooth Fox Terrier, they are believed to have been developed separately.-Appearance:...
, holding a workman's hammer instead of a paint brush. The painting was purchased by the Luxembourg Museum in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but during the German occupation of France, it was confiscated by the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
because Meltsner was Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. He painted a copy of the work in 1940, and Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh (No. 2) now hangs in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its neoclassical architecture and extensive collection of Asian art....
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
In 1935, printmaking became a separate WPA unit formed for the purpose of employing artists and stimulating public interest in print collecting. The New York print shop would be the most prolific of the 16 established across the country. Because Meltsner’s work was characterized by large areas of color and simplified angular lines, they were ideal for reproduction. People identified with his working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
motifs and he identified with the people whom he depicted. While some social realist artists of the time were focused on exposing the injustices of industrialism, Meltsner also celebrated the workers who were part of it. Perhaps in contrast with his proletarian themes, or perhaps in concert with their vision, his lithographs were popularly received and collected by both average individuals and by museums of fine art.
Portraits of performing artists
Later in his career, Meltsner turned his artistic interests to portraits of celebrities in the performing arts. His portrait of Carmen MirandaCarmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
, complete with a banana hat, helped to popularize Miranda’s image and was acquired by the Brazilian Government
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
for the National Museum of Brazil
National Museum of Brazil
The National Museum of Brazil is a centenarian museum and research institution, located in the Quinta da Boa Vista park in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-History:...
in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
as “representing the typical Latin American woman.” Meltsner would become widely recognized for his depictions of performers in the dramatic arts also including Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.-Early life:...
, Dorothy Stickney
Dorothy Stickney
Dorothy Stickney was a Broadway actress best known for appearing in the long running Life with Father.Born in Dickinson, North Dakota, Stickney attended the North Western Dramatic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
, Lynn Fontaine
Lynn Fontanne
Lynn Fontanne was a British actress and major stage star in the United States for over 40 years. She teamed with her husband Alfred Lunt.She lived in the United States for more than 60 years but never relinquished her British citizenship. Lunt and Fontanne shared a special Tony Award in 1970...
, John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
, and was perhaps most recognized for his multiple paintings of Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
. One of Meltsner’s Graham portraits is housed in the National Portrait Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and another hangs in the National Museum of Argentina
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires)
The National Museum of Fine Arts is an Argentine art museum in Buenos Aires, located in the Recoleta section of the city. The MNBA inaugurated a branch in Neuquén in 2004.-History:...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
In 1944, Meltsner auctioned 8 portraits at the I. Magnin
I. Magnin
I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington...
in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
with the proceeds to benefit the Fifth War Loan Drive
Series E bond
Series E U.S. Savings Bonds were marketed by the United States government as war bonds from 1941 to 1980. When Americans refer to war bonds, they are usually referring to Series E bonds. Those issued from 1941 to November 1965 accrued interest for 40 years; those issued from December 1965 to June...
. The pictures of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
, Vera Zorina
Vera Zorina
Vera Zorina was a Norwegian ballerina, musical theatre actress and choreographer.-Background:Vera Zorina was born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin, Germany. Her father Fritz was a German and her mother Billie Hartwig was Norwegian. Both were professional singers...
, Carmen Amaya
Carmen Amaya
Carmen Amaya was a flamenco dancer and singer, of gypsy origin, born in the Somorrostro slum of Barcelona, Spain, nowadays....
, Lynn Fontanne
Lynn Fontanne
Lynn Fontanne was a British actress and major stage star in the United States for over 40 years. She teamed with her husband Alfred Lunt.She lived in the United States for more than 60 years but never relinquished her British citizenship. Lunt and Fontanne shared a special Tony Award in 1970...
, John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
and Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
brought in a combined total of $2,715,000.
Late career and recognition
Collectors of Meltsner paintings during his lifetime included Frank CrowninshieldFrank Crowninshield
Francis Welch Crowninshield , better known as Frank or Crownie , was an American journalist and art and theatre critic best known for developing and editing the magazine Vanity Fair for 21 years, making it a pre-eminent literary journal.-Personal life:Crowninshield was born June 24, 1872 in Paris,...
, Oscar Serlin, Billy Rose
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
, and President Franklin Roosevelt who hung his work in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
Meltsner was a member of The Mural Painters
National Society of Mural Painters
The National Society of Mural Painters is an American artists' organization founded in 1895, originally known as The Mural Painters. The charter of the society is to advance the techniques and standards for the design and execution of mural art for the enrichment of architecture in the United...
, the Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York.Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-garde artists. Exhibitions were to be open to anyone who wanted to...
, and was a fellow at The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople...
.
Later in life, he left his downtown New York studio and settled in Woodstock, New York
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
. There he joined an artist colony
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
that included many of his contemporaries. He lived a simple life painting in a barn studio and did not own a phone or car. Meltsner died in Woodstock in 1966.
Meltsner paintings and lithographs are today held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, The National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Dayton Art Institute
Dayton Art Institute
The Dayton Art Institute is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, USA. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for kids. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art museums in North America in 3 of 4 factors...
, The Hermitage (acquired from the Museum of Modern Western Art in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
), the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
, the Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Wichita Art Museum
Wichita Art Museum
The Wichita Art Museum is an art museum located in Wichita, Kansas. It was established in 1915, when Louise Murdock’s Will created a trust to start a collection of art works by “American painters, potters, sculptors, and textile weavers.” The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Arthur G...
, and the national art galleries of both Brazil and Argentina.
Select images of Meltsner works in museum collections
- Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh (No. 2), 1940, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Ohio (study for mural), 1937, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Ohio, 1937, New Deal Art Registry
- Martha Graham, circa 1940, National Portrait Gallery
- Martha Graham Dance Class, 1939, Wichita Art Museum
- Nightclub Scene, 1935, Weisman Art Museum
- Industrial Landscape, 1935, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Lithographs (various), Brooklyn Museum
- Lithographs (various), Dallas Museum of Art