William Gropper was born in New York and was a student of Robert Henri and George Bellows at the Ferrer School from 1912 to 1915. He was a painter and cartoonist who used a powerful caricature style to focus on social concerns. He was actively engaged in support of the organized labor movement throughout his career.

This drawing shows the Statue of Liberty covering her face in shame while a man labeled "FBI" takes her fingerprints on a sheet of paper labeled "Fingerprints and registration of Aliens..." which rests, along with Liberty's torch, on a stack of papers labeled, "Anti-Alien Bill."

His bold cartoons of the 1920s appeared in publications like the New Masses and Rebel Worker. His activities as a labor organizer and three visits to the Soviet Union further contributed to his growing reputation as a radical. During the 1930s, working as a part of the Federal Arts Project, he produced some of the most gripping social protest works of the Great Depression. Subjects included industrial strikes and incidents of strike breaking, especially in the coal mining and steel-production centers. He did much illustration-cartoon work for the New York Tribune newspaper; Vanity Fair magazine, and the politically 'left-wing' publication, "New Masses." By the later 1930s, however, Gropper was also known for his oil paintings and murals.

Gropper was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953. He retaliated by producing a vitriolic series of fifty lithographs, Caprichos, based on the hearings. Gropper believed his art could inspire people to be more compassionate and to fight for change. He also agreed with his teachers Henri and Bellows that art should be truthful to the human condition. Gropper continued to produce socially significant art until his death in 1977.

Medium : 1 drawing : ink, opaque white and blue pencil

Created/Published : Between 1937 and 1942

Creator : William Gropper, artist, 1897-1977

Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress __________________________________

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Product #: ppmsca04289