Louis Schanker
American, 1903 - 1981Cops and Pickets, 1939
Not on view
Woodcut on paper
Dimensions10 1/2 × 13 1/8 in. (26.7 × 33.3 cm)
Image: 9 5/16 × 12 1/2 in. (23.7 × 31.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson in memory of Mr. Robert Martin Purcell, 1979.211
Called a “radical among radicals,” New York artist Louis Schanker was actively engaged in politics. In this woodcut, he shows picketers with signs, and someone trying to pull a mounted policeman off his horse.
In 1935, Schanker and other artists (Ilya Bolotowsky, Ben-Zion, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Joseph Solman, Tschacbasov, Lou Harris, and Ralph Rosenborg) formed a group called The Ten [Whitney Dissenters] that protested the lack of support for American Abstract Artists by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, which concentrated on representational art.
In 1938, Schanker gained employment with the New York City WPA/FAP graphic arts division and when the workshop moved, he took over as supervisor of color block printing, remaining in the division until 1941. He was also a founding member of American Abstract Artists (AAA) to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art.
