Biography
Samuel Gansheroff
(A.k.a.
Gantz, Gant, Ganz)
Born 1909
Samuel Gansheroff was a Milwaukee watercolorist and a member of the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Society and contemporary of such notable Wisconsin artists as Francesco Spicuzza and Peter Rotier. He exhibited in the first Public Works of Art Project Exhibition, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C., receiving particular praise for his watercolors from the judges.
In 1932, two years prior to the first Public Works of Art Project Exhibition, the Congress of American Artists met in New York and passed resolutions that were influenced by the Depression that gripped America. These resolutions included the fostering of government art projects which would pay living wages to artists, opposition to fascism and war, an artists’ boycott of the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany, and public presentations of the work of contemporary American artists. Many works, in the Public Works of Art Project, including those by Gansheroff featured symbolism that was critical of capitalist society and social inequities.
At the 31st Annual Exhibition of Wisconsin Art that was held at the Milwaukee Art Institute, Gansheroff exhibited a watercolor titled, Breakwater, Port Washington. His linoleum cut titled, Mill Creek, was included in the 1938 Wisconsin Artists Calendar, published by The Wisconsin Printmakers.
Selected Exhibitions
1934 Public Works Art Project Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.
1944 The 31st Annual Exhibition of Wisconsin Art, Milwaukee Art Institute
Selected Publications
Builders of Milwaukee
© 2007, 10/22 Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, Wisconsin 4/6/2010