TheAmerican Artists School was aprogressive independentart school inNew York City associated withsocialism and the American Radical movement.^[1]

American Artists School
Location
New York City United States
Information
Type	Art school
Established	1936
Closed	1941

The school was founded in April 1936 at 131 West 14th Street, upon the dissolution of theJohn Reed Club School of Art. Its founders and board of directors included members and former members of theJohn Reed Club such asWilliam Gropper, as well as contributors to theNew Masses and theDaily Worker, and notable artists such asMargaret Bourke-White andLouis Schanker.Harry Gottlieb was its first director andHenry Billings the first secretary.^[2][3]

The school emphasized art that was not only technically excellent but also alive to the social andclass realities of the day, and stressed socially relevant content. A statement from the school's brochure of 1936 reads,

"The American Artists School established [as] its fundamental premise...that the student must be developed as an independent thinker at the same time he is trained to be a competent artist. We believe that America contains infinite painting material, and that the student who learns to understand and appreciate it cannot but evolve into a socially constructive artist."

The school suffered from financial difficulties and closed in the spring of 1941; however, the significant role it played in integrating art and society in the thirties was recognized by both the liberal and radical press.

Students at the school includedJacob Lawrence,Theodoros Stamos,Lucille Wallenrod,Ad Reinhardt,Elaine de Kooning,Jack McLarty,Harry Shoulberg,Milton Resnick, andFay Kleinman.

Teachers included the sculptorJoseph Konzal, the cartoonistFred Ellis,Philip Evergood,Milton Hebald,Sol Wilson,Louis Schanker,Francis Criss,Walter Quirt,Moses Soyer,Louis Lozowick, andAbraham Harriton, and symposia featured lectures bySamuel Putnam,Charmion von Wiegand, andMartha Graham.^[4] Russian-bornAnton Refregier was a member of the faculty and at one point chairman of the board.

• Marquardt, Virginia Hagelstein. "The American Artists School: Radical Heritage and Social Content Art."Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4. (1986), pp. 17–23.
• Artists on the Left, by Andrew Hemingway

40°44′17.5″N73°59′54″W / 40.738194°N 73.99833°W /40.738194; -73.99833