Artist Trivia: Emil Holzhauer

Who is this artist: 

This artist was born on January 21, 1887 in Europe, moving to New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. Influenced by Europeans and Americans  who showed at the famous  International Exhibition of Modern Art  of 1913, they had their first solo show in New York two years later, and continued to exhibit in New York until 1925. During the following decade, they focused on painting  naturalist scenes of everyday life. Later active in the southeastern United States, this artist often depicted neighborhoods and homes of the working class. Over time the artist’s work became more expressive, and experimental with  intense color. They continued to work through the early 1970s and died just short of their 100th birthday

This artist is: 

Emil Holzhauer

Born in Schwabisch-Gmund, Germany, in 1906 Holzhauer moved to NYC. He attended the famed Armory Show in 1913 and was inspired by the work of the American and European modernists. He held his first solo exhibition in 1915 and exhibited regularly in New York, both individually and as part of a group, over the next ten years. Throughout the 1930s, Holzhauer became identified with the American Scene movement in art, and the scenes that he painted while in the South are among his best known. The subjects were often homes and neighborhoods of the working class. During the late 1940s and into the 1950s, Holzhauer began to move into a more expressive and less realistic style. The color became more intense and less true to nature, and his figures became more stylized. He continued to travel and paint until 1972 when his eyesight began to fail. Holzhauer died just before his hundredth birthday in 1986.

Emil Holzhauer, Mending Nets, 1928, Oil on canvas, 30 1/4 X 40 1/4 inches, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Holzhauer, 1983.12