biographie de Walter QUIRT (1902-1968)

Birth place: Iron River, MI

Death place: Minneapolis, MN

Addresses: NYC, 1930s-44; Michigan & Minneapolis, MN, c.1945-

Profession: Painter, lecturer, teacher, etcher

Studied: Layton Sch. Art, 1921-23.

Exhibited: AIC , 1926, 1929, 1947; Julian Levy Gal., NYC, 1936 (solo), 1937; WMAA, 1936-58; Pinacotheca Gal., NYC, 1942; DMFA (purchase award); Minneapolis Univ. Gal., Univ. Minnesota, 1980 (retrospective)

Member: An Am. Group; Am. Artists Congress; Artists Union.

Work: MoMA; Walker AC; WMAA; Newark Mus.; Wadsworth Atheneum; Univ. Minnesota; Univ. Iowa;

Comments: Social surrealist during the 1930s. Friend of James Guy (see entry). Passionate supporter of social content and Surrealism in art as an effective combination for encouraging radical social change, in 1937 he spoke at the MoMA Symposium "Surrealism and Its Political Significance." He also wrote an essay "Wake Over Surrealism: With Due Respect to the Corpse" (c.1940, Pinacotheca Gal., NYC), in which he strongly criticized Dali and other Surrealists whose work he felt had degenerated into negativism and decadence. His own style moved through phases of figuration, fantasy, and abstraction, but always expressed his social and personal convictions. Teaching: Layton Sch. Art, 1924-29; Am. Artists Sch., NYC, 1940; Michigan State College, 1940s; Univ. Minnesota, 1945-66. WPA artist in NYC.

Sources: WW47; WW66; P&H Samuels, 386; Wechsler, 42-43 and cat. nos. 107-110; Walter Quirt: A Retrospective (exh. cat., Univ. of Minn., 1980)