Fermin Rocker
Encyclopedia
Fermin Rocker was a painter and book illustrator
. He was the son of the anarcho-syndicalist theorists and activists Rudolf Rocker
, a German, who had moved to London 1895, and Milly Witkop
, a Ukrainian Jew, who had fled to the city in 1894.
Rocker was born in Stepney
, London
in 1907. He was named after the Spanish anarchist and mayor of Cádiz
Fermín Salvochea
. During his youth, he got to know many prominent anarchists such as Errico Malatesta
and Peter Kropotkin
and often attended anarchist meetings with his father. Later he would also meet Augustin Souchy
, Emma Goldman
, Alexander Berkman
, Erich Mühsam
, Nestor Machno, and Buenaventura Durruti
. During this period he also started learning to draw from his half-brother Rudolph and exhibited great talent.
After World War I broke out, both his parents were arrested because of their anarchist activities, his father in 1914, his mother in 1916. In 1918, they were both released and extradited to the Netherlands, from where they moved to Berlin
. There, Fermin Rocker was educated as a lithographer. His early works consisted in sketches, watercolor paintings, and graphic works. He also started mixing with the artist milieu in Berlin.
In 1929, Rocker followed his father on a lecture tour in the United States. Contrary to his original plans, he remained in New York. After the Machtergreifung
in 1933, his parents joined him there.He worked as draftsman
, a cartoon animator, a commercial artist, and as a book illustrator. Among his employers was the Survey Graphic
. In 1944, he had his first one-man exhibition in New York. His works would also be exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Chicago Art Institute. The Library of Congress
bought some works of his. In 1946, he received a prize from the Philadelphia Print Club for his graphical works. In 1952, he married Ruth Robbins, a dentist from California he had gotten to know in New York. In the same year, his mother died; three years later his father followed.
In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom for the first time since he left Europe in 1929. His wife liked the continent so much that she returned to England in 1970. The couple then moved back to London, because of the crime and expensive rent in New York in addition to the fact that Rocker thought New York had gotten uglier over the years. In London, he illustrated books for the Oxford University Press
and did paintings on the side. Once, Mick Jagger
even bought a painting for ₤4,000 from him. It depicted Basque refugees fleeing Franco
's allies towards the French border.
Influenced by realism
, Rocker had done mostly landscape paintings with warm colors up to this point. They were rarely political. Since his move to New York he had mostly concentrated on oil paintings. But once in London, his style shifted slightly. He started painting everyday things, even political paintings such as the one he sold to Jagger. The colors he used got darker and sadder. Rocker's relationship to anarchism was ambiguous. He was turned off by the feuds within anarchism and acknowledged that capitalism had raised the standard of living.
After Rocker turned 65, he quit illustrating and concentrated on painting instead. He had 13 solo exhibitions in the last twenty years of his life, mostly at Stephen Bartley Gallery. In 1989, his wife died. He published an account of his childhood in London under the name The East End Years in the anarchist Freedom Press in 1998. He died in 2004.
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
. He was the son of the anarcho-syndicalist theorists and activists Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
, a German, who had moved to London 1895, and Milly Witkop
Milly Witkop
Milly Witkop was a Ukrainian-born Jewish anarcho-syndicalist and feminist writer and activist. She was the common-law wife of the better-known Rudolf Rocker...
, a Ukrainian Jew, who had fled to the city in 1894.
Rocker was born in Stepney
Stepney
Stepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1907. He was named after the Spanish anarchist and mayor of Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
Fermín Salvochea
Fermín Salvochea
Fermín Salvochea y Álvarez was a mayor of the city of Cádiz and a president of the province of Cádiz. He was one of the main propagators of anarchist thought in that area in the late 19th century and is considered to be "perhaps the most beloved figure in the Spanish Anarchist movement of the 19th...
. During his youth, he got to know many prominent anarchists such as Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta was an Italian anarcho-communist. He was an insurrectionary anarchist early in his life. He spent much of his life exiled from his homeland of Italy and in total spent more than ten years in prison. He wrote and edited a number of radical newspapers and was also a friend of...
and Peter Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
and often attended anarchist meetings with his father. Later he would also meet Augustin Souchy
Augustin Souchy
Augustin Souchy was a German anarchist, antimilitarist, and journalist.- First World War :At the outbreak of the First World War he moved in Austria. From there he was deported to and forced to wear a sign around his neck that read "Beware: Anarchist!", which later became the title of his...
, Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
, Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, Erich Mühsam
Erich Mühsam
Erich Mühsam was a German-Jewish anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic....
, Nestor Machno, and Buenaventura Durruti
Buenaventura Durruti
José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange was a central figure of Spanish anarchism during the period leading up to and including the Spanish Civil War.-Early life:...
. During this period he also started learning to draw from his half-brother Rudolph and exhibited great talent.
After World War I broke out, both his parents were arrested because of their anarchist activities, his father in 1914, his mother in 1916. In 1918, they were both released and extradited to the Netherlands, from where they moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. There, Fermin Rocker was educated as a lithographer. His early works consisted in sketches, watercolor paintings, and graphic works. He also started mixing with the artist milieu in Berlin.
In 1929, Rocker followed his father on a lecture tour in the United States. Contrary to his original plans, he remained in New York. After the Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933, his parents joined him there.He worked as draftsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, a cartoon animator, a commercial artist, and as a book illustrator. Among his employers was the Survey Graphic
Survey Graphic
The Survey Graphic was a United States magazine launched in 1921. From 1921 to 1932, it was published as a supplement to The Survey and became a separate publication in 1933. The SG focused on sociological and political research and analysis of national and international issues...
. In 1944, he had his first one-man exhibition in New York. His works would also be exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Chicago Art Institute. The Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
bought some works of his. In 1946, he received a prize from the Philadelphia Print Club for his graphical works. In 1952, he married Ruth Robbins, a dentist from California he had gotten to know in New York. In the same year, his mother died; three years later his father followed.
In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom for the first time since he left Europe in 1929. His wife liked the continent so much that she returned to England in 1970. The couple then moved back to London, because of the crime and expensive rent in New York in addition to the fact that Rocker thought New York had gotten uglier over the years. In London, he illustrated books for the Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
and did paintings on the side. Once, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
even bought a painting for ₤4,000 from him. It depicted Basque refugees fleeing Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's allies towards the French border.
Influenced by realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
, Rocker had done mostly landscape paintings with warm colors up to this point. They were rarely political. Since his move to New York he had mostly concentrated on oil paintings. But once in London, his style shifted slightly. He started painting everyday things, even political paintings such as the one he sold to Jagger. The colors he used got darker and sadder. Rocker's relationship to anarchism was ambiguous. He was turned off by the feuds within anarchism and acknowledged that capitalism had raised the standard of living.
After Rocker turned 65, he quit illustrating and concentrated on painting instead. He had 13 solo exhibitions in the last twenty years of his life, mostly at Stephen Bartley Gallery. In 1989, his wife died. He published an account of his childhood in London under the name The East End Years in the anarchist Freedom Press in 1998. He died in 2004.
External links
- Fermin Rocker at AskART. The Artists' Bluebook.