John Reed Club
Encyclopedia
The John Reed Club was an American
, semi-national, Marxist club for writers, artists, and intellectuals, named after the American journalist
, activist, and poet
, John Reed.
magazine to support leftist and Marxist artists and writers. Originally politically independent, it and The New Masses
officially affiliated with Moscow in November 1930.
in December 1929. Artists included: Jacob Burck
, Fred Ellis
, William Gropper
, Eitaro Ishigaki, Gan Kolski, Louis Lozowick
, Jan Matulka
, Morris Pass, Anton Refregier
, Louis Leon Ribak
, Esther Shemitz, Otto Soglow, and Art Young
.
The second exhibition occurred in January 1930: 42 drawings, paintings, and lithographs that traveled from the Borough Park Workers' Club (43rd Street, Brooklyn) to other clubs in Brownsville
, Williamsburg
, the Bronx, and Manhattan
.
The third exhibition occurred in April 1931 with the "Proletpen," a Yiddish cultural group of the Communist Party
: it comprised some 100 paintings, drawings, and cartoons by some 30 artists.
, Dehn, Hugo Gellert
, William Gropper
, [William Hernandez], Eitaro Ishigaki, Limbach, Louis Lozowick
, Moses Oley, Quirt, Anton Refregier
, Philip Resman, Louis Leon Ribak
, William Siegel, Soglow, Raphael Soyer
, and Max Spivach. Four known works comprised Gellert's "Karl Max' Capital in Lithographs" (from of set of 60 lithographs).
Another exhibition occurred again at the ACA Gallery in 1935: its theme was the Japan
ese invasion of Manchuria
and included "Roustabouts" by Joe Jones
.
The last known exhibition occurred at the ACA Gallery: its theme was "The Capitalist Crisis" and gained little notice outside of Communist press organs.
activists worked to change it to a badge of shame.
and Whittaker Chambers
were members in New York. Richard Wright
and the artist Morris Topchevsky were members in Chicago. (In 1944, Wright distilled his uncomfortable experience in anAtlantic Monthly article, "I Tried to be a Communist".)
in 1936 by order of the American Communist Party.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, semi-national, Marxist club for writers, artists, and intellectuals, named after the American journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, activist, and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, John Reed.
Founding
The John Reed Club was founded in October 1929 by staff members of The New MassesThe New Masses
The "New Masses" was a prominent American Marxist publication edited by Walt Carmon, briefly by Whittaker Chambers, and primarily by Michael Gold, Granville Hicks, and Joseph Freeman....
magazine to support leftist and Marxist artists and writers. Originally politically independent, it and The New Masses
The New Masses
The "New Masses" was a prominent American Marxist publication edited by Walt Carmon, briefly by Whittaker Chambers, and primarily by Michael Gold, Granville Hicks, and Joseph Freeman....
officially affiliated with Moscow in November 1930.
Chapters
John Reed Club chapters peaked at 30. From New York, it spread to Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, and other cities.Chicago Chapter
- Publication: Left Front (magazine)Left Front (magazine)Left Front Magazine was an American magazine published by the Chicago chapter of the John Reed Club, itself a Marxist club for writers, artists, and intellectuals, named after the American journalist, activist, and poet, John Reed...
- Members:
- Richard Wright (author)Richard Wright (author)Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...
- Mitchell SiporinMitchell Siporin-Biography:Mitchell Siporin was born in New York City and grew up in Chicago. Through the Works Progress Administration, he worked as a painter. Together with Edward Milman, he painted the frescoes in the Central Post Office in St Louis. From 1946 to 1949, he served in the army in North Africa and...
(artist)
- Richard Wright (author)
Art Exhibitions
Artistic members of the John Reed Club of New York began holding art exhibitions in late 1929, shortly after the club's formation.Early Exhibitions
The first art exhibition occurred at the United Workers' Cooperative Apartments (aka United Workers Cooperative Colony, aka "Commie Coops") on Bronx Park EastBronx Park
Bronx Park, laid out along the Bronx River in the Bronx, New York, is the home of the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo. Bicycle paths go northwest, north and east, along Mosholu Parkway, Bronx River Parkway and Pelham Parkway respectively...
in December 1929. Artists included: Jacob Burck
Jacob Burck
Jacob "Jake" Burck was an American painter, sculptor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.-Early years:Jacob Burck was born January 10, 1907, near Białystok, Poland, the son of ethnic Jewish parents, Abraham Burck and Rebecca Lev Burck...
, Fred Ellis
Fred Ellis
Fred C. Ellis was an American editorial cartoonist. He is best remembered as one of the leading radical artists of the 1920s and 1930s as an artist for various publications of the Communist Party, USA , including stints on the staff of the CPUSA's daily newspaper.-Early years:Fred Ellis was born...
, William Gropper
William Gropper
William Victor "Bill" Gropper , was a U.S. cartoonist, painter, lithographer, and muralist. A committed radical, Gropper is best known for the political work which he contributed to such left wing publications as The Revolutionary Age, The Liberator, The New Masses, The Worker, and The Morning...
, Eitaro Ishigaki, Gan Kolski, Louis Lozowick
Louis Lozowick
Louis Lozowick was an American painter and a printmaker. He was born in Russian Empire , came to United States in 1906, and died in New Jersey in 1973...
, Jan Matulka
Jan Matulka
Jan Matulka was a Czech-American modern artist originally from Bohemia. Matulka's style would range from Abstract expressionism to landscapes, sometimes in the same day.-Early life:...
, Morris Pass, Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier was a Russian immigrant painter in the United States.He made the 27 murals in the Rincon Center in San Francisco, California, which depict the history of California, in the style of the social realism.- Life and early career:Refregier was born in Moscow and emigrated to the United...
, Louis Leon Ribak
Louis Leon Ribak
Louis Leon Ribak was an American social realist and abstractionist painter. Born in Ruzhany, Ribak emigrated to New York at the age of ten with his family...
, Esther Shemitz, Otto Soglow, and Art Young
Art Young
Arthur "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses between 1911 and 1917.-Early Years:...
.
The second exhibition occurred in January 1930: 42 drawings, paintings, and lithographs that traveled from the Borough Park Workers' Club (43rd Street, Brooklyn) to other clubs in Brownsville
Brownsville
Brownsville may refer to:United States*Brownsville, California , the name of several places*Brownsville, Florida**Brownsville , located at the above location...
, Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, the Bronx, and Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
The third exhibition occurred in April 1931 with the "Proletpen," a Yiddish cultural group of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
: it comprised some 100 paintings, drawings, and cartoons by some 30 artists.
Later Exhibitions
"Twenty John Reed Club Artists on Proletarian and Revolutionary Themes" occurred at the ACA Gallery in November 1932: 36 paintings, drawings, and lithographs by 21 artists — Albert Abramowitz, Bard, Mark Baum, Joseph Biel, Jacob BurckJacob Burck
Jacob "Jake" Burck was an American painter, sculptor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.-Early years:Jacob Burck was born January 10, 1907, near Białystok, Poland, the son of ethnic Jewish parents, Abraham Burck and Rebecca Lev Burck...
, Dehn, Hugo Gellert
Hugo Gellert
Hugo Gellert was a Hungarian-American illustrator and muralist. A committed radical, much of Gellert's work is agitational in nature and distinctive in style, considered by some art critics as among the best political work of the first half of the 20th Century.-Early years:Hugo Gellert was born...
, William Gropper
William Gropper
William Victor "Bill" Gropper , was a U.S. cartoonist, painter, lithographer, and muralist. A committed radical, Gropper is best known for the political work which he contributed to such left wing publications as The Revolutionary Age, The Liberator, The New Masses, The Worker, and The Morning...
, [William Hernandez], Eitaro Ishigaki, Limbach, Louis Lozowick
Louis Lozowick
Louis Lozowick was an American painter and a printmaker. He was born in Russian Empire , came to United States in 1906, and died in New Jersey in 1973...
, Moses Oley, Quirt, Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier was a Russian immigrant painter in the United States.He made the 27 murals in the Rincon Center in San Francisco, California, which depict the history of California, in the style of the social realism.- Life and early career:Refregier was born in Moscow and emigrated to the United...
, Philip Resman, Louis Leon Ribak
Louis Leon Ribak
Louis Leon Ribak was an American social realist and abstractionist painter. Born in Ruzhany, Ribak emigrated to New York at the age of ten with his family...
, William Siegel, Soglow, Raphael Soyer
Raphael Soyer
Raphael Soyer was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter...
, and Max Spivach. Four known works comprised Gellert's "Karl Max' Capital in Lithographs" (from of set of 60 lithographs).
Another exhibition occurred again at the ACA Gallery in 1935: its theme was the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese invasion of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
and included "Roustabouts" by Joe Jones
Joe Jones (artist)
Joseph John Jones was a 20th century artist: painter, landscape painter, lithographer, and muralist. TIME magazine followed him throughout his career. Although Jones was never a member of the John Reed Club, his name is closely associated with its artistic members, most of them also...
.
The last known exhibition occurred at the ACA Gallery: its theme was "The Capitalist Crisis" and gained little notice outside of Communist press organs.
Gallery
The site of the John Reed Club in New York had held exhibitions of member work since Summer 1930; it established a gallery there in 1932. Records are scarce for 1932-1935.Members
The John Reed Club had a somewhat prestigious membership in its early days among leftist circles. Later, Mc-Carthy styleMcCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
activists worked to change it to a badge of shame.
Later, Famous Members
Samuel Lewis ShaneSamuel Lewis Shane
Samuel Lewis Shane was a modern American painter whose works span a period from the early 1920s to shortly before his death in 1993. Beginning in 1920, he studied under John French Sloan of the Ashcan School at the Art Students League in New York City...
and Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
were members in New York. Richard Wright
Richard Wright (author)
Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...
and the artist Morris Topchevsky were members in Chicago. (In 1944, Wright distilled his uncomfortable experience in anAtlantic Monthly article, "I Tried to be a Communist".)
Dissolution
The clubs were dissolved into the American Artists' CongressAmerican Artists' Congress
The American Artists’ Congress was an organization founded in February 1936 as part of the popular front of the Communist Party USA as a vehicle for uniting graphic artists in projects helping to combat the spread of fascism...
in 1936 by order of the American Communist Party.
External links
- partial text of "I Tried to be a Communist", by Richard Wright
- Yale University Press: Artists on the Left by Andrew Hemingway