William Sharp (Illustrator)

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William Sharp , former name: Leon Schleifer , (born June 13, 1900 in Lemberg , Galicia , † April 1, 1961 in Queens , New York ), was an American graphic artist, draftsman, book illustrator and caricaturist of German origin.

Life

He grew up in Lemberg, Austria, as the son of his Jewish family, attended grammar school and then the art school. After studying art in Cracow , Munich and Berlin , he settled there in the 1920s, where he initially worked as a newspaper graphic artist. His caricatures in the Berliner Volkszeitung and in the 8 Uhr-Abendblatt showed Schleifer as a keen observer of big city life, who was close to George Grosz with his caustic mockery . As a political cartoonist in Berlin, he saw increasing dangers for himself after Hitler came to power in 1933 and emigrated to the USA in 1934 , where he has called himself William Sharp ever since .

He found his first newspaper employment as a court draftsman for the New York Mirror and as a political cartoonist with Esquire . At the same time, he received his first assignments as a book illustrator and began to work for magazines such as The New York Times Magazine , Life , Collier’s , Coronet and the New York Post , for which he sometimes drew for years. In addition, he was able to perfect his talent and his skills as a book illustrator and use them very successfully as an etcher and lithographer .

In 1941 he became an American citizen who lived with his wife Ruth in the New York borough of Queens until his death.

Works (selection)

Much of Sharp's work has found acceptance into museums and collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Library of Congress , the Carnegie Institute , and the New York Public Library .

literature

  • Thomas von Steinaeckers: Afterword in: Anna Seghers / William Sharp: The seventh cross. With original illustrations from 1942. Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3-351-03604-1

Individual evidence

  1. Steinaecker, Th.v .: Epilogue to Seghers / Sharp: The seventh cross. Berlin 2015

Web links