Fermin Rocker (22 December 1907 – 18 October 2004) was a British painter and book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. He was the son of the

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...

theorist and activist

Rudolf Rocker Johann Rudolf Rocker (March 25, 1873 – September 19, 1958) was a German anarchist writer and activist. He was born in Mainz to a Roman Catholic artisan family. His father died when he was a child, and his mother when he was in his teens, so he ...

, a German, who had moved to London 1895, and

Milly Witkop Milly Witkop(-Rocker) (March 3, 1877November 23, 1955) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish anarcho-syndicalist, feminist writer and activist. She was the common-law wife of the prominent anarcho-syndicalist leader Rudolf Rocker. The couple's son, Fermin ...

, a Ukrainian Jew and anarchist and feminist activist, who had fled to London in 1894. Rocker was born in

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

, East London in 1907 and named after the Spanish anarchist and mayor of

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

Fermín Salvochea Fermín Salvochea y Álvarez (1 March 1842, in Cádiz – 27 September 1907, in Cádiz) 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 ...

. During his youth, he got to know many prominent anarchists such as

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expelled from ...

and

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

and often attended anarchist meetings with his father, a prominent activist, whom he fondly recalls in his 1998 memoir. Later he would also meet

Augustin Souchy Augustin Souchy Bauer (28 August 1892 – 1 January 1984) was a German anarchist, antimilitarist, labor union official and journalist. He traveled widely and wrote extensively about the Spanish Civil War and intentional communities. He was ...

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

Alexander Berkman Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing. B ...

Erich Mühsam Erich Mühsam (6 April 1878 – 10 July 1934) was a German-Jewish antimilitarist 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, for which ...

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, The surname "Makhno" ( uk, Махно́) was itself a corruption of Nestor's father's surname "Mikhnenko" ( uk, Міхненко). ( 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ("Father Makhno"),; According to ...

, and

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish insurrectionary, anarcho-syndicalist militant involved with the CNT and FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War. Durruti played an in ...

. During this period he learned to draw, guided by his half-brother Rudolph, and exhibited a natural aptitude.Whitehead, Andrew
Fermin Rocker: Painter from a family of London anarchists
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' October 26, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2007. Sostscheck, Ralf:
'Die Vorsehung war gnädig mit mir'

Taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

March 22, 2003. Retrieved October 11, 2007. When World War I broke out, both his parents were interned as enemy aliens, along with many naturalised Germans and Russians, his father in 1914, his mother in 1916. In 1918, they were released and moved to the Netherlands, then rapidly to Berlin where his artistic practice developed. Fermin Rocker trained as a

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

. His early works consisted of sketches, watercolours, and graphic work. He also started mixing in the artist milieu of 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 Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

'' in 1933, his parents joined him there to live in a rural commune in New York State. He worked as

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...

, 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 Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...

, and the

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

bought some works of his. In 1946, he received a prize from the

Philadelphia Print Club Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

for his graphic works. In 1952, he married Ruth Robins, a dentist from California who he had met in New York. In the same year, his mother died; three years later his father followed.Fermin Rocker
AskArt: The Artists' Bluebook. Retrieved October 26, 2007. In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom for the first time since 1929. His wife liked the continent so much that she returned to settle in England in 1970, Fermin following her in 1972, to escape the crime and expensive rents in New York, and because Rocker thought New York had become ugly. He and Ruth lived in Tufnell Park for the rest of their long lives. Rocker illustrated books for the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and did paintings on the side.

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

bought a painting for £4,000 from him depicting Basque refugees fleeing

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

's allies towards the French border. Aside from his animation work, Rocker worked in the realist tradition, mostly

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

s with warm colors up to this point. His images were rarely overtly political and after his move to New York he had mostly concentrated on oil paintings of intimate everyday scenes. Once back in London, his style evolved. He started painting still lifes and even political paintings such as the one he sold to Jagger. His colour palette became darker and more melancholy. Rocker's relationship to

Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

was ambiguous. He was deterred by the endless feuds and factionalism 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 Chelsea, London. In 1989, Ruth Rocker died and the same year he published an account of his childhood in London. Rocker died peacefully aged 96 on October 18, 2004.Rudolf, Anthony
Fermin Rocker 1907–2004
artcritical.com. Retrieved October 11, 2007.

References

External links

Fermin Rocker
at AskART. The Artists' Bluebook. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocker, Fermin 1907 births 2004 deaths British Jews 20th-century British painters 21st-century British painters People from Stepney Painters from London British people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent British illustrators British people of German descent People extradited from the United Kingdom People extradited to the Netherlands