Joseph Hirsch (1910–1981) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist and teacher. Social commentary was the backbone of Hirsch's art, especially works depicting civic corruption and racial injustice. His works are in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, and many other museums.

Early life and education

The son of physician Charles S. Hirsch and Fannie Wittenberg, he was of

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

heritage and grew up in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Hirsch attended Philadelphia public schools and Central High School. At age 17, he entered the

Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art The Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (PMSIA), also referred to as the School of Applied Art, was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on February 26, 1876, as both a museum and teaching institution. This was in response to t ...

(now the University of the Arts), where he was instructed in the Philadelphia realist tradition of

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

. After graduation, he studied privately with

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(1932–33). Luks had been a founder of the

Ashcan School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. ...

and one of " The Eight," a group of painters who depicted everyday scenes of urban life. He introduced Hirsch to the

Social Realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

movement. Following Luks's 1933 death, Hirsh studied further with

Henry Hensche Henry Hensche (February 25, 1899 – December 10, 1992) was an American painter and teacher. Early years Born Heinrich Hensche, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Henry came to the United States by way of Antwerp, Belgium. He is listed on the sh ...

Provincetown Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, Massachusetts (Summers 1934 & 1935)."Joseph Hirsch,"
from Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. A 1935 Woolley Fellowship from the

Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...

enabled him to travel throughout Europe for more than a year, and he returned to the United States in November 1936, by way of Egypt, Asia and the Pacific Ocean."Joseph Hirsch (1910–1981), (PDF)
from Avampo Online Gallery.

Career

In the late 1930s, Hirsch worked in Philadelphia as an artist in the easel painting division of the

Works Project Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. He painted murals for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Office Building at 2113-27 South Street; for the

Family Court Building The Philadelphia Family Court Building also known as Juvenile and Domestic Branches of the Municipal Court, is a historic building registered under National Park Service's, National Register of Historic Places. The building was constructed betwee ...

at 1801

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into ...

; and for the Benjamin Franklin High School at Broad & Green Streets (now demolished). TILL WE MEET AGAIN - NARA - 515819

During World War II, his image of a smiling and waving soldier shipping out, ''Till We Meet Again'' (1942), was the most popular

War Bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...

poster. In 1942–1943, he was embedded as an artist/ war correspondent with naval airmen in Florida, then with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps in the South Pacific. In 1944, he was embedded with the U.S. Army Medical Corps in North Africa and Italy. Some of his most powerful war paintings depict wounded soldiers being removed from the battlefield.

The three trips I went on had to do with naval air training at Pensacola, Florida; then naval medicine in the Pacific; and army medicine in Italy and North Africa. It was hard and unforgettable and lonely and sometimes frustrating running into the real McCoy. I was of course moved most by the two medical assignments because I saw wounded kids. It was a very good experience. You know, talking with — I saw soldiers in more hospitals — I had been in many hospitals in Philadelphia as my father was a doctor. I also visited a hospital ship. To see the kind of organized spirit of cooperation was — I don't know what the Navy's Medical Corps is like now, but at that time during the war to see a lot of wonderful improvisation made for material for good sketching and painting and drawing. The majority of the work was done immediately upon my return. I'd go out for a couple of months and come back and spend another three or four months doing perhaps a dozen paintings and as many drawings both for the aviation series and the naval medicine, and the Army medical.

Hirsh often used an intimate scene to suggest the enormous emotion of a subject: ''The Lynch Family'' (1946) depicts a young black mother holding a baby, distraught at the murder of her husband. The painting was published as an illustration in the Communist journal ''

The New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA. It succeeded both ''The Masses'' (1912–1917) and ''The Liberator''. ''New Masses'' was later merged into '' Masses & Mainstream'' (19 ...

'', following the July 1946 lynching of two black men and their wives in

Monroe, Georgia Monroe is a city in Walton County, Georgia, United States, serving as the county seat. It is located both one hour east of Atlanta via US 78 and GA 138 to I-20 and east of Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport and is one of the exurban ci ...

. ''The Burden'' (1947) depicts an overwhelmed American GI installing white cross gravemarkers in a military cemetery, while in the background a second GI unloads yet another jeep-full. Hirsch's poster for the original 1949 Broadway production of

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

's ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montag ...

'' depicts a beaten-down

Willy Loman William "Willy" Loman is a fictional character and the protagonist of Arthur Miller's play ''Death of a Salesman'', which debuted on Broadway with Lee J. Cobb playing Loman at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949. Loman is a 63-year-old tra ...

trudging onward with his heavy suitcases.Obituary: "Joseph Hirsch, 71, A Realist Painter,"
''The New York Times'', September 22, 1981. Hirsch occasionally explored Christian themes. His version of ''The Crucifixion'' (1945) is a closeup view from behind, and focuses on the busy workman preparing to nail Jesus's hand to the cross. ''The Journey'' (ca.1948), painted as a Christmas card for

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

, depicts the

Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...

, and presents Mary and Joseph in modern dress on the back of a donkey—with Joseph holding a trombone! ''Supper'' (1963–1964) depicts 12 vagrant men seated around a table in what appears to be a

soup kitchen A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center, is a place where food is offered to the Hunger, hungry usually for free or sometimes at a below-market price (such as via coin donations upon visiting). Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoo ...

. The painting's name and the number of men recall ''

The Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

''. Hirsch also worked as a commercial artist and portrait painter. He produced dozens of lithographs, most based on his paintings, and described himself as a "full-time painter and a Sunday lithographer." Among his popular lithographs were ''Lunch Hour'' (1942), depicting a black youth asleep at his school desk; ''Banquet'' (1945), a closeup of a black man and an old white man sitting side by side at a lunch counter; and a color lithograph of the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...

, published at the time of the 1976 Bicentennial. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation commissioned him in the late-1960s to create illustrations documenting construction of the

Soldier Creek Dam Soldier Creek Dam is an earthen dam on the Strawberry River, located within the Uinta National Forest in southern Wasatch County, Utah, United States. Description The dam forms Strawberry Reservoir and is a principal feature of the Strawberry Va ...

(completed 1974), in

Wasatch County, Utah Wasatch County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 23,530. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute Native American word meaning ''mountain pa ...

.Joseph Hirsch (1910–1981)
from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation In his mature period, the 1960s and 1970s, Hirsch used a series of layered planes to compose a painting. Typically, these planes were parallel to the

picture plane In painting, photography, graphical perspective and descriptive geometry, a picture plane is an image plane located between the "eye point" (or '' oculus'') and the object being viewed and is usually coextensive to the material surface of the w ...

, with depth suggested by receding figures, rather than through lines of perspective. These paintings appear to be snapshots, capturing people in mid-action, not posing. Hirsch taught at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

(1947–1948), the American Art School of New York University (1948–1949), the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

(1959–1967), and the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

(1967–1981). He was an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

(Summer 1959, 1975),

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

(year),

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

(Spring 1966), and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(1971).

McCarthyism

Hirsch was a founding member of Artists Equity, an organization modeled on

Actors Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in live theater, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage ...

, created to protect the rights of visual artists. It began in New York City in 1949, and grew to have chapters in dozens of U.S. cities. Hirsch was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study and work in Paris for a year, and he and his family arrived in France in September 1949. Even prior to Senator

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

's notorious February 1950 declaration that hundreds of known Communists were working in the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

, the political climate in the United States was becoming hostile to those holding leftist views. Hirsch's Fulbright was renewed,"Joseph Hirsch,"
''The Art Student's League'' (The League, 1978), p. 44. but, as the end of its second year approached, he sold his house on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

to extend his family's stay in Paris. Congressman

George Anthony Dondero George Anthony Dondero (December 16, 1883 – January 29, 1968) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan. Background Dondero was born on a farm in Greenfield Township, Michigan, which has since become part of ...

denounced Artists Equity as a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

for Communists in a March 17, 1952 speech delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives—"Communist Conspiracy in Art Threatens American Museums." A number of Artists Equity member artists were

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

Expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

Hirsch was later denounced as a

Communist sympathizer The term ''fellow traveller'' (also ''fellow traveler'') identifies a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member of that o ...

, and public pressure was put on the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

to remove his award-winning ''Nine Men'' (1949) from an exhibition.Francine Carraro, ''Jerry Bywaters: A Life in Art'' (University of Texas Press, 2010), pp. 176, 184. Instead, the museum moved ''Nine Men'', a painting by

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, and one by

George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...

into a separate room, and asked museumgoers to judge the Communist influence for themselves. The Hirschs did not return to the United States until 1955.

Exhibitions, awards & honors

Hirsch exhibited regularly in the annual exhibitions of the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

. He exhibited seventeen canvases in a 1942

exhibition—''Americans 1942: 18 Artists from 9 States'' (MoMA, January 21 to March 8, 1942), and exhibited in eleven other MoMA exhibitions. One of Hirsch's war paintings was included in the ''Artists for Victory'' exhibition, that began at the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

in late 1944, and toured the country. PAFA awarded Hirsch the 1934 Walter Lippincott Prize (best figure painting exhibited by an American artist) for ''Masseur Tom'', a life-size full-length portrait of an imposing Turkish masseur. ''Masseur Tom'' also won him the 1934 Third Hallgarten Prize (best figure painting exhibited by an American artist under age 30) from NAD. The public voted ''Two Men'' (1937) the best contemporary American painting exhibited at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

. A depiction of a black man and a white man having an amicable disagreement, ''Two Men'' is in the permanent collection of MoMA. 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 ...

twice awarded him the Joseph Pennell Purchase Prize for lithography: 1944 for ''Lunch Hour'', and 1945 for ''The Confidence''. The

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

awarded him the 1951 Blair Prize for ''Nine Men''. The

held its first annual exhibition in 1951, and awarded him Fourth Prize for ''Nine Men'', the only non-abstract painting among the winners. The Childe Hassam Purchase Fund of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

purchased four of his paintings, beginning with ''The Burden'' in 1955. ''The Crucifixion'' won him the

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum h ...

's 1964 purchase prize, and the painting remains BIAA's permanent collection.John Castagno, ''Jewish Artists: Signatures and Monograms'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 209. NAD awarded him the Altman Prize (best figure painting exhibited by an American artist) three times: 1959 for ''The Book'', 1966 for

ork Ork or ORK may refer to: * Ork (folklore), a mountain demon of Tyrol folklore * ''Ork'' (video game), a 1991 game for the Amiga and Atari ST systems * Ork (''Warhammer 40,000''), a fictional species in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe * ''Ork!'' ...

and 1978 for ''Tuba''. The

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

awarded him the 1947 Carnegie Second Prize for ''The Iceman'', and the 1968

Carnegie Prize The Carnegie Prize is an international art prize awarded by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It currently consists of a $10,000 cash prize accompanied by a gold medal. History The Carnegie Prize was established in 1896, to ...

for

Hirsch was runner-up for the 1935 Rome Prize. He received two

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

s (1942 & 1943), and two

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

s (1949 & 1950). He was elected an Associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1954, and a full Academician in 1958. He was elected to the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

in 1967. He was a member (and later a trustee) of the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinction ...

Personal

In 1938, Hirsch married fellow Philadelphian Ruth Schindler (1912–2000), a dancer who had trained under

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...

. They moved to New York City in 1940, and had two sons together, Charles and

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

.Jon Thurber, "Ruth Bocour," ''The Los Angeles Times'', October 16, 2000. The Hirsch family moved to France in 1949, and the couple divorced soon after their return to the United States in 1955. The following year, he married Genevieve Baucheron (1926–2011). They had one son together, Frederic.

Selected works

*''Moonlight'' (1937),

, New York City. Depicts a corpse-strewn battlefield by night. *''Two Men'' (1937), Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair. *''Hercules Killing the Hydra'' (ca.1937),

, Washington, D.C. Depicts a policeman beating striking workers with a

billy club A baton (also known as a truncheon or nightstick) is a roughly cylindrical club made of wood, rubber, plastic, or metal. It is carried as a compliance tool and defensive weapon by law-enforcement officers, correctional staff, security guards ...

. *''Street Scene'' (1938),

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. Overview The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum c ...

, University of Oklahoma—Norman. Depicts 4 men huddled together on a steam grate in the snow. *''Portrait of an Old Man'' (1939),

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, Massachusetts *''Hero'' (''Man with Poppies'') (ca.1939-40), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Depicts a uniformed World War I veteran selling Memorial Day poppies on a city sidewalk. *''Air Raid'' (ca.1940), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City *''The Senator'' (1941), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City *''The Prisoner'' (1942), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City *''Lunch Hour'' (1942), lithograph, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Awarded the 1944 Pennell Purchase Prize, and still in the LOC's permanent collection.Lunch Hour
from LOC. *''Portrait of

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

'' (1942). Exhibited at MoMA, 1942. Honorable mention, Art Institute of Chicago, 1942 annual exhibition. *''The Crucifixion'' (1945),

, Youngstown Ohio *''The Survivor'' (1945),

Columbus Museum of Art The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...

, Columbus, Ohio *''Winter'' (1945),

Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the o ...

, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire *''Banquet'' (1945), lithograph,

, Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaThe Banquet
from Carnegie Museum of Art. *''The Lynch Family'' (1946),

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

, Kansas City, MissouriThe Lynch Family
from Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. *''The Burden'' (1947), American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York CityHassam Purchase Fund
from AAAL. *''The Journey'' (ca.1948), Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, MissouriThe Journey
from Hallmark Cards. *''Nine Men'' (1949), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Awarded the 1951 Blair Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago; and the 1951 4th Prize from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. *''Clown with Mask'' (1949), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. *''Patriobats'' (1949), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. *''Birthday'' (1949–50), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. *''The Widow'' (1952–53),

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts *''The Shower'' (1953), Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts *''The Room'' (1958), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City *''The Naked Man'' (ca.1959-60), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Depicts a naked draftee carrying his newly-issued uniforms and boots. *''Guerillas'' (ca.1960),

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and resting place of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States (1945–1953), his wife Bess and daughter Margaret, and is located on U.S. Highwa ...

, Independence, Missouri *''Doorway'' (ca.1961), American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City *''Monument'' (ca.1962), American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City *''Interior with Figures'' (1962), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City *''Motorcycles'' (ca.1963), American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City *''Supper'' (1963–64), Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. *''Broth'' (ca.1964), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. *''Deposition'' (1967),

Cranbrook Art Museum The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cra ...

, Bloomfield Hills, MichiganDeposition
from Cranbrook Art Museum. *''Tuba'' (1971), National Academy of Design, New York City *''Daniel'' (''Belshazzar's Feast'') (ca.1976-77),

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is a museum located in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, featuring several art collections. The permanent collection includes examples of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and sculpture, Southern regional art, Ol ...

, Montgomery, Alabama *''Father Killer Whale and Daughter'' (no date), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City

World War II

*U.S. Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. **''Transportation, Latest Mode'' (ca.1943) **''Blasting Mosquito Infested Swamps'' (ca.1943) **''Heave Away'' (ca.1943) **''Mercy Ship'' (ca.1943) **''Satisfaction Plus'' (ca.1943) **''Making the Buoy'' (ca.1943) **''Back from Patrol'' (ca.1943) **''Eyes of the Fleet'' (ca.1943) **''Ready on the Line'' (ca.1943) **''Onto the Ramp'' (ca.1943) **''Man of the Hour'' (ca.1943)
File:Lot 3124 (19590345211).jpg, ''Satisfaction Plus'' (ca.1943) File:“Ready on the Line," artwork by Joseph Hirsch (18965187913).jpg, ''Ready on the Line'' (ca.1943) File:“Making the Buoy” artwork by Joseph Hirsch (19579229072).jpg, ''Making the Buoy'' (ca.1943) File:“Onto the Ramp.” artwork by Joseph Hirsch, Navy PBY is hauled from water (19586087255).jpg, ''Onto the Ramp'' (ca.1943) *U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, D.C. **''Company in the Parlor'' (1944). A makeshift hospital set up in the ruins of a church. **''High Visibility Wrap'' (1944) **''Night Shift'' (1944) **''Field Examination'' (1944) **''Hospital for Allied Wounded'' (1944) **''After the Fascist Fair'' (1944) **''Bringing in the Ammo'' (1944) **''Italian Rush Hour'' (1944) **''Nurse in Newfoundland'' (1944) **''All Aboard Home'' (1944)
File:Lot-7409-9 (39334657794).jpg, ''Company in the Parlor'' (1944) File:“Italian Rush Hour”, artwork by Joseph Hirsch (28266009929).jpg, ''Italian Rush Hour'' (1944) File:Lot-7409-13 (39334636454).jpg, ''All Aboard Home'' (1944)

Murals

*''History of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America'' (1938), ACWA Office Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An enormous mural – 11 ft x 65 ft (3.6 m x 19.8 m) – covering 3 walls of the lobby, Hirsch painted it on his own in 5 weeks.Paul Cummings
Oral History Interview with Joseph Hirsh
(Archives of American Art, November 13 & December 2, 1970). The building has been converted into apartments, the lobby is now a City Fitness gym, and the mural is hidden behind mirrors.Bonnie Eisenfeld

''Center City Quarterly'', Fall 2014. *3-part mural: ''Child Labor'', ''Adoption'', ''Child Education'' (1938–39), Courtroom C,

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

References

External links

Oral History Interview with Joseph Hirsch (1970)
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Joseph 1910 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American war artists Artists from Philadelphia American muralists World War II artists School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty New York University faculty National Academy of Design faculty Art Students League of New York faculty National Academy of Design members Victims of McCarthyism Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni 20th-century American male artists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Fulbright alumni