Philip von Saltza (March 3, 1885 – January 21, 1980) was a Swedish-born American artist and muralist.

Early life

Philip Wenceslaus von Saltza was born in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

. He immigrated to the United States with his parents, Carl Frederick von Saltza (1858–1905) and Wilhelmina Stoopendaal von Saltza (1863–1905) during 1891. His father was a portrait painter and professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

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 ...

. At the age of 14, Philip von Saltza was enrolled in the

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , count ...

in New York and entered Columbia University in 1904, where he played varsity football until it was abolished. He also captained the eight-man crew rowing team. He graduated in 1909 with a degree in mining engineering.

Career

After his graduation, he pursued his career as an engineer at mines in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, von Saltza served in the 306th Field Artillery, and was captured by German forces during the Battle of Argonne Forest in September 1918; he remained a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

until the end of the war. After the war ended, von Saltza emerged as a professional painter.

Post office murals

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, he painted several

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

murals. Art critic Jay McHale described them as "being like Gershwin tunes". These are located in: Saint Albans,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

(''Haying'' and ''Sugaring Off'');

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

(''Lumberman Log-Rolling''); Schuyler,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

(''Wild Horses by Moonlight''); and Williamston,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

(''First Flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk''). He corresponded with one of the Wright Brothers while working on the latter. In 1939, he exhibited at the New York World's Fair. A selection of his photographs are located at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Personal life

In 1910, he married Katherine Warren Hardenbergh. They were divorced in 1922. In 1925, he married Bertha Jane Miller. He was the father of five children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:von Saltza, Philip 1885 births 1980 deaths Modern painters 20th-century American painters American male painters American muralists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Saltza, Philip Swedish emigrants to the United States Horace Mann School alumni Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni American military personnel of World War I American prisoners of war in World War I 20th-century American male artists