Sheffield Harold Kagy (1907–1989) was an American

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

and muralist who also worked with Everett Warner to design US Navy camouflage during World War II.

Biography

Active as a printmaker in Cleveland in the 1930s, Sheffield Kagy specialized in

block print Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

s of contemporary scenes. Born and raised in Cleveland, he studied with

Henry Keller Henry George Keller (April 3, 1869 – August 3, 1949) was an American artist who led a generation of Ohio watercolor painters of the Cleveland School. Keller's students at the Cleveland School of Art and his Berlin Heights, Ohio summer school i ...

and

Paul Travis Paul Bough Travis (January 2, 1891 – November 23, 1975) was an American artist of the Cleveland School. Life Early life Paul Bough Travis was born in Wellsville, Ohio on January 2, 1891, to Elizabeth Bough Travis and William Melancthon ...

at the Cleveland School of Art and with

Ernest Fiene Ernest Fiene (November 2, 1894 – August 10, 1965) was a 20th-century American graphic artist who primarily worked in New York City and Woodstock, New York. Fiene was known primarily for his varied printed works, including lithographs and etchin ...

at the

Corcoran School of Art The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, DC.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts and ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1932, Kagy opened the short-lived Sheffield Studio School of Art in Cleveland, which offered basic art instruction taught by a faculty that included Kalman Kubinyi. Kagy was one of only two Cleveland artists to make prints for the Public Works of Art Project in 1934. He made several linoleum cuts and at least one

lithograph 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 ...

for the Cleveland graphic arts project of the Works Progress Administration in 1936. Kagy was a vice president of the Cleveland Print Makers and showed his work in many local exhibitions including several May Shows (1931–1941). He participated in annual print exhibitions in Chicago, Cleveland, and Dayton, and his work also appeared in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Venice, Italy. Kagy moved to Washington in 1936 and taught fine arts and printmaking at the Abbott Art School. He worked for the U.S. Treasury Department, 1937–1940, and painted murals for post offices in Walterboro, South Carolina, and Luray, Virginia. Modeled on the Cleveland Print Makers, Kagy organized the Washington Print Maker's Club in 1940, whose members included

Herman Maril Herman Maril (1908–1986) was an artist and emeritus professor of painting at the University of Maryland. Biography Maril was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908 and studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts. He had 40 one-man exhibitions ...

and

Prentiss Taylor Prentiss Taylor (December 13, 1907 – October 7, 1991) was an American illustrator, lithographer, and painter. Born in Washington D.C., Taylor began his art studies at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, followed by painting classes under Charles Hawth ...

. Kagy was head of the art department at

Chevy Chase Junior College Chevy Chase Junior College, also known as Chevy Chase College and Seminary, that operated from 1903 to 1950 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. A residential and day school for girls and young ladies, it provided classes for the last three years of high s ...

in Maryland, 1940–1943, then served in the navy as a camouflage designer for the Bureau of Ships until 1945. After the war he became a professor of fine arts at the National Art School, a post he held until 1956. He was an exhibition officer and designer for the State Department from 1959 to 1973. Kagy died in Washington.

References

Bill Robinson, David Steinberg, "Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1945" (CMA, 1996), p. 231.

Examples

Kagy's prints can be viewed via OhioLINK in the WPA Prints by Cleveland Artists collection.Kagy's prints in Digital Case, the Digital Library of Case Western Reserve University.Sheffield Kagy's work
at

Cleveland Public Library Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagy, Sheffield Artists from Cleveland 1907 births 1989 deaths Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni American muralists 20th-century American painters American male painters Public Works of Art Project artists Painters from Ohio Federal Art Project artists 20th-century American printmakers