Sidney Riesenberg

Sidney Riesenberg
Born Sidney Harry Riesenberg
1885
Chicago, Illinois[1]
Died 1971 (aged 85–86)
Cambridge, Massachusetts [1]
Education School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Known for
  • oil painting
  • illustration
Notable work Over the Top for You

Sidney H. Riesenberg (1885 – 1971) was an illustrator and artist who lived in Yonkers, NY and commuted to his studio in NYC by train. He is known, as a professional illustrator, for his posters for the United States Marine Corps and the Liberty bond programs, for his illustrations for book covers, magazines, and for oil paintings of diverse subjects. He retired from his professional work and dedicated his full-time energy to painting fine arts and teaching. He began, in 1937, spending summers in Rockport, MA, where he painted scenes of the small fishing town. He was active in the Rockport Art Association, teaching oil painting and participating in water color figure painting classes.

Biography

Riesenberg was born in 1885 in Chicago. He was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was recognized for his compositions in oil.[2] He moved to Yonkers in 1905 where he began his career as a professional illustrator, after a sojourn in the American west pursuing what became a lifelong interest in depicting the frontier west as was being popularized then by Zane Grey and other writers.[3] In the early 1930s, he began doing illustration work for magazines.[3] In the 1930s and 1940s, his work was often featured at venues such as the National Academy of Design and in organizations such as the Allied Artists of America.[4] Riesenberg was also the vice president of the Yonkers Art Association.[5] Riensenberg died in 1971 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Riesenberg had a brother six years older, Felix, with whom he was extremely close. They shared a love of creating art and adventure. In their youth, both wrote short stories in journals they kept.

Works

Over the Top For You, one of Riesenberg's WWI-era posters advertising liberty loans, where a doughboy clutches the American flag.
A National Jewish Welfare Board World War I poster by Riesenberg, c. 1918

Of Riesenberg's work, his contributions during World War I are well known[6] and he is described as "one of the greatest illustrators of the World War I era."[7][8] Riensenberg's style, it has been said, shows influences from Impressionism.[4]

He produced many posters for the Marines in addition to posters advertising the Liberty Loan campaign during World War I. One of Riesenberg's most well known works is his 1918 World War I-era poster, Over the Top for You, which illustrates a young doughboy clutching the American flag. With its bold illustration and concise text, like many war posters of the time, Over the Top for You encouraged the public to support its military by purchasing liberty loans.[9] Among other posters, it was selected to display in the Smithsonian American Art Museum under the exhibit, Over the Top: American Posters from World War I.[9] Riesenberg also created several posters for the United States Navy, one of which, titled Democracy's Vanguard, illustrates Marines landing from a boat to initiate an offensive. Another illustrated uniformed soldiers raising the flag against the background of a warship.[10]

Riesenberg created illustrations, including covers, for many publications such as Boys' Life Magazine, the official monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, Harper's[11] and The Saturday Evening Post.[4] His many thematic subjects included scenes from places he lived, historical and action scenes, portraits, as well as depicting the Old West.[12][13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Sidney H. Riesenberg". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Oliver, Maude I. G. (1906). "Recent Work at the Art Institute of Chicago". The International Studio. John Lane Company. 29: cv.
  3. 1 2 Spanierman, Ira (2004). Art for the new collector III: re-emerging American artists. New York, N.Y.: Spanierman Gallery. p. 65. ISBN 094593663X.
  4. 1 2 3 "Sidney Harry Riesenberg". AskArt. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  5. ↑ The Yonkers Art Association. Yonkers, New York: Hudson River Museum. 1940. p. 5.
  6. ↑ Heritage Auctions Illustration Art Auction Catalog #7001. Heritage Auctions, Inc. 2008. p. 88. ISBN 1599672901.
  7. ↑ Marling, Karal Ann (2004). Old Glory: Unfurling History. Bunker Hill Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 1593730195.
  8. ↑ Hinrichs, Kit; Delphine, Hirasuna (2013). Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag. Random House. ISBN 0307816737.
  9. 1 2 "Over the Top: American Posters from World War I". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Louis N. (1918). The war collection at Clark university library, Volume 6. Worcester, Massachusetts: Clark University Press. p. 46.
  11. ↑ Burnham, Robert (2000). Great Comets. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 171. ISBN 0521646006.
  12. ↑ Carr, Nick; Carr, compiled by Nick (1989). The western pulp hero: an investigation into the psyche of an American legend. Mercer Island, Wash.: Starmont House. p. 37. ISBN 1557420327.
  13. ↑ Frank M. Robinson & Lawrence Davidson; with technical assistance by John Gunnison (1998). Pulp culture: the art of fiction magazines (1st American ed.). Portland, Or.: Collectors Press. pp. 73, 81. ISBN 1888054123.

Further reading

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