Jacob Burck
| Jacob Burck | |
|---|---|
Jacob Burck circa 1935 by wife Esther Kriger
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| Born |
Yankel Bochkowsky January 7, 1907 near Białystok, Poland |
| Died | May 11, 1982 (aged 75) near Chicago |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Art Students League |
| Known for | painting, sculpture, cartooning |
| Notable work | If I Should Die Before I Wake |
| Style | Proletarian Art |
| Spouse(s) | Esther Kriger |
| Awards | 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning |
Jacob "Jake" Burck (1907–1982) was a Polish-born American painter, sculptor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
Jacob Burck was born Yankel Bochkowsky on January 10, 1907, near Białystok, Poland, the son of ethnic Jewish parents, Abraham Burke and Rebecca Lev Burke.
Burck lived in Cleveland until 1924. He attended the Cleveland School of Art on a scholarship after he was discovered on a Cleveland sidewalk sketching instead of attending elementary school.
Thereafter, Burck moved to New York City where he studied at the Art Students League of New York (ASL) under Albert Sterner and Boardman Robinson. It was there that he met and married fellow art student Esther Kriger.
Burck first worked professionally as an artist as a portrait painter, an occupation which he pursued full-time for one year. He subsequently worked for a short time as a sign painter, his 1935 official biography claiming this decision was related to Burck's belief that this constituted "a more wholesome means of earning a living [than painting society portraits]." Nevertheless, Burck continued his artistic practice, including portraiture.
In 1927 or 1928, Burck began to draw occasional editorial cartoons for the Communist Party's daily newspaper, The Daily Worker, as well as its monthly artistic-literary magazine, The New Masses. He went on staff at The Daily Worker full-time as cartoonist in 1929.
Burck was close friends with Alexander Calder, Whittaker Chambers (husband of ASL classmate Esther Shemitz),Langston Hughes, Meyer Schapiro, and many other figures in the New York art and progressive scene. During this period, he echibited with other prominent artists, including: George Grosz, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, Jean Charlot, Thomas Hart Benton, Hugo Gellert, William Gropper, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Julio Castellanos, John Flannagan (sculptor), and Louis Lozowick.
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