William Zorach

William Zorach
William Zorach circa 1917, photographed by Man Ray
Born	Zorach Gorfinkel (1887-02-28)February 28, 1887 Jurbarkas, Lithuania, Russian Empire
Died	November 15, 1966(1966-11-15) (aged 79) Bath, Maine, U.S.
Known for	Sculpture, painting, printmaking
Elected	American Academy of Arts and Letters (1953)

William Zorach (February 28, 1887 – November 15, 1966) was a Lithuanian-born American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American Artists embracing cubism, as well as for his sculpture.

He is the father of Dahlov Ipcar, an artist in her own right.

Zorach Gorfinkel was born in 1889 into a Lithuanian Jewish family in Jurbarkas (Russian: Eurburg) in Lithuania (then a part of the Russian Empire) as the eighth of ten children, Zorach (then his given name) emigrated with his family to the United States in 1894. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio under the name "Finkelstein". In school, his first name was changed to "William" by a teacher. Zorach stayed in Ohio for almost 15 years pursuing his artistic endeavors. He worked as a lithographer as a teenager and went on to study painting with Henry G. Keller at the Cleveland School of Art from 1905 to 1907. In 1908, Zorach moved to New York in enroll in the National Academy of Design. In 1910, Zorach moved to Paris with Cleveland artist and lithographer, Elmer Brubeck, to continue his artistic training at the La Palette art school.

While in Paris, Zorach met Marguerite Thompson (1887–1968), a fellow art student of American nationality, whom he would marry on December 24, 1912, in New York City. The couple adopted his original given name, Zorach, as a common surname. Zorach and his wife returned to America where they continued to experiment with different media. In 1913, works by both Zorach and Marguerite, were included in the now famous Armory Show, introducing his work to the general public as well as art critics and collectors. Both William and Marguerite were heavily influenced by cubism and fauvism. They are credited as being among the premiere artists to introduce European modernist styles to American modernism. During the next seven years, Zorach established himself as a painter, frequently displaying his paintings in gallery shows as venues such as the Society of Independent Artists and the Whitney Studio Club. While Marguerite began to experiment with textiles and created large, fine art tapestries and hooked rugs, William began to experiment with sculpture, which would become his primary medium.