Abe Blashko

Abe Blashko was a Seattle native and self-taught artist who dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming a professional artist. In 1938, when he was just 18, the Seattle Art Museum held a solo show of his work. Inspired by the social realist movement in art in the early 20th century, and particularly by the work of the Mexican muralists, such as Diego Rivera, he created works that focused on social and political causes. He became part of the Pacific Northwest’s contingent of the American Artists Congress, a Communist Party-backed group that focused on anti-fascist and pacifist issues and artistic imagery.

In 1943, Blashko moved to New York City, where he worked for Paramount Studios as an animator but made his mark as an illustrator and political satirist contributing work to a number of publications, particularly the socialist publications New Masses and People’s World.

His work is in many permanent museum collections including the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Portland Art Museum, Syracuse University Art Museum, and University College, London; Seattle Art Museum holds a collection of his drawings.

[sources: Susan Teller Gallery and the artist's obituary in the New York Times]