A political cartoon by William Gropper
William Gropper (New York, December 3, 1897 - there, January 6, 1977) was an American cartoonist and artist. During his life he had a lot of sympathy for socialism. Life
In 1912/13 he studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, where he was taught by Robert Henri (realism) and George Bellows (cartoonist). A year later, he became involved in the Ashcan School, a group of socialist artists. During his studies, he also worked for magazines such as the New York Tribune and Rebel Worker. His cartoons were about strikes and about injustice in America. Gropper died of a heart attack in 1977. William Gropper’s America its folklore
After the Second World War, Gropper was suspected of spreading communist propaganda. In 1946, he published a folder showing how he saw the American world. This map contains famous robbers, such as (Jesse James), myths, missionaries and folk stories. Although the cartoon showed an innocent congestion, Sen. Joseph McCarthy thought differently. According to him, it was based on communism. In May 1953, Gropper was brought before the court, but this lawsuit went unnoticed, as Gropper refused to speak. After the hearing, he later said in an interview: I do not like labels. I am interested in humanity. The people create the landscape in my work. I fight what goes wrong.
The lawsuit led him to be blacklisted. This meant that he was given a temporary denial for publishing his art.
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