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Kruse (Alexander Z.) Papers
mssKruse papers
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Alexander Z. Kruse Papers
Identifier/Call Number: mssKruse papers
Physical Description:
22.2 Linear Feet
(35 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1890-1972
Date (bulk): 1930s-1960s
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of American artist Alexander Kruse (1888-1972), a student of the "Ashcan" School of Art
and author of two popular art instruction books. The materials relate to Kruse's career as an artist, art critic, and author
and chiefly date from the 1930s to 1960s.
Language of Material: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Alexander Z. Kruse Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Steven Kruse, December 1997, through Benedict and Bettijune Kruse, Kruse's son and daughter-in-law. The
Virginia Steele Scott Gallery received the papers following an exhibition of Kruse's artwork in the fall of 1997.
Alexander Kruse (1888-1972) was a student of the "Ashcan" School of Art at the turn of the century, studying under artists
John Sloan, Henry McBride, and George Bellows, among others. Some of his more well-known paintings include "The Butcher Shop,"
"Young Smoker," and "Ted Lewis Performs," among hundreds of other paintings as well as drawings, etchings, and lithographs.
Kruse was also influenced by the political atmosphere of his upbringing especially the socialistic thinkers such as Eugene
V. Debs, John Reed, and Emma Goldman; thus his work reflected his leftist ideals of the beauty and nobleness of the working
class. Kruse also taught art at the Brooklyn Museum, the YMCA, and several other institutions in New York. For many years
he was the art critic for the Brooklyn Eagle and wrote a "how-to" art column for the New York Post. He also wrote two widely
popular art instruction books: How to draw and paint, and The ABC's of pencil drawing, both published in the 1950s. Alexander
Z. Kruse's work can be found in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliothèque
Nationale in Paris, the Library of Congress, and in many private collections worldwide.
Alexander Zerdin Kruse was born on February 9, 1888, the son of German and Russian immigrants. He was raised on Manhattan's
Lower East Side—the area which was to be the focus of much of his artistic activity. At age eleven Kruse enrolled at the Educational
Alliance, an educational and cultural center for the Lower East Side immigrant community. Here Kruse began his training with
noted artist and art critic Henry McBride. Later Kruse would take advanced classes in painting and composition taught by Jerome
Myers. Kruse formed several lifelong friendships while at the Alliance. Among them was Samuel Chotzinoff, a music student.
Chotzinoff would later serve as musical director for NBC, and would be instrumental in bringing Toscanini over to direct the
NBC orchestra.
In 1904 at the age of sixteen, Kruse enrolled at the National Academy of Design. Among his teachers was the noted still-life
artist Emil Carlsen. Two years later Kruse attended the Art Students' League and studied with members of the so-called Ash
Can School—John Sloan, Robert Henri, George Luks, and others. (Henry McBride is often credited with inventing the name the
Ash Can School). The work done by these artists portrays the people and streets of New York as they were observed. Kruse's
own work reflects this influence, though he also enjoyed portraying ordinary people in more pastoral settings. During these
years, Kruse supported himself financially by working as a fashion designer and commercial artist. Kruse also sold ladies'
shoes part-time as another means of supporting himself, to pay for art school and supplies.
Politically, Kruse was influenced by the leftist ideals of his father and one of his father's co-workers, Samuel Gompers.
These ideals were reflected in many of Kruse's pictures of the working poor. Later, Kruse would attend lectures at the Ferrer
Center, a meeting place where cultural icons such as Robert Henri taught art and Emma Goldman lectured on socialism. Kruse
also attended lectures at the socialist Rand School in Union Square where Eugene V. Debs frequently lectured. After World
War I, Kruse served as art editor of Stanley Burnshaw's The New Masses, a revival of The Masses. John Sloan had served as
art editor of the original journal. This new revival was a literary and artistic publication of the political far left.
During the Great Depression, Kruse was one of several thousand artists employed under the Federal Art Project of the Works
Progress Administration for which he created several prints, notably "Preparing the Sabbath," "Ted Lewis Performs," and "Hansom
Cab." Most of Kruse's etching and lithography work dates from this time period, the 1920s and 1930s. It is also during the
1920's that Kruse designed and obtained a patent on a stapling machine. The blueprints are among his papers.
In 1923 Kruse married Anna Wecht. She collaborated with him on several of his literary projects. Anna was also a writer
for the art bulletin, Studio News. Kruse too enjoyed recognition as a writer and art critic. He wrote a weekly column on art
criticism for the Brooklyn Eagle beginning in 1939. His column for the New York Post, "Art with a Small 'a'," ran in 1949
and provided illustrated drawing instructions for the layman. His two artists' manuals, How to Draw and Paint (1953) and The
ABC of Pencil Drawing (1956) were both popular due to the ease of instructions and the step-by-step drawings included in them.
Kruse taught art classes most of his life, beginning at the Art Students' League when he was still a student there. He also
taught at the Brooklyn Museum where he enjoyed teaching outdoor painting, and at the Riverside Museum, the YMCA, and the Artists
and Illustrators School. In 1945, Kruse even taught at the Educational Alliance where he had first begun his training. In
the 1950s, Kruse attempted a number of projects that never publicly succeeded but serve as evidence of his persistent creativity.
These projects include "Howdy Hobby Artist," a proposed television program, and a newspaper column entitled "Breaking the
Age Barrier." The proposed column was directed at senior citizens and was authored by both Kruse and his wife Anna. The drawings
and script of the proposed program, "Howdy Hobby Artist," are included in the manuscript collection. Also, typescripts for
the newspaper column "Breaking the Age Barrier" are among the manuscript material.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Kruse and his family spent several summers on Fire Island in New York, where Kruse continued
to paint the people and places around him. In the late 1960's, the Kruses moved to California where their son, Benedict, and
his family lived. Though Kruse never quite adjusted artistically to the California scene, he produced several interesting
paintings of Hollywood landscapes (where he lived) and of Tujunga (where his son's family lived).
In the late 1960s, Kruse had several important art exhibits. Two of the exhibits were at the Carter Gallery in Los Angeles;
one was at the Brenner Tax Center (1964); and one at the Burrell Gallery (1966). His last show was at the Art and Design Shop
in Bonsall, California—early 1972. Kruse died in March 1972; and Anna died in 1975.
The Alexander Z. Kruse Papers contain documents relating to Kruse's career as an artist, art critic, and author. The time
frame covered is 1890 to 1975 with the bulk of the material originating from the 1930s through 1960s. The material is arranged
by functional series and includes: literary manuscripts and notebooks; correspondence; photographic materials—photographs
and slides; ephemera—clippings, catalogs, and biographical material; and books.
The majority of the collection is in its original format with a few being photocopies. The photographic materials are in
good condition. However, much of the ephemera is extremely fragile, especially the newspaper clippings. Many of the newspaper
clippings have been glued into scrapbooks and are now becoming brittle. Most of the clippings are from Kruse's columns with
the
Brooklyn Eagle and the
New York Post.
The literary manuscripts and notebooks include the original mock-ups and handwritten notes for Kruse's published works.
Some of Kruse's other projects included in the collection are: a staple machine invention; an idea for a television show;
and some literary projects, which did not achieve fruition.
The correspondence includes letters received by Kruse between the early 1900s until his death in 1972. Some were from personal
friends; and others were from other artists, students, and business-related entities such as galleries or publishers.
Photographic materials include negatives, photographs, slides, and transparencies, including approximately 2000 slides and
photographs, mainly of Kruse's paintings and other works of art. Ephemera includes: catalogs, clippings, family documents,
memorabilia, pamphlets, periodicals, projects, publicity display materials, and reproductions. Most of the catalogs also depict
Kruse's artwork at various shows and galleries from 1917 to 1972.
Also included in the collection are a large number of printed books. The books that have autograph annotations by Kruse were
kept with the manuscript material. The following books were separated from the manuscript materials and cataloged separately
in the Huntington Library Online Catalog:
- The guide to reading / edited by Dr. Lyman Abbott, Asa Don Dickinson and others ([Garden City, N.Y.] : Published for Nelson Doubleday, Inc. by Doubleday, Page & Company : [Printed in the United States at The Country Life Press, Garden City, N.Y.], 1924) (Call number: 606361)
- Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989. Dali : April 14 to May 5, 1943 at the galleries of M. Knoedler and Company, Inc. (New York: Art Aid Corporation, 1943) (Call number: ND813.D3 K58 1943)
- Durant, Will, 1885-1981. The story of philosophy : the lives and opinions of the greater philosophers. ([New York] : Simon and Schuster : [Printed by the Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton N.Y.], 1926) (Call number: 606358)
- Epstein, Jacob, 1880-1959. Jacob Epstein : sculpture, watercolors, and drawings from the collection of Edward P. Schinman. (Coral Gables, FL: Lowe Art Museum, 1971) (Call number: NB497.E6 A4 1971)
- Low, David, 1891-1963. Europe at War. (New York: Penguin Books, 1940) (Call number: 606362)
- New York's Awful Steamboat Horror. (New York: Memorial Publishing House, 1904) (Call number: 606359)
- Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille, 1796-1875. Paintings by Corot : March tenth to March twenty-ninth nineteen hundred forty-seven. (New York : Paul Rosenberg & Co., 1947) (Call number: ND553.C8 A4 1947)
- Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973. The American Artists Congress presents the masterpiece Guernica by Pablo Picasso together with drawings and studies : for the benefit of the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign. (New York] : Valentine Gallery, [1937 or 1939]) (Call number: ND553.P5 A4 1937)
- Ranson, Jo, 1908- and Richard Morris Pack, 1915-. Quiz Book of the Seven Arts. (New York: SummitPress, 1946) (Call number: 606360)
- Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946. Picasso (Boston : Beacon Press, 1959) (Call number: ND813.P53 S83 1959)
- William Zorach: A Retrospective Exhibition of Major Sculptures. ( New York (1000 Madison Ave., New York 10021) : Bernard Danenberg Galleries, [1968]) (Call number: NB237.Z6 A4 1968)
- Wingert, Paul S. (Paul Stover), 1900-1974. The sculpture of William Zorach (New York ; Chicago : Pitman, 1938) (Call number: NB237.Z6 W55 1938)
Arranged in the following series:
- 1. Notebooks & literary manuscripts
- 2. Correspondence
- 3. Photographic materials
- 4. Ephemera
- 5. Books
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- History -- Sources
Art, American -- New York (State)
Ashcan school of art.
Eight (Group of American artists)
New York school of art.
Socialism and art.
Art museums -- United States
Art schools in art.
Clippings -- United States -- 20th century
Exhibition Catalogs -- United States -- 20th century
Family papers -- United States -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- United States -- 20th century
Memorabilia -- United States -- 20th century
Negatives -- United States -- 20th century
Notebooks -- United States -- 20th century
Pamphlets -- United States -- 20th century
Periodicals -- United States -- 20th century
Photographs -- United States -- 20th century
Projects -- United States -- 20th century
Reproductions -- United States -- 20th century
Slides -- United States -- 20th century
Transparencies -- United States -- 20th century