Herman Roderick Volz Art

Herman Roderick Volz, 'Industrial Accident', lithograph, 1942, edition 20. Signed, titled and numbered '6/20' in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower left. A fine, rich impression, on cream, wove paper, with full margins (1 1/8 to 1 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Reproduced and exhibited: 'L’Amérique de la Dépression: Artistes Engagés des Années 30', Musée-Gallerie de la Seita, Paris, 1996. Impressions of "Industrial Accident' are in the collections of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Volz’s other graphic works are held in the collections of Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Wisconsin Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Wisconsin Art. ABOUT THE ARTIST Herman Roderick Volz (1904–1990) was a Swiss-American painter, muralist, lithographer, set designer, and mosaic/ceramic artist. He was a politically active champion of the working man and often used his strikingly modernist graphic works as vehicles to address issues of inequality and social injustice. Initially trained by his grandfather, a master in decorative arts, he began his formal study at the Art und Gewerbeschule in Zürich and the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna. He traveled for four years in France, Spain, Italy, Africa, and Holland and then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1933, becoming a US citizen in 1938. During the Great Depression, Volz was appointed a supervisor in the Northern California Art Project and for the Federal Building mural project at the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) Art in Action exhibit from 1939-40. Directing a group of about ten artists he produced two monumental murals (the world’s largest at the time) on the facade of San Francisco’s Federal Building titled ‘The Conquest of the West’. In 1940-42 with another team of workers he created two large, low-relief polished marble mosaic panels...

Three male figures are depicted in action. The figures seemed to be captured in movement while running together in the same direction. The figures are stylized, and elongated instead of realistically rendered. Herman Roderick Volz (1904–1990) Swiss-American painter, muralist, lithographer, set designer, decorative artist and ceramist. He was politically active, vocal and often made social statements through his imagery and he was especially taken by the industrial horizon of his adopted home of San Francisco Bay Area. Many of his art pieces done for the Federal Art Project (FAP, WPA), for example, were of men at work and of docks, piers, and railroad yards. Herman Roderick Volz was born December 25, 1904 in Zürich, Switzerland. His first training was under the tutelage of his grandfather, a master in decorative arts. He then started his formal training at the Art und Gewerbeschule in Zürich, the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna, and travelled for four years in France, Spain, Italy, Africa and Holland, eventually moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1933. By 1938 he became a US citizen. During the Great Depression, Volz was appointed to the position of supervisor in the Northern California Art Project and supervisor for the Federal Building mural project at the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) Art in Action exhibit from 1939-1940.[4] He painted the two large mural on two sides of a large federal building called, The Conquest of the West, and on one side of the building it was By Land and the other was By Sea. This particular mural was the world's largest at the time and had around ten artist helping including Jose Ramis, John Saccaro...