Biel, Joseph (1891-1943)
Born in the province of Grodno, Russia, one of Biel’s early formative experiences was witnessing Russia’s 1905-06 pogroms of Jews in Bialystock. He fled his home to study art at the Russian Academy in Paris and at the Art Students League in New York. Prior to immigrating to America, Biel had lived in England, France, and Australia—in this last location performing in plays and founding a Jewish library in Melbourne. In New York he met his wife, the artist Lena Gurr; they married in 1931. His paintings were featured in solo shows at the Brooklyn Museum (1932) and the ACA Gallery (1934, 1936, 1939); they also appeared at the 1934 Whitney Biennial, the 1939 World’s Fair and a 1943 Brooklyn Museum show along with his wife Lena and NDG artist Joseph Lomoff. Biel was employed by the Public Works Art Project in 1934, his painting “Angles of New York” City assigned to the office of New York Borough President and “On the Ferry” to the Commissioner of Docks. Biel’s canvas at the New Deal Gallery shows his skill with landscapes; he also was a talented photographer and silkscreen painter, and throughout there was a strong sense of engagement in his work. As Lena Gurr later recalled, “Joseph Biel was always a conscious social painter. He couldn't be otherwise, for, after witnessing a pogrom and other social ills in his youth in Grodno, Poland (later Russia) he was burning with hatred for oppression of all kinds… He believed that painting was the best weapon an artist had to express his inner thoughts and feelings, and that the artist should use that weapon to expose social injustice” (citation). 3 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1 work at Provincetown History Preservation Project.
Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Joseph Biel:
