William Zorach (1887 - 1966)

William Zorach

William Zorach, born Zorach Gorfinkel, was a Jewish American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and educator.

Zorach's family emigrated from Lithuania to the United States when he was four years old. He trained as a lithographer and studied painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art and in Paris, where he painted in bright colors in the manner of Henri Matisse and other artists of the Fauvism movement. Returning to the United States in 1912, Zorach became one of the first to introduce European modernist movements to the country. And later began to work extensively with sculpture.

William Zorach was a pioneer in the art of direct carving and is unique in that he often used very hard, colored and patterned stones like granite boulders he found while walking. Zorach's mature works are characterized by monumental forms and skillful use of the natural color, veining and texture of stone and wood. He often left traces of the sculptor's tools to enrich the surface.

Zorach was one of the best known and most respected sculptors of his generation. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and taught at the Art Students League of New York.