Weber, Max

Weber, Max (1881–1961). Russian-born American painter, sculptor, printmaker, and writer, whose work more than that of any other American artist synthesized the latest European developments at the beginning of the 20th century. He was born in Belostok (now Białystok, Poland) and emigrated to New York with his parents when he was 10. After studying at the Pratt Institute, New York, from 1898 to 1900, he taught in schools for several years, then travelled in Europe, 1905–8. In Paris he studied briefly at the Académie Julian and with Matisse, fell under the spell of Cézanne, admired the early Cubism of Braque and Picasso, and became a friend of Henri Rousseau (in 1910 he arranged the first American exhibition of Rousseau's work at Stieglitz's 291 Gallery). After his return to New York in 1909, Weber rapidly became a controversial figure—no other American avant-garde artist of the time exhibited his work more widely or was more harshly attacked by the critics. His work was influenced by Fauvism and primitive art (he was one of the first American artists to show interest in it—specifically in native American art), but most importantly by Cubism (in sculpture as well as painting). After about 1917, however, Weber's work became more naturalistic. During the 1930s his subjects often expressed his social concern, notably in pictures of refugees (in 1937 he was national chairman of the left-wing American Artists’ Congress), and in the 1940s his work included scenes with rabbis and Jewish scholars—mystical recollections of his Russian childhood. He published several books, including Cubist Poems (1914), Essays on Art (1916), and the autobiographical Max Weber (1945). In the 1920s he taught at the Art Students League, his most important pupil being Mark Rothko.