William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer. He briefly... Read full biography
William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer. He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to... Read full biography
William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer. He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to Cleveland, where he was awarded a major contract with the Otis Lithography Company. There he became friends with sculptor and painter William Zorach, and the two, determined to be fine artists, began... Read full biography
William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer. He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to Cleveland, where he was awarded a major contract with the Otis Lithography Company. There he became friends with sculptor and painter William Zorach, and the two, determined to be fine artists, began painting together on weekends. They also became intrigued by avant-garde movements, especially after Zorach's trip to Paris in 1910. In 1911, Sommer co-founded a group in Cleveland called the Kokoon Club, a mixed group of commercial artists and... Read full biography
William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer. He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to Cleveland, where he was awarded a major contract with the Otis Lithography Company. There he became friends with sculptor and painter William Zorach, and the two, determined to be fine artists, began painting together on weekends. They also became intrigued by avant-garde movements, especially after Zorach's trip to Paris in 1910. In 1911, Sommer co-founded a group in Cleveland called the Kokoon Club, a mixed group of commercial artists and radical modernists who sought the freedom to pursue their independent tendencies. They converted a tailor's shop into a studio and held exhibi... Read full biography
William Sommer - Artist Info
About William Sommer: Books
Books & Publications (28)
Publications based on askART research. List may not be comprehensive.
The Artists Bluebook 34,000 North American Artists to March 2005
2005
AskART.com Inc. - Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (Editor)
479 pages
Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition
2005
Davenport, Ray
2,421 pages
Art for the New Collector III Re-Emerging American Artists (Exhibition catalog)
2004
Pyle, Amy (Spanierman Gallery)
68 pages (color)
Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: Three Volumes
1999
Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor)
3,724 pages
Triumph of Color and Light: Ohio Impressionists and Post Impressionists (Exhibition catalog)
1994
Kany, James M; Nannette V. Maciejunes
170 pages (color)
William Sommer: The Modernist Muse in Ohio (Exhibition catalog)
1994
Kendall-Hess, Wendy
5 pages (color)
Fine Arts in Cleveland An Illustrated History
1994
Withcey, Holly/John Vacha
186 pages (color)
American Drawings and Watercolors from the Kansas City Region (Exhibition catalog)
1992
Adams, Henry (others)
495 pages (color)
A Nation's Legacy 150 Years of American Art from Ohio Collections (Exhibition catalog)
1992
Columbus Museum of Art
198 pages (color)
Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook (of the Collection)
1991
Cleveland Museum of Art
161 pages
The Annual Exhibition Record of the Art Institute of Chicago (Exhibition catalog)
1990
Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor)
1,117 pages
Art Across America: The South, Near Midwest (Volume Two)
1990
Gerdts, William H
396 pages (color)
The American Collections Columbus Museum of Art
1988
Columbus Museum of Art
271 pages (color)
Who Was Who in American Art: Artists Active Between 1898-1947
1985
Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor)
707 pages
American Watercolors, Pastels, Collages The Brooklyn Museum
1984
Faunce, Sarah; Linda S. Ferber (Curators)
88 pages (color)
Drawing Acquisitions, 1978-1981 Whitney Museum of American Art
1981
Cummings, Paul
64 pages
Buildings Architecture in American Modernism (Exhibition catalog)
1980
Hirschl & Adler Galleries
96 pages (color)
Arts in America/A Bibliography Volume 2 (Painting and Graphics)
1979
Karpel, Bernard/Ruth Spiegel
736 pages
Currents of Expansion Painting in the Midwest, 1820-1940 (Exhibition catalog)
1977
Barter, Judith; Lynn E Springer
189 pages
Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Checklist of the Collection
1975
Editor, Smithsonian
0 pages
Art for the Millions Essays by...Artists...WPA Federal Art Project
1973
O'Connor, Francis V (editor)
317 pages
William Sommer/Retrospective (Exhibition catalog)
1970
Akron Art Institute
65 pages (color)
Frontiers of American Art: Works Progress Administration (Exhibition catalog)
1939
Parker, Thomas (De Young Mus)
111 pages
Second National Exhibition of American Art Summer 1937 (Exhibition catalog)
1937
Breckinridge, Mrs. H. (essay)
32 pages
Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today (Exhibition catalog)
1937
Editor, Cleveland Museum of Art
78 pages
New Horizons in American Art (Federal Art Project exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, NY) (Exhibition catalog)
1936
Cahill, Holger (Introduction)
171 pages
Mallet's Index of Artists: International-Biographical Two Volumes: Includes 1940 Index
1935
Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge
1,130 pages
A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings & Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago (Exhibition catalog)