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On December 29, 2015, Hugh Mesibov
turns 99.
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| Hugh Mesibov in the Gallery May 1, 2010, with the monumental Siege of Leningrad, 1943. |
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From 1937 to 1941 Mesibov worked on
the painting, mural, and printmaking sections of the Philadelphia Works
Progress Administration. In 1941 Mesibov made the mural Steel Industry, for the
Post Office, Hubbard, Ohio, under the US Treasury Department. While on the
printmaking division of the WPA he was instrumental in developing the
carborundum mezzotint technique (with Michael J. Gallagher and Dox Thrash), and
the subsequent innovation of color carborundum printmaking. His drypoint, Pieta,
1937, was shown at the New York World's Fair, 1939. Mesibov's work from this
period reflects social issues of the day and is drawn in a lively and bold
style influenced by the modernist works he knew from the Barnes. In 1940 he had
his first one-man show, at the Carlin Gallery, Philadelphia.
The Wartime Shipyard, Surrealist
Works of 1942/45, Paintings and Drawings, was on view at the Gallery May 1 –
22, 2010. During World War II Mesibov was a First Class Ship Fitter at the
historic William Cramp & Son Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia. That
day-to-day experience, combined with horrific wartime news, resulted in a body
surrealist works depicting dangerous post-industrial wastelands. A work by
Mesibov from this period was included in Surrealism
USA, at the National Academy of Design Museum, NY, 2005.
In 2008 work by Mesibov was
included in the landmark exhibition, The American Scene, at the British Museum.
In 2012 it was shown in America @ Work, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum,
Connecticut College, New London, and this past summer, 2015, in WPA*Jobs, at
the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, Connecticut.
