A Life of Portraiture and Design
Winold Reiss was a German-born American artist and graphic designer. Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, he grew up surrounded by art, as his father was a landscape artist and portrait painter. After studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule in München under Franz von Stuck, Reiss immigrated to the United States in 1913. His career involved diverse projects, from commercial design for the Busy Lady Baking Company in New York to creating mosaics for the Cincinnati Union Terminal between 1931 and 1933.
Reiss is noted for his extensive work depicting Native Americans, particularly the Blackfeet of Montana. He spent time on the Blackfeet Reservation and produced more than 250 works of this subject. His paintings were widely distributed as lithographed reproductions on Great Northern Railway calendars. Additionally, Reiss illustrated Alain Locke's 1925 anthology, The New Negro, featuring drawings of figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Charlie Johnson.
Artistic Commissions and Later Years
Reiss's design work extended to various interiors and murals. He designed the interior for the first Longchamps restaurant with Indian motifs and painted eight oval murals for a Longchamps restaurant in the Empire State Building. His later works included floral abstractions and sparse geometry. In 1946, he moved to the West, purchasing a former bank building in Carson City as a studio.
Reiss's life was marked by several significant events:
- He immigrated to America in 1913.
- He founded the publication Modern Art Collector with Oskar Wentz in 1915.
- He opened an art school in New York City in 1922.
- He suffered a stroke in 1951 and a second stroke in 1952, which left him paralyzed.
