Gropper, William

William Gropper, (born Dec. 3, 1897, New York City—died Jan. 6, 1977, Manhasset, N.Y., U.S.), editorial cartoonist, illustrator, and painter whose main concern was the human tragedy caused by economic and social injustice. Gropper studied at the National Academy of Design (1913–14), then at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (1915–18). After a brief period as a cartoonist for the New York Tribune, he became involved in the Communist movement, working for a year in Moscow on the staff of Pravda, the official party newspaper, and later for the Daily Worker in the United States.

During the 1930s Gropper emerged as a painter; once again an overriding theme of social protest dominated works such as “Burning Wheat” (on the Depression agricultural program) and “The Shoemaker” (on the poverty of the working class). He later painted a mural at the Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C.