'Concert' by Martin Snipper, 1952, San Francisco Bay Area Expressionist Oil, National Academy, Guitarist

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Initialed lower left, 'M.S.' for Martin Snipper (American, 1914-2009) and dated 1952. Additionally signed, verso, 'Martin Snipper' and dated on … Read more Initialed lower left, 'M.S.' for Martin Snipper (American, 1914-2009) and dated 1952. Additionally signed, verso, 'Martin Snipper' and dated on stretcher bar.
Artist photo courtesy of The Lost Art Salon.

This Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative painter, mixed media artist, and sculptor was born in New York City in 1914 and grew up in Los Angeles. During the Great Depression, he rode the rails back to New York with just $5 in his pocket to attend the National Academy of Art, where he met his first wife. Snipper applied to the academy twice to ensure he would be accepted: once under his given name and once under his mother's maiden name. When he was accepted as Martin Snipper, he adopted the name permanently. In addition to his career as a fine artist, Snipper became a foundational figure in the development of the San Francisco Bay Area art movement of the 1960's and 1970's.

Snipper remains a legendary figure in San Francisco, both for boldly expanding the Arts Commission during his tenure as Executive Director (1967-1980), and for helping shepherd the Neighborhood Arts Program into existence over 40 years ago. His innovative grass-roots approach inspired similar programs in cities across the United States while San Francisco's own program continues to bring writers into public schools, oversee the city's publicly owned cultural centers, and fund art programs and events.

"He took the commission from being a sleepy operation ... and transformed arts in this town to a place it had never been before," said Stephen Goldstine, who ran the Neighborhoods Art Program under Mr. Snipper and later became president of the San Francisco Art Institute. "He was a person of unusual vitality - into his 90s he was still driving his truck to a stone yard in San Mateo to pick up marble. Up until months before his death, he was still a remarkable artist. A number of the incredibly rich art festivals that still exist in San Francisco came out of the Neighborhood Art Program," said John Kreidler, who worked under Snipper as an intern at the Arts Commission in 1974 and went on to direct a similar program in Alameda. "The whole neighborhood arts movement started under Martin Snipper's Art Commission. His legacy is this whole populist movement of using artists and San Francisco's artists in particular to serve the broad population."

Reference:
Obituary, SF Gate; et al. See less