Vintage Wisconsin Art

Alfred Sessler (1909-1963)

Alfred Sessler was a prominent Wisconsin artist and art teacher. Most of the information about Sessler in this blog is gleaned from two sources. “Progressive Printmakers: Wisconsin Artists and the Print Renaissance,” a book published in 1999, and “The Prints of Alfred Sessler,” an exhibition catalog from 1988, published by the Wisconsin Academy Gallery.

Sessler studied art at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1930’s. He was part of the Treasury Relief art project from 1935-37. He participated in the Federal Art Project from 1937-1942. He created two Post Office murals for the WPA (Lowell, Michigan and Morris, MN.) He received a degree from Milwaukee State Teachers College in 1944, and a Master’s Degree from UW-Madison in 1945. He joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1946.

At his position at the University, his enthusiasm influenced many students, and I’m guessing he probably influenced some of the other staff members. The Print Department flourished. Sessler pioneered some of new printmaking techniques, particularly in the realm of color prints.

Sessler began exhibiting in the 1930’s, both prints and paintings. He participated in many Wisconsin exhibitions, particularly with the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors, and at the Wisconsin Salon of Art. His work appeared in at least one of the cart calendars produced by the Milwaukee Printmakers in the late 1930’s. He also had a one man show at the Smithsonian, and was in group shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corcoran in Washington, D. D., and the 1939 World’s Fair. He also exhibited at the Walker in Minneapolis, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the Library of Congress, and others. He received numerous awards.