Rudolf Hess (January 31, 1903 – November 9, 1986) was an American fine art painter, sculptor and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

, based in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. His work is of the

German Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

school and the subject matter covers many genres including landscapes and nature, portraits and everyday city life.

Biography

Rudolf Hess was born January 31, 1903, in Valley Ford, a town 75 miles north of San Francisco, in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. He attended California School of Fine Arts (CSFA) (now known as the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

) in the 1920s. Hess was an art critic and contributor to ''The Argus'', which was a popular San Francisco-based art journal, known for being conservative and primarily highlighting the technical aspects of painting. Hess visited artist

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

in Mexico, in order to write about him and learn more about his process and his most recent mural. However Hess wrote a scathing review in ''The Argus'' (in 1928) titled, “The Tragedy of Rivera," which criticized Diego Rivera as an artist, and Rivera's mural at

Secretaría de Educación Pública In Mexico, the Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation o ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. This article helped in polarized the art community and prompted artist

Ralph Stackpole Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 10, 1973) was an American sculpture, sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of so ...

, who was both a founder of ''The Argus'' and a friend of Diego Rivera to write a letter in January 1929 to The Argus editor, in response. From 1929 to 1968, Hess worked in Sacramento for the

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

. Hess married Florence Louise Mackie in 1946 in Burlingame, California. In 1971, Hess served as president of Northern California Arts Inc. (NCA), an arts nonprofit in the Sacramento, California area.

Death and legacy

Hess died on November 9, 1986, in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. Hess is included in the 1940s book, ''

Who's Who in American Art ''Who's Who in American Art'' is a biographical hardcover directory of noteworthy individuals in the visual arts community in the United States, published by Marquis Who's Who,"Who's Who in American Art 2011 – Publications", Marquis Who's Who, ...

'' and in

Edan Milton Hughes Edan Milton Hughes (June 4, 1935April 21, 2015) was an American art dealer and collector of California art. He wrote the definitive work on California artists. Life Edan Milton Hughes was born June 4, 1935, in Maysville, Kentucky. He attended the ...

' ''Artists in California 1786-1940''. A 1982 magazine was published by the California Department of Transportation, ''Highway Recollections of Rudolf Hess,'' Issue 35 and constituents of a recorded interview of Hess.

Exhibitions

* 1925 –

San Francisco Art Association The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established the first art school west of Chicago. The SFAA – which, by 1961, completed a long sequen ...

; * 1926 – San Francisco Art Association; * 1927 – San Francisco Art Association; * 1927 – Modern Gallery (in San Francisco), solo exhibition; * 1928 – Oakland Art Gallery; * 1935 –

San Francisco Museum of Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...

(SFMA), inaugural exhibition; * 1945 – San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMA); * 1949 –

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

; * 1951 – Crocker Art Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Rudolf 1903 births 1986 deaths People from Sonoma County, California San Francisco Art Institute alumni Painters from San Francisco Artists from Sacramento, California American Expressionist painters 20th-century American painters