Hugo Gellert

A committed radical and member of the Communist Party of America, Gellert created much work for political activism in the 1920s and 1930s.

Gellert, a committed socialist who later joined the Communist Party of America, considered his politics inseparable from his art.

[6] He also created numerous illustrations for Eastman's successor magazine, The Liberator, as well as sundry publications of the Communist Party USA after its formation, such as The Workers Monthly and The New Masses.

In this capacity, he organized a demonstration against U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, and both he and his wife were arrested while picketing the White House.

Gellert was instrumental in the establishment of Art Front magazine, which started publication in November 1934 and was at first jointly published by the ACA and the Artists Union.

As McCarthyist persecution intensified, Gellert left the United States with his wife Livia to her native Australia in November 1945, but returned to the USA after three years.

[13] The files included "photographs of him, examples of his handwriting... as well as research and reports by confidential informants into his citizenship status, his affiliations, his movements domestically and internationally, and his income and expenditures.

Gellert fled to Mexico after Ernest died of a gunshot wound in prison at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, officially a suicide.

[2] Their brother Lawrence was a music collector; in the 1930s he documented black protest traditions in the South of the United States.

[19] In 2003, the series became the topic of controversy after the cooperative converted from its limited equity status to a fully private and market-rate residential co-op.

The Co-op board felt the socialist-style paintings were no longer representative of the people or the Lower East Side neighborhood.

[20] Public protests and letter writing, inspired threats of legal action and other possible setbacks, caused the plan to be delayed.