Art and Artists

It is now twenty years and more since Foshko began drawing political cartoons, and he has done thousands upon thousands of them, good and indifferent, sometimes bad—depending upon the theme, which is usually assigned to him, and his reaction to it.

Although it is as a cartoonist that many of us know him, among a small circle of friends he has been regarded and esteemed as essentially an artist, who, through a twist of fate, has been compelled to seek his livelihood as a social and political satirist, a phase of art alien to his nature. Two or three years ago, in confirmation of the hope and faith of his friends, Foshko emerged publicly as a painter exhibiting in the “Gallery 144 W. 13th St.” under the patronage of Manfred Schwartz, its director. The favorable notices of the press encouraged him greatly and he began painting more seriously than ever, devoting to it every spare moment of his time. The upshot of the matter is that Foshko’s first one-man show is to be offered to the public and to the appraising scrutiny of his fellow-artists tomorrow at the aforementioned gallery.

The work of Foshko is exuberant, bright and full of gusto. It is filled with a desire to express the joy and happiness of life. Everything that strikes his eye is good enough fare for him; landscapes, flowers, beautiful women, pushcart peddlars, street scenes, etc. Some of his best paintings are interpretations of the East Side,—its congested streets, its markets, its dirty tenements, its so-called parks. But what a bright and cheerful East Side is Foshko’s! An East Side soaked in sunlight, a lovely tapestry in blues, reds and yellows. His exuberance does not allow him to see its squalor and poverty. The Daumier of the East Side, the interpreter of its congested humanity, of its sorrows and joys is yet to come.

Foshko’s work as a whole evinces an innate feeling for color, a sense for texture and form, and a grasp of things in a big way.

My favorite among his paintings is a simple landscape—a strip of land, a row of old sun-drenched houses, abandoned rowboats, a calm sea, a rich blue sky—a picture full of summer and peace.