Biddle, George, 1885-1973

George Biddle was an author and a widely exhibited artist who also contributed to national magazines. He died in 1973.

From the description of Business and personal papers, 1929-1943. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 122573566

B. 1885 d. 1973.

From the description of George Biddle artist file. (Whitney Museum of American Art). WorldCat record id: 228433040

American artist and Chairman, War Department Art Advisory Committee.

From the description of Typed letter signed : New York City, to John Steinbeck, 1943 Mar. 13. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 775677157

Painter, sculptor; Croton-on-Hudon, N.Y.

From the description of Oral history interview with George Biddle, 1963. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220191711

George Biddle was an American artist, perhaps best known as a printmaker and for his support of government funding for art and artists. Born in Philadelphia to a prominent Philadelphia family, Biddle was educated at the Groton School and Harvard. Rather than practice law, he chose to travel and study art. He served in World War I, and then continued his travels and studies, mingling with the Lost Generation in Paris. His early prints and paintings were admired as attractive, but considered somewhat lacking in theme; his art gradually became more sophisticated, commenting notably on social conditions in the United States. Biddle was a major supporter of social art, and worked with former classmate Franklin D. Roosevelt to form the Public Works of Art Project, as well as similar projects.

From the description of George Biddle letters and postcard to Francis Hyslop, 1947-1948. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 124067883

Painter, mural painter; Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

It was Biddle who recommended to long-time friend, Franklin Roosevelt, a federal relief art program for artists during the Depression, giving rise to the Public Works of Art Project and subsequent art projects of the Treasury Department and Works Progress Administration. Biddle painted the murals for the Department of Justice in 1935 under the Section of Painting and Sculpture which later became the Section of Fine Arts, as well as several other mural commissions for the government. He died in 1973.

From the description of George Biddle papers, 1910-1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220150329

Biddle, a painter, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., is known as the person responsible for recommending to Franklin Roosevelt a federal art program for artists, giving rise to the Public Works of Art Project and subsequent art projects of the Treasury Department and Works Progress Administration.

Biddle's drawings from World War II were published in Artist At War (New York: The Viking Press, 1944).

From the description of George Biddle letters to Constance Biddle, 1943-1945. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122553246

Biographical Note

• 1885, Jan. 24: Born, Philadelphia, Pa.
• 1898 - 1904 : Attended Groton School, Groton, Mass.
• 1908: Spent six months working as a cowhand in Texas and Mexico
• 1908 - 1911 : A.B. and LL.B., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• 1912 - 1916 : Attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pa.; studied printmaking in Munich, Germany; spent summers painting in France with Frederick Frieseke
• 1917: Married Anne ("Nancy") Coleman (divorced) Enlisted in the United States Army; commissioned a first lieutenant
• 1917 - 1919 : Served on the general staff, First Army Corps, in battles at Marne, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne, France
• 1920: Lived in Tautira, Tahiti, with periodic trips to New York
• 1924: Moved to Paris, France
• 1925: Married Jane Belo (divorced)
• 1927: Settled in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
• 1928: Accompanied Diego Rivera on a sketching trip through Mexico
• 1930: Published Green Island. New York, N.Y.: Coward-McCann
• 1931: Married Hélène Sardeau (died 1969); spent most of the next two years in Rome, Italy
• 1933: Advocated the establishment of a mural program for public buildings as part of the Federal Art Project
• 1939: Published An American Artist's Story. Boston: Little, Brown
• 1942 - 1945 : Chairman, War Department Art Advisory Committee
• 1942: Created murals and sculpture with Hélène Sardeau for the Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1944: Sketched and wrote George Biddle's War Drawings. New York: Hyperion Press Published Artist At War. New York: Viking Press
• 1944 - 1945 : Designed and executed a mural with Hélène Sardeau for the supreme court building, Mexico City, Mexico
• 1945: Reporter and artist, Nuremberg War Crime Trials, Nuremberg, Germany
• 1950 - 1954 : Served on the United States Commission of Fine Arts
• 1957: Published The Yes and No of Contemporary Art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
• 1968: Published Tahitian Journal. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press
• 1973, Nov. 6: Died, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

From the guide to the George Biddle Papers, 1863-1973, (bulk 1916-1973), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)