203: JOSEPH VORST (1897-1947, Mo.) EGG TEMPERA ON MASONITE

Joseph Vorst
Original Sin (Circa 1940.)
Signed by the artist lower left.

Born in Essen, Germany, Joseph Vorst was a portrait and mural painter, block printer, and illustrator who emigrated to America and initially settled in St. Louis. At the Ste. Genevieve Artist Colony in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri he became both friend and student of Thomas Hart Benton and the two shared a studio for a time. From 1936 to 1938, Vorst exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1939 his work was included in the Corcoran Biennial and on a more grand scale, his paintings were featured at the New York World's Fair. During this same year he painted under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and was awarded Post Office mural projects in Vandalia, Missouri (Corn Harvest, 1939), Paris, Arkansas (Rural Arkansas, 1940) and Bethany, Missouri (Time Out, 1942). Vorst's work can now be seen in the public collections of the National Gallery, the Smithsonian, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the St. Louis Art Museum.
Panel size 20 x 24, frame measures 23.75 x 27.75 inches.
Very good condition. There are no issues of major scratches or losses, repairs, in-painting or touch-up with the exception of a small dime-sized area of surface glazes re-touch in the chest area of the female figure.
$2,000 - $3,000