Author: CT State Library

Russo, Michele (1909-2004) Michele Russo was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1909. He grew up in the Italian American section of the city and later in life stated that he stood out as being different because he was interested in art and literature. Several tutors throughout his youth encouraged him to continue his interest in both. When he was five, he went to Italy with h...

Rummler, Alexander J. (1867-1959)Alexander Rummler was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1867. He received his high school education at Iowa private schools. He studied in Detroit, Michigan, and at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1892 he married. In 1906 he studied at the Academie Julian in Paris with Jean Paul Laurens. Rummler was a member of the Salmagundi Club and the Si...

Ruby, Albert (1908-2004?)There is much we do not know about Albert Ruby’s life. He graduated from the Yale School of fine Arts in 1932 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and worked for the WPA in 1938 and 1939. He was assigned to landscape and figure painting. At the time he was living in Hamden, Connecticut.Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Federal Arts Project Newsletter, Novemb...

Vincent (1898-1951) and Girard [Gerard] (1895-1962) RossiVincent and Girard Rossi were born to Pasquale and Margaret Famiigletti Rossi, the former in 1891 and the latter in 1895. Their father came to the United States in the 1920’s. He was a “well known barber in Waterbury” for 15 years and then moved to Thomaston, living there for twenty eight years. For 25 of the 28 years, he...

Ridolfo, James P. (1913-1979)James Ridolfo was born in Troy, New York in 1913. For the majority of his life, he resided in Hartford, though he moved to Glastonbury in 1973. A 1936 photograph in the Hartford Courant showed him in a night class of the Hartford Art School. Perhaps it was his inexperience as an artist that led the WPA Art Project to reject all but one of the eight ...

Richter, Mischa (1911-2001) For some WPA artists, recognition of their talents came after the Federal Arts Project. Mischa Richter was one of these artists. He was born in 1911 in Kharkov, Ukraine. He recollected once that his “childhood house was filled with song and neighborhood streets filled with magicians and acrobats.” Daily he took French and German lessons from his gov...

Reilly, Paul H. (?-1944)Paul Reilly was a cartoonist and artist. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he received his early art education. He began his career in art in 1913, submitting sketches to the old Life magazine and other publications. During his later life he focused primarily on portraits and landscapes. Under the WPA Federal Arts Project, Reilly created 182 ...

Rackliffe, Howard E. (1917-1987) Howard Rackliffe was born in New Britain, Connecticut in 1917. He attended public schools there but left in his junior year in high school in order to “devote full time to his self-development as a painter.” From 1933 to 1940 he resided in New Britain and followed interests in painting, poetry, piano, and “improvisational musical composition an...

Popolizio, Vincent (1914-?)Vincent Popolizio was born in 1914 in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended New Haven Public School and went on to attend the Yale School of Fine Arts where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1937. Popolizio was assigned to the WPA Federal Arts Project in 1939, working on the WPA Silk Screen Poster Project before being assigned to the Art Project....

Pollock, James A. (?)James Arlin Pollock worked for the WPA in 1941 while he was living in Essex, Connecticut and was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. He completed six landscape paintings. Nothing else is known about him. Source: WPA Artist’s Work Card.Works of Art Listed in CT Archives' database from James Pollock:Essex Boat Works:oilHouse in Killingworth...