Reiss, Winold

Born in Germany, young Winold Reiss often accompanied his father, an itinerant painter, as he traveled throughout the countryside sketching peasants. In 1913, Reiss emigrated to the United States and immediately found the ethnic diversity of the nation inspirational. He traveled the West, painted many Native Americans–especially the Blackfeet Indians–trekked through Mexico doing pastels and watercolors of revolutionary figures and–back in New York–became one of the chief visual chroniclers of the Harlem Renaissance. Reiss also executed a number of important mural commissions and designed the interiors of hotels, restaurants, and theaters.