REUBEN KADISH
Biographical Information
Kadish (1913-1992) is a painter, sculptor, and lithographer whose parents moved to the United States from Lithuania just before World War I. He spent most of his childhood in Ontario, California, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles and briefly attended Otis Art Institute. He assisted Mexican master David Alfaro Siqueiros on murals in Southern California, then in the late 1930s moved to San Francisco to head that city's local mural division of the Federal Art Project. During World War II he worked as an art correspondent for LIFE magazine, and after the war he moved to New York City.
These notes were provided by Kadish's brother Frank:
Kadish's parents came from Kovno Gubernia (Province) of Czarist Russia, he in 1910, she in 1912. They did not flee czarist persecution. There we no pogroms in the immediate area and there was a thriving cultural secual and religious life. He spent no time in Ontario. He went to Malabar, Hollenbeck and Roosevelt schools. He assisted Siqueros in his murals in Los Angeles. He did not work with him in Mexico at all.
There are three verified murals that he worked on with Phillip Goldstein, who in 1936 changed his name to Philip Guston:
• Procenium Arch over stage, 1934 by 'Syndicate of Painters" Reuben Kadish, Sandy Pollock (Sandy Mcoy) and Phillip Goldstein. Photo exists. Building torn down.
• Morelia, Mexico. University Museum. Called "Struggle", "The Struggle Against Terroism","Triumph of Good over Evil", "The Inquisition", 1934/1935. Reuben Kadish and Philip Goldstein with Jules Langsner.
• City of Hope, Duarte, California 1935/36. Restored and rededicated June, 1998. Viewable. With Philip Goldstein.
Other murals included:
• Paradise Resort, Ontario, Calif. I do not know if the building still exists or not. If it does, then the mural may be there having been painted over.
• John Reed Panels. 1932, 1933. Two or three panels that were destroyed by the Los Angeles police Department on February 12, 1933.
• State College, San Francisco, Calif. 1937 Entitled "Achemy". Still existant and viewable.
Mural Credits
Figures in an Italian Setting (Untitled) (with Philip Guston)
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