Alfred Sessler
{{Short description|American artist (1909–1963)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Alfred A. Sessler
| image = Photo of Alfred Sessler.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| other_names =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|1|14|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|9|16|1909|1|14|mf=y}}
| death_place = Madison, Wisconsin
| nationality = American
| education =
| field = Painter, printmaker, educator
| training =
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards =
| spouse =
| partner =
| website =
}}
Alfred A. Sessler (1909–1963) was an American artist known for his murals for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), his printmaking, and his career as a teacher.
Biography
Sessler was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,{{cite web |title=Alfred Sessler |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/alfred-sessler-4375 |access-date=26 November 2022 |website=Smithsonian American Art Museum}} on January 14, 1909.{{cite web |title=Alfred Sessler |url=https://fac.luther.edu/search/index.php/Detail/entities/111 |website=Luther College Fine Arts Collection |access-date=27 November 2022}} He attended the Layton School of Art in the early 1930s. He later attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College, graduating in 1944. He earned his Master of Arts degree the following year from University of Wisconsin–Madison.{{cite web |last1=Matelski |first1=Elizabeth M. |title=Great Depression shaped Jewish artists in Wisconsin |url=https://www.jewishchronicle.org/2015/03/30/great-depression-shaped-jewish-artists-in-wisconsin/ |website=Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle |access-date=26 November 2022}}
Sessler painted two murals for the New Deal art project, the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. He painted the mural entitled Gager’s Trading Post on the Wadsworth Trail for the United States post office in Morris, Minnesota.{{cite web |title=Artist: Alfred Sessler |url=https://www.newdealartregistry.org/artist/Sessleralfred/ |website=New Deal Art Registry |access-date=27 November 2022}} He also painted the mural entitled Lumbering in Early Lowell for the Lowell, Michigan post office.{{cite web |title=Post Office Mural - Lowell MI |url=https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-mural-lowell-mi/ |website=Living New Deal |access-date=27 November 2022}} Sessler also created lithograph prints for the Federal Art Project.{{cite web |title=Alfred Sessler |url=https://www.gsa.gov/fine-arts/?artist/2319 |website=GSA Fine Arts Collection |access-date=27 November 2022 |language=en-us}}{{cite web |title=Alfred A. Sessler Biography |url=https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/2153/Sessler/Alfred |website=Annex Galleries Fine Prints |access-date=27 November 2022}}
In 1945 Sessler began teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he founded their graphic arts program.{{cite web |title=Alfred Sessler |url=https://galleryofwisconsinart.com/artist-works.php?artistId=280794&artist=Alfred%20Sessler |website=Gallery Of Wisconsin Art |access-date=27 November 2022}} Sessler is credited with creating the color reduction woodcut. He taught at University of Wisconsin until his death.
Sessler died on September 16, 1963, in Madison, Wisconsin.
His work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art,{{cite web |title=Alfred A. Sessler |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.34993.html |website=National Gallery of Art |access-date=27 November 2022}} the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Syracuse University Art Museum.{{cite web |title=Alfred Sessler |url=https://onlinecollections.syr.edu/people/118/alfred-sessler |website=Syracuse University Art Museum |access-date=27 November 2022 |language=en}}
In 1988 the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, Letters Gallery held a retrospective of his work entitled The prints of Alfred Sessler from 1935 to 1963. In 2015 Sessler was included in the exhibition Founders & Visionaries: Wisconsin Jewish Artists from the Milwaukee Art Museum at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee.