Bernard Kassoy Papers

Bernard (Bernie) Kassoy (1914-2008) graduated from the City College of New York and Cooper Union Art School and worked in a wide range of media as a painter, printmaker, photographer, sculptor and cinematographer. As a young artist, Kassoy began his career in the WPA New York City Federal Art Project in 1936 and was arrested under the name "Michelangelo Buonarotti" at the first sit-down strike against the WPA by the Artists Union. He was also a US delegate to the 1983 International Association of Artists conference in Finland.



In 1939 Kassoy was hired as a New York City high school fine arts teacher where he taught until he retired in 1972. He also taught adult education classes on cinematography at the High School of Music and Art. As a member of the American Federation of Teachers Local 5, he created cartoons for their publication "The New York Teacher News," directed the Teachers Union art gallery, and made stage sets for theatrical productions.



Bernie Kassoy's 136 editorial cartoons preserved by the Kheel Center were largely created in the 1950s at a time when many US policy makers were enthralled by the search for Communist Party members and sympathizers. In pithy cartoons he portrayed the struggles of New York City students and teachers, as well as the Teachers Union's response to these hardships. He accused school, city, and state officials of turning their attention away from funding shortfalls, classroom overcrowding, outdated texts, dilapidated buildings, teacher turnover, increasing teacher workloads, and stagnant wages, to focus on the question of whether any teachers appeared to be advocating Communism. Though Kassoy repeatedly criticized these manifestations of McCarthyism, he was never blacklisted. His work can also be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and Fennimore House Museum.