Edgar Yaeger was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1904.  He is credited for being one of the first American modernists.  He was a prolific artist who mastered virtually every medium:  watercolor, oil, fresco, printmaking, mosaic, and woodcarving.  He also painted numerous commissioned murals for the Works Progress Administration during the Depression era.  As a young artist, Yaeger actively exhibited his work; in 1932, he won the Founder’s Society Purchase Prize from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

He also was the recipient of the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Traveling Scholarship.  With this support, he traveled extensively throughout Europe, studying in France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany.  When he returned to the United States, he entered numerous juried exhibitions.  In the 1930 Carnegie International Exhibition, Henri Matisse was a member of the jury.  He admired Yaeger’s sophisticated knowledge and application of color.  Yaeger recounted that "Cezanne helped me more than anyone- his use of color."  Picasso, Braque, De Chirico, and Rivera also helped inform Yaeger’s style.   Yaeger’s murals, paintings, and mosaic work earned him international recognition during his life time.  The Kresge Art Museum currently holds 88 works by Yaeger, which include the preliminary sketches of his WPA murals.

Studied

Univ. of Michigan; Wayne Univ.; John P. Wicker’s School of Fine Arts; Robert Herzberg’s Detroit School of Fine and Applied Art; Academie Andre Lhote, Paris; Ecole Scandinav with Marcel Gromaire; Academie Ranson with Othon Friesz

Member

Scarab Club of Detroit; Wayne Univ. AC

Exhibited

Detroit Inst. Art, 1932, 1939 (prizes); AIC, Carnegie Inst.; PAFA Annl, 1931, 1934; Corcoran Gal. Biennial, 1930; CAA; MoMA; Angell Mus., Ann Arbor, MI (solo); Weyhe Gal, NY (solo)

Work

Detroit Inst. Art; murals, Receiving Hospital, U.S. Naval Armory, Detroit; Ford Sch., Highland Park, MI; Grosse Pointe Pub. Lib; City of Detroit Pub. Lighting Commission; Univ. Michigan

Resources

WW53; WW47; Kresge Art Mus. Bulletin, Vol. VIII