Fred Rappaport

Fred Rappaport was a prominent Jewish Modernist painter and woodcut artist. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1912, and graduated from the Wien Akadamie der Bildenden Kunste and went on to study medicine at the University of Vienna. During Nazi occupation of Austria, he was removed from the university along with his fellow Jewish students. Rappaport escaped Nazi rule and fled to the United States arriving in Chicago where he continued his medical studies; his autobiography “Farewell to Vienna” is a testimony and record of his journey. Rappaport attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (1942-1943) and the University of Illinois. After graduating, The artist was keenly interested in art as psychiatric therapy for patients (he worked for the VA), and in 1982, authored the article entitled, "Window on the Unconscious Drawings of Patients for the Medical and Health Annual, Encyclopedia Britannica". He opened on an optometry practice, with studio facilities in the rear so that when he closed the medical practice for the day, he could promptly venture back and paint in his studio.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, he began painting colorful abstract works, moving away from impressionism and more customary representations of landscapes. He is known for his Judaica themed artwork and has painted a number of Synagogues and Jewish themed scenes.

Rappaport exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Chicago Athenaeum, and the Chicago Society of Artists. He was a member of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, the American-Jewish Art Club, and the Art Institute of Chicago He had numerous one-man shows and his works are in many museums. His paintings and prints are in the permanent collections of the Jerusalem Israel Museum of Art; The Illinois State Museum; and the Spertus Museum.