Seymour Fogel (New York/Texas 1911-1984) watercolor and gouache on paper painting titled "The Refugees", depicting a group of Hispanic refugees, primarily children, gathered around two donkeys. Signed, dated, and titled "'38" lower right. Handwritten paper label with artist's name, dates, and Spanish Civil War Refugees attribution, en verso. Housed in an off white mat. Sight - 14 3/4" H x 20 3/4" W. Matted - 24 1/4" H x 30 1/4" W. Early 20th century. Biography: Seymour Fogel attended the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. In the mid-1930's he worked in New York as an apprentice to the muralist Diego Rivera and later painted numerous realistic murals of his own around the United States as part of the Work Projects Administration. In 1946 Fogel accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin and became one of the founding artists of the Texas Modernist Movement. In 1954 he executed what have been considered the first abstract murals in the state for the American National Bank in Austin, recognized by Time Magazine as one of the year's most significant achievements in corporate art. Over the years, Fogel's style evolved from Social Realism to Abstract Expressionism to sculpture. (source: Obituary in The New York Times, December 8, 1984; Askart).