Meinziger Art School

Established	early 1930s
Location	4847 Woodward Avenue, subsequently 12 E. Hancock Avenue, Detroit, Michigan US
Director	Fred J. Meinziger Buckner Clark Coleman (1913–2010) [1]

The Meinziger Art School is a now-defunct art school founded by Frederick "Fred" J. Meinziger in Detroit's midtown area. The school opened in the early 1930s ^[2] and closed in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Background

At times referred to as the "largest art school in the nation," ^[2] the school emphasized both fine art and commercial art — the latter particularly during and after World War II.

Initially located at 4847 Woodward Avenue, and later at the corner of Woodward Avenue at 12 East Hancock Avenue, the school offered studies in fine arts, fashion drawing and automotive rendering ^[1] — and had 700 students by the end of 1947. ^[3]

The school was formed during a burgeoning period for commercial art, advertising, signage, typesetting and graphic design — and received at the time one of the largest commercial art contracts in the nation — from General Motors. In the very early days of automotive advertising, almost all work was a product of the Meinzinger school, ^[4] the studios producing finished art for hundreds of advertising accounts. ^[3]

Noted students included Irv Rybicki, automotive designer and later Vice President of Design General Motors, as well as fine artists including Kenneth O. Goehring, muralist Carlos Lopez, impressionist Leon Makielski, abstract artist and photographer Stanley Twardowicz, abstract impressionist Jack Meanwell, James Donald Predergast, George Fanais (1925-1988) Ken Gore and illustrators Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. ^[5]

His December 1947 obituary noted that Fred Meinzinger, a native of Kitchener Ontario, ^[3] was a prominent art authority, ^[3] a pioneer in organized art studios, and the first to apply a business model to art studies. ^[3]

References