With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Paul E. Saling
Architecture/Design, Painting/Drawing
1876 – 1936
WPA
- Biography/Description of Work
Paul Saling was born in Germany in 1876. The year that he came to the United States and settled in Hartford is unknown. He studied art in Germany, in Hartford under Charles Noel Flagg and William Gedney Bunce, and with the Connecticut League of Art Students. Ads in the Hartford Courant between 1914 and 1923 indicate that he was a decorator with an office on Pratt Street, and offered mural decorating, designing, canvas ceilings, paper hanging, and painting interiors and exteriors. As an artist, Saling painted oils, and his subjects were landscapes and marine topics. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) which was composed of established artists in the Hartford area. He was also a member of the Connecticut League of Art Students, the American Federation of Arts, the Salmagundi Club of New York City, and the Society of Independent Artists. He won prizes at CAFA and was juror for several shows. During the Depression Saling worked for the Public Works of Art Project and his paintings were hung at the Children’s Museum. For the Federal Arts Project, he completed an easel entitled Cider Mill in the Hills and painted scenery possibly for a diorama or exhibit at the Connecticut Game Reservation in Westbrook. For the last few years of his life, he lived in Lyme. Saling died at Hartford Hospital in March 1936 and is buried in the city’s exclusive Cedar Hill Cemetery.
- Sources view
- http://wpa.cslib.org/index.php/606/saling-paul-e/
- Associated Resource(s)
- n/a