Morris Topchevsky

American, 1899 - 1947


Morris Topchevsky immigrated to Chicago with his family in 1910, leaving behind persecution in his native Poland. Once in Chicago, Topchevsky found a friend and colleague in Jane Addams. In the early 1920s, Topchevsky studied art at Addams’ Hull House and also enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied with noted Impressionist Albert Krehbiel. Topchevsky traveled to Mexico City in the mid-1920s, when he was moved by the monumental public murals of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Topchevsky met and worked with Rivera during his stay in Mexico City.

Morris Topchevsky exhibited at such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago (where his work was shown fourteen times between 1923 and 1946); the National Academy of Design, New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Hyde Park; and the White Museum, San Antonio, among others. He completed murals for the Abraham Lincoln Center on Chicago’s South Side and for the Holmes School in Oak Park, IL.

  • Sleeping in the Park, 1939
    Oil on burlap
    20 x 24 inches

    Signed and dated M. Topchevsky '39, lower right.

    #7366
  • Chicago Scene at Night, ca. 1928
    Watercolor on paper
    9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches

    Signed M. Topchevsky, upper right.

    #6799
  • Chicago at Night, 1928
    Watercolor on paper
    9 x 10 inches

    Signed and dated M. Topchevsky '28, upper right.

    #6798
  • Chicago River at Night (Savoy), ca. 1928
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    8 3/4 x 6 inches

    Signed M. Topchevsky, lower right.

    #6800
  • Granery with Horse Team, Chicago, ca. 1930s
    Oil on burlap
    14 x 12 1/4 inches
    #2231
  • Mural Study (Construction), ca. 1930s
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    7 x 19 1/2 inches

    Signed M. Topchevsky on reverse.

    #6801
  • Chicago Scene, ca. 1930s
    Watercolor on paper
    12 1/2 x 18 inches
    #1826
  • Children Painting
    Pastel and graphite on paper
    8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
    #1844
  • Three Children
    Pastel and graphite on paper
    8 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches
    #1845
  • Chicago Rooftops, ca. 1930s
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    10 x 12 inches
    #1830
  • Chicago Scene (Looking West, Wacker Drive), ca. 1928
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
    #1886
  • Chicago Scene, ca. 1928
    Watercolor on paper
    8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
    #1884
  • Refugees, 1939-1940
    Gouache and graphite on paper
    24 x 18 inches

    Signed M. Topchevsky and dated lower right.

    #4961
  • Study for "Leaflets", ca. 1940
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    26 x 20 inches
    #4963
  • Lynching Scene
    Watercolor on paper
    19 x 3 3/4 inches
    #8259
  • Strike Scene, 1932
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    16 x 11 inches

    Signed and dated M. Topchevsky '32 upper right.

    #1849
  • Factory Scene
    Ink on paper
    9 1/2 x 11 inches
    #1854
  • Coal Yard, 1945
    Ink and gouache on paper
    12 x 9 inches

    Signed M. Topchevsky upper left; signed on reverse.

    #4012
  • Chicago Scene (Skyscraper View), ca. 1928
    Graphite on paper
    8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
    #1874
  • Chicago Scene (View of the Street), ca. 1928
    Graphite on paper
    8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
    #1875

Morris Topchevsky immigrated to Chicago with his family in 1910, leaving behind persecution in his native Poland. Once in Chicago, Topchevsky found a friend and colleague in Jane Addams. In the early 1920s, Topchevsky studied art at Addams’ Hull House and also enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied with noted Impressionist Albert Krehbiel. Topchevsky traveled to Mexico City in the mid-1920s, when he was moved by the monumental public murals of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Topchevsky met and worked with Rivera during his stay in Mexico City.

Morris Topchevsky exhibited at such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago (where his work was shown fourteen times between 1923 and 1946); the National Academy of Design, New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Hyde Park; and the White Museum, San Antonio, among others. He completed murals for the Abraham Lincoln Center on Chicago’s South Side and for the Holmes School in Oak Park, IL.

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