Call Number:

02

Repository:

Violette de Mazia Foundation

Extent:

0.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1940-circa 1996

Creator:

Alber, Howard, 1911-2012

Abstract:

Sherman Clark Hoeflich (1913-1977) was a Philadelphia-based artist, art educator, and designer, who also worked in advertising as an art director. He lived in Paris from 1960 to 1965, and exhibited his work in Philadelphia, Paris, London, and elsewhere. Hoeflich was good friends with Howard Alber, a fellow artist, who worked as a graphic designer and opened an art gallery in Philadelphia in the 1960s. The Howard Alber collection on Sherman Hoeflich, circa 1940-circa 1996, consists mostly of secondary-source materials relating to Hoeflich, but also includes several of his original artworks on paper (watercolor, graphite, and other media).

Sherman Clark Hoeflich (1913-1977) was a Philadelphia-based artist, art educator, and designer, who also worked in advertising as an art director. He lived in Paris from 1960 to 1965, and exhibited his work in Philadelphia, Paris, London, and elsewhere. Hoeflich was good friends with Howard Alber, a fellow artist, who worked as a graphic designer and opened an art gallery in Philadelphia in the 1960s.

Hoeflich took classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, and the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (now University of the Arts). He also attended classes at L'Academie de la Grande Chaumiere (now L'Academie Charpentier) in Paris in 1951, 1957, and the early 1960s. Before moving to Paris in the 1960s, Hoeflich worked as an art director for several advertising agencies. He also taught advertising design at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, the Hussian School of Art (in Philadelphia, PA), and the Graphic Arts Association of Delaware Valley.

"Howard Albert Rosenstein [(1911-2012)]...legally changed his name to Alber as a young man. A graduate of Northeast High School [Philadelphia, PA] in 1929, he won a scholarship to the School of Industrial Art, now the University of the Arts, and graduated in 1933, and was one of the only graduates to obtain a job in the middle of the Great Depression. He served in World War II in the Marine Corps as an artist for the Eastern Headquarters. A graphic designer for more than 45 years with different firms, he was also the founding art director of Weightman Advertising, one of the first large advertising firms in Philadelphia. An activist and community organizer at heart, he was a founding member of the Artists Guild of Delaware Valley, served as an art advisor for the Graphic Arts Association and taught graphic design at three local commercial art schools. In the 1960s he opened Alber Galleries in downtown Philadelphia, which he ran for over 30 years. He was a long-term supporter and board member of Artists Equity and the Friends of Artists Equity and was the founder and main contributor to their Future Fund. [He also]... work[ed] for world peace through the Non-Violent Peace Force organization..."

Bibliography:

Quoted text from: "Howard Alber: Obituary." Main Line Media News, October 24, 2012. Accessed on June 6, 2014. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mainlinemedianews/obituary.aspx?n=howard-alber&pid=160613694.

The collection consists mostly of secondary-source materials relating to Hoeflich, but also includes several of his original artworks on paper (watercolor, graphite, and other media). The secondary-source materials in the collection include biographical information on Hoeflich, photographs of his works, newspaper clippings, estate records, a few copies of correspondence, and appraisals initiated by Alber of the Hoeflich art estate.