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Woldemar Neufeld 1909-2002
His many fans already know that the Russian-Canadian-American Woldemar Neufeld was one of the distinguished artists of our time. He was born in 1909 in southern Russia. His family emigrated in 1924 to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Neufeld made his early reputation in Canada and in Cleveland as part of the famed (and gloomy) Depression-era Ash Can school. He moved to New York in 1945 and became known as Artist Laureate of the East River for his expressionistic and exuberant birds, tugboats and waterscapes. In 1949, he moved his family to New Milford, where he established a studio, gallery and art school. He ran a summer art school until 1965, serving as art director of East River Artists in New York City from 1948 to 1975, and art director of the Millbrook School in Millbrook, N.Y. from 1953 to 1972. During that period, Mr. Neufeld painted landscapes, particularly of Litchfield County and the Housatonic River Valley.	Woldemar Neufeld and his wife Peggy
He was best known for his oils and watercolors, but he also was a sculptor and printmaker. In 1967 he began making constructivistic and kinetic sculpture — constructing forms with moving mechanical parts made from wood and iron — not useful machines that make life easier, just three-dimensional objects that exist for their own sake, for their pleasing forms. His works have been collected by (among a great many others) the New York Metropolitan Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Library of Congress. In 1988, he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo where large collections of his work are exhibited.	"My father didn't want me to be an artist. He wanted me to be an engineer and I wanted to build bridges. But in the 1930s, engineers were peddling apples. So I studied art and naturally my favorite subjects were bridges."

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