The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Biddle, George
1885–1973, American painter and writer on art, b. Philadelphia. After studying abroad Biddle settled in the 1930s in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., where he devoted himself to paintings of social import. During World War II he served as chairman of the War Dept. Art Commission and later held important offices in several national artists’ organizations. Biddle painted the frescoes for the Dept. of Justice Building, Washington, D.C.; his major works include Mother and Child (Denver Art Mus.) and Winter in Tortilla Flat (Whitney Mus., New York City). He is the author of the autobiographical An American Artist’s Story (1939), Artist at War (1944), Yes and No of Contemporary Art (1957), and Tahitian Journals (1968).
