Miron Sokole

Miron Sokole was a prolific Russian-American painter who lived and worked in the Kansas City region while completing projects for the Works Progress Administration. His paintings are known for their expressive, moody atmosphere, and are considered top-notch examples of twentieth century American art. 

Miron Sokole was born on November 20, 1900 in Odessa, Russia, now part of present-day Ukraine. He developed an early love for art while sketching on the beaches of the Black Sea, although he was denied entry to the Imperial Academy of Art when he applied at age twelve. With the outbreak of World War I, Sokole's father left for the United States to establish a safer home for his family. In 1915, Sokole, his mother, and three siblings made a perilous journey through Siberia to board the last passenger ship leaving Russia.

Upon arriving in New York, Miron Sokole immediately went to work at age fourteen. He found his first job at a flower factory, then later painted lamp shades. For most of his career, he would maintain day jobs as an industrial designer to support his art practice. Sokole was admitted to Cooper Union in 1917, graduating in 1921. In 1925, he studied at the National Academy of Design with Russian-American painter Ivan Olinsky.

After finishing his studies, Miron Sokole moved to Woodstock, New York. He began regularly exhibiting his work with the community of artists there, forming lifelong friendships with painters Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Milton Avery. During the 1930s, Sokole joined the Works Progress Administration and was sent to rural Kansas during the Great Depression. Around this time, he was also an instructor at the American Artists School in New York.

In 1948, Miron Sokole and his wife, Lucy Bender Sokole, moved to Kansas City. Sokole taught painting and drawing classes at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1947-1951. His national reputation made him a popular subject for newspaper articles and guest lectures. Sokole established the Kansas City chapter of the Artist's Equity Association at the recommendation of Yasuo Kuniyoshi. The Kansas City group included notable local artists Edward and Mary Laning, Mildred Welsh Hammond, Frederic James, and Jackson Lee Nesbitt. 

In 1952, Miron Sokole and his family moved back to Woodstock, New York where he gave private art lessons from his studio. Sokole died in New York in 1985. Today, his work belongs to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and private collections around the world.