Schork - Joseph

Schork, Joseph C. (1902-1965)

Joseph Carl Schork was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. At the age of 15 he became an errand boy at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended the Winchester Trade School and became a machinist. He also attended classes at the New Haven Evening High School. Schork received three years of private instruction in art from Herman Sodersen. With money he saved up from his job as a machinist, he entered the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1926. He attended Yale for five years before graduating in 1931 with a Bachelors in Fine Arts. For several years he assisted a number of prominent artists and architects with large mural commissions. During the Depression Schork first worked for the Public Works of Art Project and then moved on to the WPA Federal Arts Project, completing 22 works. They were allocated to Hamden High School, Mansfield State Hospital, Meriden High School, Columbus School, Yalesville School, Middlesex County Temporary Home, Cedarcrest Sanatorium, Kimberly Avenue School, Fairfield State Hospital, Nathan Hale School, Laurel Heights Sanatorium, the Consolidated School, Norwich State Hospital, Redding Hill School, Long Lane Farm, Senate Office Building, Mansfield State Hospital, and the Quinnipiac Council Boy Scouts. Schork died in Guilford, Connecticut in 1965.

Source: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography; Evelyn Frieden.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Joseph Schork:

Schork, Joseph