1931-1940

1941

-December: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World War II

1942

-Lee-Smith, Sallee, Schreckengost, Raphael Gleitsmann, William E. Smith, and numerous other artists enter military service. As attention turns to the war effort, cultural events decline, and enrollment drop at the Cleveland School of Art.

1943

-WPA ends.

1945

-Keller retires from the Cleveland School of Art. Died in 1949.

-World War II ends.

1946

-Cleveland commemorates its 150th birthday with city wide parades and pageants. The high-spirited festivities also welcome the new postwar era by celebrating the victorious end of the war and the city’s economic recovery.

-Carl Gaetner, longtime Institute of Art teacher wins 1st prize in watercolor at Chicago Institute of Art. He died in 1952.

1947

-Shaker Historical Society founded to preserve the Shaker heritage.

1948

-A traveling exihition, “Masterpieces from the Berlin Museum” held at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

1949

-Cleveland Institute of Art Alumni Association 1st annual art show at Shaker Square.

1950

-Robert Madison, 1st African American graduate in architecture in Ohio.