For a few years in the 1930s, the name Leland Knoch seemed to be everywhere in the Pittsburgh art scene. The radical North Side painter — his work described as “proletarian” even in the mainstream press — drew attention for their grim scenes of poverty and labor struggle. Politically militant, open about his poverty and his physical disability, Knoch organized artists across the city.
Then, seemingly as soon as he appeared, he was gone. Knoch died at age 41, leaving a final gallery show and a New York Times obituary notice as his legacy. Images of his work are hard to find, but the few that remain are striking. Comparing his work favorably against a colleague’s, Knoch said in 1934: “I don’t know what class of people could understand it. But I know the proletariat will understand mine.”