Philip Kaplan

Philip Kaplan was born in Grodno, Russia in 1903 and came to the United States with his family in 1911. Eventually settling in Cleveland, Kaplan left school after eighth grade and began working a number of different jobs. At 19, Kaplan discovered Richard Laukhuff's bookshop and through it developed an avid interest in the European and American artistic and literary movements of the day. Attending evening classes at the Cleveland School of Art and at the Kokoon Arts Club prepared him to begin working as a professional artist. In the late 1920s and 1930s Kaplan worked as a decorative painter, painting murals in homes, schools and business in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and elsewhere. He also worked as an amateur photographer and lithographer. Kaplan received awards in the Cleveland Museum of Art's annual May shows in 1929 and 1930. In 1933 he married Esther Rose and their daughter, Luba, was born in 1935.

Kaplan joined the Kokoon Arts Club in in 1925 and became a very active member, serving in a number of posts including secretary (1927) and president (1932). According to his own notes, Kaplan left the Kokoon Arts Club in the late 1930s following an incident in which a fellow member, Rudolf Schatz, spread an anti-semitic leaflet around the club. Kaplan wrote a protest letter, but few club members supported his response, most feeling it was better to ignore the original leaflet. During his time in Cleveland, Philip Kaplan established many connections with area artists and those involved in arts and literature. He exchanged correspondence with and received examples of others' work often in the form of hand-made cards, photographs, invitations, playbills and catalogs. In 1939 Kaplan moved to New York City, where he worked for commercial printing firms until his retirement in 1965. He died in California in 1990 at age 87.