In 1938, Louis Schanker became known as one of the Whitney Ten because he was one of the protesters against the Whitney Museum for its unwillingness to exhibit abstract art. From 1940 to 1960, he taught at the New School of Social Research in New York, and from 1964 at Bard College. As an artist, his emphasis was on experimentation and breaking away from Regionalism and Precisionism to focus on abstraction and emotional expression. In the 1930’s, he was a WPA artist and worked on murals in New York City.
