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Born in Cairo, Egypt, of Italian parents, O. Louis Guglielmi (1906-1956) was sensitive to the changing social scene during his brief 50-year life. The family soon moved to Italy, traveling because of his father's employment as a professional violinist. In 1914, they made Harlem's Italian slum in New York City their home. Personal experience with homelessness, hunger, & society's unfortunates strongly affected young Guglielmi's art. During the Great Depression, the WPA and Public Works Administration employed him between 1934 & 1939, as he combined symbolism with manipulation of light, color, space, & scale. He compassionately portrayed ordinary people, especially the disadvantaged, showing them sitting in front of tenements, bored by the tedium of unemployment or forced onto welfare rolls, their dignity barely intact. After 3 years in the army, he quickly resumed painting & taught at Louisiana State University and the New School for Social Research in New York City. In his last years, he painted completely abstract works. (http://bjws.blogspot.nl/2012/10/1930s-americas-great-depression-o-louis.html) undefined