Frederick William Bock

THE GALLERY WOULD APPRECIATE A PHOTOGRAPH OF MR. BOCK, AS WELL AS ARTWORK FOR SALE. Please contact the gallery at: info@galleryofwisconsinart.com

BORN:1876, Manitowoc, WI

DIED: 1958

Born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Frederick William Bock lived and worked in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York. He is known for his seascapes and landscapes. and best known for his drawings of rabbits humorously symbolizing humankind and its foibles. 

He moved to St. Paul in 1900, where he received training in drawing and painting from private instructors.  He first worked as an illustrator for the St. Paul Globe, then left to study art at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York.  

After maintaining a studio in New York for several years, he returned to St. Paul to open a commercial art studio.  About that time, he began illustrating human life changes and habits in the guise of sensitively drawn rabbits … and his friends started calling him “The Rabbit Man.”  He worked in various media including oils, watercolors, tempers and etching.  

In 1926, Bock traveled and sketched throughout Europe.  He enrolled in the WPA/FAP easel project in Minnesota in the 1930’s and taught at the Walker Art Center in 1938 after its renovation by the WPA.  He was awarded prizes at several Minnesota State Fair art shows, as well as in other Twin Cities exhibitions.