KARL METZLER
American Artist - WPA  (1909-1995)
Metzler was an extremely versatile artist. His eclectic style shows in his numerous works. There have been  two museum exhibitions of Mr. Metzler's wide ranging styles. Metzler's work is currently being exhibited at the University of Maryland Art Gallery in College Park, Maryland.
Metzler received his formal training at the Maryland Institute of Art, graduating in 1930. He was an easel artist and mural worker for the WPA. He was a founding member of the Artist's Union of the American Federation of Artist as well as an active member of the several other groups and he was an annual  exhibitor at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He was chosen to be included in the "America Today"  exhibition, a traveling show of lithographs by 100 artist and is in the accompanying book of the same title. He exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair and his entry was purchased during the exhibition.  He continued to exhibit nationally and  internationally throughout the 40's and 50's, including the Corcoran Gallery and the Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and various New York galleries and in Mexico and Europe.
In the 1960's, he decided to spend the rest of his life as an art therapist. He worked for the Johns Hopkins Hospital's Phipps Clinic, where he analysis and the use of finger-painting as a diagnostic tool. He is considered the founder of modern art therapy and wrote several monographs on subject.