Ralph Pearson

was born on May 27, 1883 in Angus, Iowa.  Early in his life his family moved to Chicago.  He was an enterprising young man, delivering newspapers first, then purchasing his own news stand while still in high school.  Eventually that business grew into several news stands and 30 employees.  His real interest was in making art so he enrolled in classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.  He had a passion for printmaking especially etching. In 1909 at the home of Bertha Jaques, along with Otto J Schneider and Earl H. Reed formed the idea of the "Needle Club" which became the Chicago Society of Etchers. He moved to New York to learn modern art moving again in 1919 to New Mexico but returning to New York in 1928 where he taught at the New School for Social Research.  His etchings can be found in a number of museums around the United States.