GRAUER, WILLIAM C. (2 Dec. 1895-6 Apr. 1985) was a painter, muralist, and art teacher active in Cleveland for nearly 60 years. Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in 1914 and saw service in France during WORLD WAR I. Coming to Cleveland as a free-lance artist in 1927, he married Natalie Eynon (1888-1955), a fellow native Philadelphian and artist with whose career his own became intertwined. Invited to contribute murals to the President's Cottage at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., in 1932, they returned to found and co-direct the Old White Art Colony, School and Gallery there during the summers from 1934-40. During the same period they also started the art department at Cleveland College of Western Reserve University (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV.). Grauer painted murals for the West Virginia exhibitions in both the Chicago Century of Progress (1933) and the New York World's Fair (1939). His work in Cleveland included a set of murals for the Cadillac Lounge in the Schofield Building. These murals are now part of the collections of the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
