Rudolf Arnheim - Immigration To The U.S.

Immigration To The U.S.

In the fall of 1940, he left England for the U.S., arriving at New York harbor at night, with all the buildings filled with lights, in sharp contrast to the blackout policies of London and the ship on which he sailed. Arriving with only ten dollars in his pocket, he received assistance from other Gestalt psychologists, including Max Wertheimer, who arranged for his appointment to the psychology faculty at the New School for Social Research. He was also prompted to apply (given his expertise in radio) for a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, by which he became an associate of the Office of Radio Research at Columbia University. He was given a fellowship, with which he conducted a study about the extent to which American radio listeners were influenced by the content of radio soap operas.

Only two years after arriving in the U.S., he also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, with which he proposed to research perceptual psychology in relation to the visual arts. In 1943, he was hired to teach psychology at Sarah Lawrence College, in Yonkers, New York, where he remained on the faculty for 26 years, and where he produced most of his work.