The American Artists School was a progressive independent art school in New York City associated with socialism and the American Radical movement. The school was founded in April 1936 at 131 West 14th Street, upon the dissolution of the John Reed Club School of Art. Its founders and board of directors included members and former members of the John Reed Club such as William Gropper, as well as contributors to the New Masses and the Daily Worker, and notable artists such as Margaret Bourke-White and Louis Schanker. Harry Gottlieb was its first director and Henry Billings the first secretary.