Following the Second World War, there was a renaissance of string quartets established in the United States. Even among such stellar quartets as the Hollywood, Musical Arts, New Music and Juilliard Quartets, the American Art Quartet stands out as one of the finest. Based in California, where the members had established successful independent careers in the Hollywood studios, the American Art Quartet consisted of first violinist Eudice Shapiro, a student of Efrem Zimbalist at Curtis, her husband the cellist Victor Gottlieb, who had studied with Felix Salmond at Curtis, violist Virginia Majewski and Robert Sushel as second violinist.