Henry George Keller Art
American, 1870-1949
Keller, a leading painter in Cleveland, was born at sea, off Nova Scotia on April 3, 1869. His earliest training was in Karlsruhe, Germany under Hermann Baisch (1846-1894), then at the Cleveland School of Art, the Cincinnati Fine Arts Academy and the Art Students League in New York. The young artist was an apprentice at the W. J. Morgan Lithograph Company, also in Cleveland. Keller polished off his art instruction at the Munich Academy (1899-1902) with Heinrich Johann Zügel (1850-1941), chiefly an animal painter. There he would have rubbed shoulders with Walt Kuhn. At the end of his stay in Munich, he won a silver medal. His watercolor, Santa Maria della Salute, in a private collection, is in the tradition of John Singer Sargent. According to Arthur Covey, Keller was back in Munich in 1904-05, and he mentioned a painting called Storm-frightened Animals (Weimer, 1940, pp. 570-572). In Munich, Keller also met William Sommer, a future Cleveland post-impressionist.
Back in America, Keller immediately found a job at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh then he taught at his alma mater, the Cleveland School of Art until 1945. In Cleveland, remarked Keller (in Milliken, 1950), there was "a kind of pale, timid, watered Impressionism" and he reacted against it. Charles Burchfield, one of his more famous students, studied at the Cleveland School of Art between 1912 and 1916, when Keller was studying Asian art and showing modernist tendencies, having surpassed impressionism. Keller was also an enthusiast of Diaghelev's Ballets Russes, which he saw on their American tour. He studied the psychology of color with Dr. J. J. R. Macleod and underwent Cézanne's influence. Also at that time, Keller exhibited two works at the Armory Show — Wisdom and Destiny (Cleveland Museum of Art) and The Valley (unlocated). The former shows Keller's more traditional, intellectual side, with its classical allegorical figures in a stormy landscape. The theme was inspired by one of Maurice Maeterlinck's essays. Keller's modernism is revealed in the contemporary watercolor entitled Sunflower, in the same museum, which recalls some of the bravura of the free brushwork of John Marin. Keller was part of a group called the Cleveland Independents.
The list of Keller's exhibition activities is truly amazing — from local venues in Cleveland to Chicago (including a special show of his wash drawings in May of 1920), Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York, his works were on view year by year. The Cleveland Museum of Art presented him with awards on numerous occasions and in 1939, he was elected to the National Academy of Design. That year, his painting Circus Day was on display at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, while at the New York World's Fair in 1939, his Horse Barn appeared in the exhibition of contemporary artists. Here the horses are closer to those of German Expressionist Franz Marc than to those of Degas. The Whitney Museum has Keller's charcoal and watercolor, Bird Rock, California (1925). The painter died in San Diego, on August 3, 1949.to
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Artist: Henry George Keller
Reclining Female Nude
By Henry George Keller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Reclining Female Nude
Charcoal and colored chalks with white highlights on tan laid paper, c. 1948
Signed and monogrammed by the artist lower right
(see photo)
A masterpiece dr...
Category
1940s American Modern Henry George Keller Art
Materials
Chalk
Cattle Series Study, Early 20th Century Bovine/Cow, Cleveland School artist
By Henry George Keller
Located in Beachwood, OH
Henry George Keller (American, 1868-1949)
Cattle Series Study, 1901
Oil on canvas
Signed verso
22 x 26 inches
28.5 x 33 inches, framed
Keller, a leading painter in Cleveland, was born at sea, off Nova Scotia on April 3, 1869. His earliest training was in Karlsruhe, Germany under Hermann Baisch (1846-1894), then at the Cleveland School of Art...
Category
Early 1900s Henry George Keller Art
Materials
Oil
Reclining Female Nude
By Henry George Keller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Reclining Female Nude
Charcoal and colored chalks with white highlights on tan laid paper, c. 1948
Signed and monogrammed by the artist lower right
(see photo)
A masterpiece dr...
Category
1940s American Modern Henry George Keller Art
Materials
Chalk
untitled (polo player on horseback)
By Henry George Keller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
untitled (polo player on horseback)
Chalk on tan paper, c. 1920
Unsigned
Provenance: Gift of the artist
William McGill (Keller's student)
Image size: 4 3/8 x 5 ...
Category
1920s American Impressionist Henry George Keller Art
Materials
Chalk
untitled (Lost Ship in a Misty Sea)
By Henry George Keller
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and monogrammed by the artist lower left
Category
Henry George Keller Art
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Henry George Keller art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Henry George Keller art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Henry George Keller in chalk, oil paint, paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Impressionist style. Not every interior allows for large Henry George Keller art, so small editions measuring 5 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of E. Melinda Morrison, Alfred Wands, and Helen Rayburn Caswell. Henry George Keller art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $300 and tops out at $6,500, while the average work can sell for $1,250.