Gertrude Abercrombie
Gertrude Abercrombie (born February 17, 1909 in Austin , Texas , † July 3, 1977 in Chicago ) was an American surrealist artist .
Life
Gertrude Abercrombie was born to a traveling opera singer couple, Tom and Lula Janes (Lula) Abercrombie. When she was four years old, the family moved to Berlin . She was the only family member who learned fluent German and served her parents as a translator. When the First World War broke out , the family left Germany and moved to Aledo , Illinois . At the age of 20 she obtained a Bachelor's degree in Romance Languages from the University of Illinois, but after graduation she decided to study art at the Chicago Art Institute and the American Academy of Art. After producing illustrations for catalogs in 1931, her painting career began in 1932.
In the early 1930s, Abercrombie had first exhibitions in Chicago's progressive galleries. In 1934 she got a job with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which sought out penniless artists. A monthly salary allowed her to move out of her parents' house and rent her own apartment. In 1940 she left the WPA and married the lawyer Robert Livingston. Their daughter, Dinah, was born in 1942. They divorced in 1948, and in the same year she married the music critic Frank Sandiford, who wrote under the name Paul Warren. In 1964 they got divorced.
Abercrombie was friends with many prominent jazz musicians , such as Dizzy Gillespie , Charlie Parker , Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday , who for years had parties on Saturdays and jam sessions on Sunday afternoons . She played the piano, sang to the new jazz style of bebop and was referred to as the "Queen of Chicago".
Abercrombie died on July 3, 1977 at the age of 68. In her final years she was in a wheelchair, suffering from alcohol abuse and arthritis .
plant
| Charlie Parker's Favorite Painting (Design For Death) |
|---|
| Gertrude Abercrombie , 1946 |
| Oil on masonite |
| Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Link to the picture |
The 1940s and 1950s were Abercrombie’s most prolific period. She painted fewer portraits and created, among other things, dream-like landscapes and still lifes with symbolist motifs that are reminiscent of Giorgio de Chirico , Carlo Carrà and Giorgio Morandi . She has participated in group shows and has had solo shows, including at the Art Institute of Chicago. A retrospective of her work with more than 100 exhibits took place at the Hyde Park Center in Chicago before her death. After her death, her reputation as an artist grew and her work is exhibited in well-known American museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago. Abercrombie herself had not compared her work with terms of European surrealism, but described herself as a midwestern artist and saw her roots in Illinois. Her regional magical realism describes the enigmatic world of her subconscious. She said about herself: "I like to paint simple things that are a little strange" ("I like to paint simple things that are a little strange").
The 1946 painting, Charlie Parker's Favorite Painting , formerly Design of Death , got its current name because it was Charlie Parker's favorite painting. The earlier title may be based on Billie Holidays song Strange Fruit .
literature
- Kent Smith, Susan C. Larsen, Wendy Greenhouse: Chicago Painting 1895 to 1945 . University of Illinois Press 2005, ISBN 978-0-2520-7222-2
- Susan Weininger, Kent Smith: Gertrude Abercrombie: An Exhibition . Illinois State Museum, Springfield 1991
- Hans Vollmer , “General Lexicon of Fine Artists”, Leipzig 1937/38, Volume 1, pp. 4/5.
Web links
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art Biography and Estate
- sullivangoss.com Biography and Work (English)
- artcyclopedia.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Habarta: Lexicon of Surrealist Artists
- ↑ Quoted from image link
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Abercrombie, Gertrude |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 17, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Austin |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd July 1977 |
| Place of death | Chicago |