TODROS GELLER

(American, 1889-1949)

SOUTHWESTERN LANDSCAPE

Watercolor and Gouache on Illustration Board

14½ x 17½ Inches

Signed Lower Right, 'Todros Geller'

Dated Lower Right, 1937

 

Born in Vinnytsia, now in the Ukraine, Todros Geller first studied in Odessa before moving to Canada. He continued his studies in Montreal (1906) and, subsequently, at the Art Institute of Chicago with George Bellows and John Norton. Geller exhibited widely and with success including, from 1925, at the Chicago Art Institute as well as at the Riverside Museum (New York, 1939), the New York World's Fair (1939) and at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1941) in addition to other national institutions.

 

Geller was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards and his work may be found in private and public collections including the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was a member of professional associations including the Artist's Union, the Artist's Congress and the Chicago Society of Artists, which he also served as president. During the the 1930's, Geller was an active participant in the Federal Art Project (WPA) in Illinois and his large-scale murals and stained glass windows may be found in Chicago and Detroit as well as Tel-Aviv. We are pleased to offer this elegant, South-Western landscape painted when the artist was 45.

 

Reference:

Todros Geller Archives, Spertus Museum of Judaica, Chicago; Sparks, Esther. "A Biographical Dictionary of Painters and Sculptors in Illinois 1808-1945." Diss., Northwestern University, 1971, p. 390; Yochim, Louise Dunn. Role and Impact: The Chicago Society of Artists. Chicago: 1979, pp. 28, 44, 238; Mavigliano, George J. and Richard A. Lawson. The Federal Art Project in Illinois 1935-1943. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990, p. 120; Dijkstra, Bram. American Expressionism: Art and Social Change 1920-1950. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003, p. 155. Chicago Modern 1893-1945: Pursuit of the New. Chicago: 2004, cat. no. 36; et al.