Henry Keller
Encyclopedia
Henry George Keller was an American
artist
who led a generation of Ohio
watercolor
painters
of the Cleveland School
. Keller's students at the Cleveland School of Art and his Berlin Heights, Ohio
summer school included Charles E. Burchfield
, Paul Travis
, and Frank N. Wilcox
.
In the Leslie Family Record, by Elvesta Thomas Leslie (1968, self-published), a first cousin of Henry's wife Guineveer Leslie, spoke of Henry Keller:
“As Mortimer (Leslie) died young, widowhood threw Guineveer’s mother (Elizabeth Bonsor) to the support of herself and her small girl. She met the heavy and double misfortune with fortitude and competency even as you and your (Elvesta’s) aunt Rosa (Kehl) met like but more tragic adversities. She took orders for busts in crayon and hired artists to draw them. In this way she met young Keller, and Guineveer, her romance. Henry made portraits for the mother and love to the daughter. Henry Keller was educated here (Cleveland) and in Munich. He was one of a small galaxy of local artists who have won honors in more metropolitan centers. He is a pioneer of the city’s higher cultural life. A harder, or mor conscientious worker can not be found. He maintains his better than average constitution, inherited from German-born parents, by regular life and exemplary habits. He is the only noted artist who doesn’t smoke, that I ever heard of. Cigarettes seem the sustenance of the artistic temperament. Henry teaches painting at the Art School and specializes in animal life and watercolor. I have one of his best. His canvasses are distinguished more for the excellence of their technique and craftsmanship than for creative genius. I found Keller a zealous devotee of his profession and outside of it, enough of a cynic to be realistic. In a word he is master of a fine art, man of fine character and characteristically German. His home was originally a farm house owned by his father before Cleveland grew up to be a city.”
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who led a generation of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
watercolor
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
painters
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of the Cleveland School
Cleveland School
The Cleveland School refers to the flourishing local arts community of Northeast Ohio during the period from 1910-1960. It was so named in 1928 by Elrick Davis, a journalist with the Cleveland Press...
. Keller's students at the Cleveland School of Art and his Berlin Heights, Ohio
Berlin Heights, Ohio
Berlin Heights is a village in Erie County, Ohio, United States. The population was 685 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area....
summer school included Charles E. Burchfield
Charles E. Burchfield
Charles Ephraim Burchfield was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes...
, Paul Travis
Paul Travis
Paul Bough Travis was an American artist of the Cleveland School....
, and Frank N. Wilcox
Frank N. Wilcox
Frank Nelson Wilcox was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald.-Life:...
.
In the Leslie Family Record, by Elvesta Thomas Leslie (1968, self-published), a first cousin of Henry's wife Guineveer Leslie, spoke of Henry Keller:
“As Mortimer (Leslie) died young, widowhood threw Guineveer’s mother (Elizabeth Bonsor) to the support of herself and her small girl. She met the heavy and double misfortune with fortitude and competency even as you and your (Elvesta’s) aunt Rosa (Kehl) met like but more tragic adversities. She took orders for busts in crayon and hired artists to draw them. In this way she met young Keller, and Guineveer, her romance. Henry made portraits for the mother and love to the daughter. Henry Keller was educated here (Cleveland) and in Munich. He was one of a small galaxy of local artists who have won honors in more metropolitan centers. He is a pioneer of the city’s higher cultural life. A harder, or mor conscientious worker can not be found. He maintains his better than average constitution, inherited from German-born parents, by regular life and exemplary habits. He is the only noted artist who doesn’t smoke, that I ever heard of. Cigarettes seem the sustenance of the artistic temperament. Henry teaches painting at the Art School and specializes in animal life and watercolor. I have one of his best. His canvasses are distinguished more for the excellence of their technique and craftsmanship than for creative genius. I found Keller a zealous devotee of his profession and outside of it, enough of a cynic to be realistic. In a word he is master of a fine art, man of fine character and characteristically German. His home was originally a farm house owned by his father before Cleveland grew up to be a city.”