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Henry George Keller (April 3, 1869 – August 3, 1949) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
artist who led a generation of Ohio watercolor painters of the Cleveland School. Keller's students at the
Cleveland School of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at firs ...
and his
Berlin Heights, Ohio Berlin Heights is a village in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, United States. The population was 714 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the late 1850s a branch of the "free love" movemen ...
summer school included Charles E. Burchfield, James Kulhanek, Paul Travis, and
Frank N. Wilcox Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernism, modernist Americans, American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School (arts community), Cleveland School painters," though s ...
. In the Leslie Family Record, by Elvesta Thomas Leslie (1968, self-published), a first cousin of Henry, 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. Henry Keller was educated here (
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
) and in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. 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."
In 1939, he was elected into the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
as an Associate Academician.


Selected works


External links


Works by Henry G. Keller at
Cleveland Public Library * 1869 births 1949 deaths American watercolorists 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Cleveland School (arts community) People from Berlin Heights, Ohio 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-stub American male painters National Academy of Design people American people of German descent German-American culture in Cleveland