Fernando Gerassi (October 5, 1899 – 1974) was a

Sephardic Jew Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

born in

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. He was an accomplished artist who exhibited alongside

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

before

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to fight in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Personal life

In 1922 Gerassi met Stephania Avdykovych, a Ukrainian, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and they were married in 1929. In 1931, their son, John "Tito" Gerassi, was born in Paris. Gerassi and his family moved to the United States at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and he was hired by Carmelita Hinton, a progressive

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

who was the founder and director of the

Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-edu ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, to teach art at the school. Hinton also employed Gerassi's wife, Stepha, to teach "anything she wanted" and she would go on to teach a number of subjects during their years at the school, including French,

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, and

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. In 1955 ''

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'' magazine reported that to support his family while establishing his art career, he tried "some 40 different jobs". From 1944 to 1964 Gerassi was harassed by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

who tried to

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him by threatening to deport his family if he would not agree to work for them. One of his friends eventually reported the harassment to

Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from Rho ...

, then an aide to

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

. Fortas obtained the CIA file and passed it onto the

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

, Robert F. Kennedy, who immediately gave Gerassi and his family American citizenship and apologized "in the name of America".

Art career

Gerassi's early work was influenced by Stanislas Stueckgold and

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

. In 1951 Gerassi shared an exhibit with American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, and then in 1955 he exhibited alone, for the first time in 20 years. His solo exhibition at the Panoras Gallery in

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"elicited rave reviews". Gerassi returned to Putney School where he painted until his death in 1974.

References

External links

*
Extensive article on Fernando Gerassi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerassi, Fernando 1899 births 1974 deaths Jewish painters Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire Turkish Sephardi Jews People of the Spanish Civil War Jewish anti-fascists Jewish socialists Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Germany