Gertrude Abercrombie

Artist Details

• First Name Gertrude
• Maiden Name Abercrombie
• Surname Abercrombie
• Spouse’s Full Name Bob Livingston
• Birth Date February 17, 1909
• Birth Place Austin, Texas
• Death Date July 3, 1977
• Death Place Chicago, Illinois
• Ethnicity Caucasian
• Residence(s) 1912:  Ravinia, Illinois
  
  1913:  Berlin, Germany
  
  1915: 5728 S. Dorchester St., Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois
  
   
• Active In Chicago
• Categories Painter-Acrylic, Printmaker
• Training 1929:  BA in romance languages, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
  1929:  School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  1929:  American Academy of Art, Chicago, Illinois
  
• Subject(s) of Art Architecture Figurative Interior views Portraiture
• Exhibitions History 1932:  Portraits of Chicago Artists by Chicago Artists, Increase Robinson's Studio Gallery, Chicago
  
  1933:  Grant Park Outdoor Art Fair, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1934, 1936, 1937:  Annual Exhibitions, Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1934-1937:  Annual Exhibitions, Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1935:  Salon des Refuses, Davis Store Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1940:  International Water Color Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
  
  1935-1936:  Traveling Exhibition of the Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1935-1944, 1946-1951, 1953, 1955, 1960, 1967:  Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
  
  1945:  Society for Contemporary American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
  
  1946:  Solo, Associated American Artists Gallery, New York, New York
  
  1947 - circa 1972:  Hyde Park Art Fair, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1948:  Solo, Chicago Public Library, Art Room, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1948:  Contemporary American Painting, 1948-1951, Univeristy of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
  
  1952-1954, 1956-1958: Artist Member Exhibition, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1952-1964:  Solo, various galleries in Chicago, Aurora and Winnetka, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  
  1977:  Solo, Retrospective Exhibition, Hyde Park Art Century, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1983:  Gertrude Abercrombie and Friends, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  1991:  Gertrude Abercrombie, State of Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago and Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  The New Woman in Chicago, 1910-1945: Paintings from Illinois Collections, Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois
  
  1993:  Art Gallery (Chicago), Illinois State Museum, Lockport, Illinois
  
  2018:  Gertrude Abercrombie, Karma, 188 E. 2^nd St., New York, New York
• Collections Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Burbank School, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  
  Illinois State University Gallery, Normal, Illinois
  
  Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois
  
  Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, Illinois
  
  National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC
  
  Western Illinois University Art Gallery, Macomb, Illinois
  
  Private Collection of Powell and Barbara Bridges Collection, Wilmette, Illinois
• Publications Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art 1898 to 1947. Madison, CN: Soundview Press, 1985. Gertrude Abercrombie at www.sullivangoss.com/gertrude_abercrombie/ Greenhouse, Wendy. Chicago Painting, 1895-1945: The Bridges Collection. Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1999. Illinois State Museum. The Emergence of Modernism in Illinois 1914-1940. Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1976. Illinois State Museum. Gertrude Abercrombie and Friends. Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1983. Smith, Kent and Susan Weininger. Gertrude Abercrombie: an exhibition. Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1991. Weininger, Susan. "Gertrude Abercrombie." Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. Yochim, Louise Dunn. Role and Impact: The Chicago Society of Artists. Chicago: The Society, 1979.
• Memberships 1930s:  Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists
  
  circa 1930s to 1940s:  Chicago Society of Artists
• Awards 1936:  Joseph Eisendrath Prize, Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1938:  Mr. & Mrs. Frank H. Armstrong Prize, Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1946:  William and Bertha Clusmann Prize, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Other Occupation(s) 1931:  commercial artist, Mesirow department store, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1934-40:  WPA/Federal Art Project, Illinois
• Website(s) http://www.chicagomodern.org/artists/gertrude_abercrombie/
• Biography Friend of Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holliday, Thornton Wilder, and artist Karl Priebe.
  
  In 2011 Chicago station WTTW produced an Art Beat segment called "Gertrude Abercrombie: Midwestern Surrealist."
  
  Art Historian Susan Weininger has written two comprehensive biographical essays with additional materials about Gertrude Abercrombie. Please see: The catalog for the 1991 Illinois State Museum retrospective exhibit Gertrude Abercrombie, and the "Gertrude Abercrombie." Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.