id: 108010
accession number: 1925.632
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1925.632
updated: 2025-02-08 23:41:03.912000
The Madonna of Ivory, 20th century. Henry Keller (American, 1869–1949). Oil on canvas; unframed: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole 1925.632
title: The Madonna of Ivory
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series:
series in original language:
creation date: 20th century
creation date earliest: 1900
creation date latest: 1949
current location:
creditline: Gift of Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole
copyright:
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culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
technique: oil on canvas
department: American Painting and Sculpture
collection: American - Cleveland School
type: Painting
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catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Henry Keller (American, 1869–1949) - artist
A leader of the Cleveland modernist movement, Henry Keller grew up in the city and enrolled in the Western Reserve School of Design for Women in 1887. In 1890 he went to Karlsruhe, Germany, for a year of study with Hermann Baisch. Unable to find a teaching position after returning to Cleveland, Keller worked for eight years at the Morgan Lithograph Company, where he specialized in designing circus posters. In 1899 he returned to Germany to study at art academies in Düsseldorf and Munich. In 1902, after receiving a silver medal at the Munich Kunstakademie’ s spring exhibition, he returned to Cleveland. Around 1903 he began teaching at the Cleveland School of Art, first as a part-time watercolor instructor, then as full-time instructor of decorative illustration. He also taught private classes on family-owned farmland in Berlin Heights, Ohio, during summers from 1903 to 1914. In the 1910s he championed the cause of modern art through lectures and teaching. He exhibited in the Armory Show (1913) and the annuals of the Carnegie Institute of Art in Pittsburgh. The Cleveland School of Art sponsored several solo exhibitions of his paintings. He exhibited in the annual May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1919–50) and in annuals at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. When he retired from the Cleveland School of Art in 1945, Keller moved to San Diego, where he died.
Transformations in Cleveland Art. (CMA, 1996), p. 232
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measurements: Unframed: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.)
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inscriptions:
inscription: signed upper left: H. G. Keller.
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The May Show: 7th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen
opening date: 1925-05-04T04:00:00
The May Show: 7th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-June 7, 1925).
title: Retrospective Twenty-fifth Anniversary May Show
opening date: 1943-01-13T05:00:00
Retrospective Twenty-fifth Anniversary May Show. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 13-February 14, 1943).
title: Henry G. Keller Memorial Exhibition
opening date: 1950-02-01T05:00:00
Henry G. Keller Memorial Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 1-March 19, 1950).
title: A Study in Regional Taste: May Show 1919 - 1975
opening date: 1977-07-13T04:00:00
A Study in Regional Taste: May Show 1919 - 1975. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 13-August 21, 1977).
title: Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940
opening date: 1989-06-28T04:00:00
Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 28-September 10, 1989).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Henry Keller Entry Card to 1925 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMS00951/
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Henry G Keller, and William Mathewson Milliken. The Henry G. Keller Memorial Exhibition: Catalogue of an Exhibition of Works by Henry G. Keller. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1950.
page number: Mentioned: p. 26
url: https://archive.org/details/HenryGKeller/page/n35
Hoffman, Jay, Dee Driscole, and Mary Clare Zahler. A Study in Regional Taste: The May Show, 1919-1975. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.
page number: Reproduced: P. 49, no. 10; Mentioned: P. 77, no. 10
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.632/1925.632_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.632/1925.632_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.632/1925.632_full.tif