Gertrude Abercrombie 1909-1977

Overview
Gertrude Abercrombie
“I am not interested in complicated things nor in the commonplace, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange.”
Gertrude Abercrombie was an American painter known for her modestly scaled Surrealist works. Abercrombie’s motifs included owls, moonlit landscapes, and cats, as seen in her work The Courtship (1949), which she painted in a controlled palette of colors. “I am not interested in complicated things nor in the commonplace, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange,” she once explained. “My work comes directly from my inner consciousness and it must come easily.” Born on February 17, 1909 in Austin, TX, her parents worked for an opera company that traveled around America and Europe. Her family returned to the United States from Berlin after the outbreak of World War I, eventually settling in Chicago. She went on to study languages at the University of Illinois and attended classes at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. During the 1930s, Abercrombie became friends with a number of jazz musicians including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and often hosted music sessions and parties in her home. Though Abercrombie didn’t pay much attention to the art of her time, she did cite René Magritte as an important influence on her practice. The artist died on April 3, 1977 in Chicago, IL. Today, Abercrombie’s works are held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, among others.
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