About the Artist
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 18, 1897, Gerald Kenneth Geerlings was an American printmaker, architect, and author.
Gerald K. Geerlings is best-known for his early-20th century architectural etchings and intaglio prints, depicting the rise of American metropolises and urbanization of the interwar period (1918-1939). His prints were celebrated for their crispness and architectural precision.
EARLY CAREER
As a young man, Gerald Geerlings attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Design for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Afterwards, Geerlings studied etching at the Royal College of Art in London, and spent a brief period at St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge in England.
Upon the completion of his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Gerald Geerlings joined the New York architectural firm York & Sawyer (responsible for the design of the New York Athletic Club and the New York Historical Society). He went on to work for Starrett & Van Vleck (responsible for the design of the New York City flagships of Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s). In time, Geerlings opened his own architectural practice — he developed a passion for printmaking during this period, an activity that allowed him throughout the rest of his life and allowing him to merge his architectural and artistic talents.
Geerlings made his first print in 1926. During his early printmaking career (1926-1932), Geerlings created fewer than sixty prints. Though he went on to create additional drawings and limited print collections before his death in 1998, his early breakthrough cityscapes would become his most recognizable, and iconic, works.
With names like Colossus, The Vertical Mile, and Olympus, his early etchings captured the beauty and brutal power of the nation’s new architectural skylines. Geerlings showcased America’s booming cities through the arc of the Gilded Age movement, the Chicago School of Architecture movement, the Beaux Arts design period, and the Art Deco design movements of the 1920’s and 1930’s. His favored subjects were the skylines of New York City and Chicago.
LATER CAREER
Geerlings’ works were well-received by critics and peers, resulting in numerous awards and exhibitions. In 1931, Geerlings won his first award for a print from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for his print Jewelled City. Geerlings was awarded the First Prize for “Best Etching” for his work Grand Canal, America at the “Century of Progress” 1933 Chicago World’s Fair exhibition. Geerlings’s prints were prominently exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Despite the critical acclaim received for his architectural prints, the economic conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930’s forced Geerlings to temporarily abandon printmaking. He spent the next four decades exploring commercial opportunities through his own architecture practice and authoring books on the subjects of metalworking and wrought iron in architecture.
Through the 1950’s and 1960’s, Gerald Geerlings worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and consultant. Geerlings created graphic designs for advertisements and popular magazines of the time, such as Woman’s Home Companion, Better Homes & Gardens, House & Home, House & Garden, and House Beautiful. As a regular contributor, Geerlings authored articles and columns on the topic of domestic architecture. Geerlings was a successful product consultant for companies such as Kohler Company, Remington-Rand, and Spalding.
In the 1970’s, Geerlings resumed printmaking. In these later years of his career, Gerald Geerlings experimented with a variety of mediums in his artworks, including pastels, watercolors, and new types of lithographic pencils. This was a departure from his early monochromatic aquatint, ink, and graphite works.
He produced a highly praised collection of drawings and lithographs of Paris, which were published in the volume, Paris Along the Seine. Geerlings also created a collection of architectural drawings as a homage to New York’s Bicentennial celebrations.
In 1980, Geerlings donated much of his work to the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives. After a printmaking career spanning decades, many of his works entered the permanent collections of museums around the world.
The catalogue raisonné of his prints, Gerald K. Geerlings, was published in 1984 by Joseph S. Czestochowski of the Cedar Rapids Art Association.
Gerald Geerlings died on January 25, 1998 in New Canaan, Connecticut at the age of 100.
For more information, please visit the Gerald K. Geerlings Wikipedia entry.