Carl Wuermer

I. Biography

Carl Wuermer was born in Munich, Germany, in 1900 and immigrated to the United States at a young age in 1915, settling in Chicago. Wuermer studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1920 to 1924, under Wellington Reynold, a known Chicago portraitist and landscapist. He began exhibiting at the Institute at age 24 and continued for the following decade. Wuermer became known for his peaceful, atmospheric landscape paintings, frequently depicting rolling hills, forests, and open countrysides with great definition and depth. A Chicago critic described his technique, writing, “Mr. Wuermer has evolved a small, perfect stroke for painting his landscapes which is as decisive as lithography.”¹ His process was surprisingly similar to Pointillism, as he would slowly build up his forms using tiny dots of color. This gave his works a luminous quality, even though they were much more naturalistic than the known Pointillist artists.

Wuermer earned significant recognition during his lifetime, exhibiting across the country and winning numerous awards, including the J. Francis Murphy Memorial Prize from the National Academy of Design in 1928. He also began exhibiting his works in New York, studied at the Art Students League, and had four solo exhibitions at the prestigious Grand Central Art Galleries. Wuermer also had a successful career as an artwork appraiser, assessing the value of many distinguished collections, including the Frick Collection, the High Museum, and the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation Collection. Carl Wuermer spent his later years in California, where he passed away in Poway in 1981. Known for his serene landscapes and vast panoramas, Wuermer brought each scene vividly to life. Today, his work resides in many prominent collections, such as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Wichita Art Museum in Kansas.²

II. Chronology

• 1900 Born in Munich, Germany
• 1915 Immigrates to Chicago
• 1920 Begins his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago
• 1928 Won the J. Francis Murphy Memorial Prize at the National Academy of Design
• 1930 First solo exhibition at the Grand Central Art Gallery in New York
• 1981 Passed away in Poway, California

III. Collections

• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
• Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Massachusetts
• Paine Art Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
• Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas

IV. Exhibitions

• 1924 Art Institute of Chicago³
• 1924 Society of Independent Artists, NY
• 1925–6 Anderson Gallery, Chicago, solo exhibition
• 1926–7 Art Institute of Chicago, prize, 1926 and 1927
• 1927–9, 1931–5 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition
• 1928 National Academy of Design, NY, J. Francis Murphy Memorial prize; Springfield, Massachusetts Art League, prize
• 1928-32 Corcoran Gallery biennials (3 times)
• 1929 Salons of America; Grand Central Art Gallery, prize
• 1929–31, American Painting & Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Chicago
• 1930, 1934, 1938, 1943 Grand Central Art Gallery, NY, solo exhibition
• 1931 O’Brien Art Gallery, Chicago, solo exhibition
• 1931 Albright Art Gallery of Buffalo, New York⁴
• 1943 Buck Hill Falls Art Association, PA, prize
• 1945 Grand Central Art Gallery, NY, prize
• 1946-49 Painting in U.S., Carnegie Institute, PA, Popular Vote Prize
• 1971 Allied Artists of America, 58th Annual Exhibition, NY, honorable mention
• 1972 Fifth Annual Painting & Sculpture, Grover M. Hermann Fine Arts Club, Marietta, OH

V. Memberships

• Grand Central Art Gallery
• Allied Artists America
• Artists Fellow (president, 1957–59)
• Hudson Valley Art Association
• Springfield Art League
• Illinois Academy of Fine Arts
• Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts
• Woodstock Art Association

VI. Notes

1. “World Art and Chicago Art.” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951) 22, no. 6 (1928): 76.
2. Peter Hastings Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, 1564–1975, vol. 3, Sound View Press, 1999, p. 3650.
3. “Seyffert Picture Wins Two Prizes.” The Art News 22, no. 18 (1924): 2, 8.
4. “At the Albright Art Gallery.” The American Magazine of Art 23, no. 2 (1931): 155–56.

VII. Suggested Resources

• Chambers, Bruce W. American Paintings in the High Museum of Art: A Bicentennial Catalogue. High Museum of Art, 1975, p. 124.
• Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564–1975. Vol. 3, Sound View Press, 1999, p. 3650.
• Preato, Robert R. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Transformations in the Modern American Mode, 1885–1945. Grand Central Art Galleries, 1988, p. 66.