Draft:Gordon Krieghoff

Gordan Jay Krieghoff  

(February 13, 1891- November 12, 1977)  

Early Life  

Gordan Krieghoff was a painter of the 20^th century, He was born February 13, 1891, in Bay City, Michigan to Oscar & Anna Krieghoff. Gordon was the great-nephew of famous Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff. Also he was a nephew of well-known Philadelphia painter, Ernst Philip Krieghoff.  

Many of his 12 Siblings died of the Spanish influenza between 1918-1920. There were only 5 children of Oscar and Anna that survived, including Gordan.  

At 10 years old when Gordon was attending school his teacher, Miss Harley, recognized his talent for art. She encouraged that talent by having Gordan do art for the school bulletin boards ads and decorating classrooms. His father showed little faith in life as an artist so he trained Gordan in the family business, as a Barber. However, Gordan showed little interest in being a Barber.  

Gordan attended high school in Battle Creek, Michigan. He was a very charming young man and had a taste for high-quality clothes and the latest styles. He was 5'11" tall with blond hair and blue-eyes.  

Personal Life

In High school he noticed a 15-year-old young lady named, Cleo Carus Ross, and her great legs. She was 1 1/2 year his junior, so when she was just 16 and Gordan 18, they ran off to get married. They were headed to the nearest town that had a Justice of the Peace.  As they were on their way Carus got hungry, so they stopped to eat. In the meantime, Mr. Ross, Carus’ Father, hired a “Plainclothesman” to track them down. Because they stopped to eat, he was able to catch up with them and told Carus she had to go home. He escorted her back to Battle Creek. Gordan accompanied them on the train but once they got to Battle Creek, Gordan couldn’t follow them by taxi because he had spent his last nickel. So, he ran all the way to the Ross home. Breathlessly he told Mrs. Ross, “In just two more years Carus won’t need your permission to get married, and you might as well know I intend to marry her.” Impressed with his headstrongness, Mrs. Ross promised to send Gordon to art school if he would wait until Carus was 18 to marry her. So Gordan accepted and studied art at Pilsworth School in Battle Creek. After Carus was 18 they were married February 20, 1911. In their first years together, Gordan worked on and off as a barber to pay for art supplies.

In 1915 Their first child Margaret was born, and they moved to Detroit, Michigan, where they would work for many years to come. Carus gave birth to seven children in all, two of which died very young. These tragedies affected both Carus and Gordan greatly.  

In 1915 they rented a little cottage on Clark Lake, Michigan for two summers then bought the cottage for $700. This cottage would prove to be not only a loving home for their ever-growing family, but also a place that Gordan would use to do all the things he loved including painting, fishing, sailing, walking, golfing, and spending time with his own family and extended family.  

Carus was Gordan’s greatest critic and fan. That is the only time they would argue, was over Gordan’s paintings. Gordan’s talented hands were insured by Lloyd’s of London so he didn’t help Carus around the house as other men do. He would sometimes trade paintings for work on his house.  

In 1922, at the age of 31 Gordan was about to realize his dream of going to Europe. Then as they were on their way out the door, he was unable to go due to unforeseen circumstances. His dream was not realized until 1972 when he was finally able to go to Europe with his daughter Margaret. There he fully enjoyed the Louvre as well as other art attractions.  

Gordon and Carus were very generous.  There was never a time when friends or family would be unwelcome. When Gordan’s second cousin died, Gordan and Carus took in his wife and two children into their home. Gordan and Carus were inseparable; people would never think of one without the other. They complimented each other so well. In 1949 Carus was diagnosed with cancer, and the doctors said she would not live. This affected Gordan greatly, and he even stopped painting for a time. Carus surprised everyone by living for another 27 years.  

In 1966 Gordon and Carus retired to their cabin on Clark Lake. From then on, they wintered in California and spent their summers at Clark Lake. Gordon stayed physically active, often walking two miles a day. He loved to fish and was inspired by those fishing trips where he saw sailboats.  

After 1970 and the death of their oldest son, Carus’ health slowly started to decline. Carus died in 1976 and their family surrounded Gordon for the last time at her memorial service on July 4, 1977. Gordan shortly followed his beloved Carus in death on November 12, 1977.

Career

Gordan's career really began during World War I when he painted a few War posters, but he was mainly used to illustrate service manuals, such as how to use a rifle. During the war, Gordon introduced a new dimension to the art field---three-dimensional color. He would illustrate the parts of a rifle as if it were “blown apart” Labeling each piece so the soldier could see how to put it together. Today’s instructions of this type are derived from Gordan Krieghoff’s ingenuity.  

In 1915 Gordan was commissioned by Jackson, Michigan’s Earl Motor Company for advertisements. In 1919 Gordan was able to open his own advertising studio. At times he would employ as many as 17 artists. By 1920 he would provide works for such companies as Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, Packard, Graham-Paige, and Hudson, Paige Jewett. With his automobile brochure, his drawing would show the parts of the engines and how the pieces all went together. This was the first time automobile companies could offer such a full color, three-dimensional brochure to customers. Gordan loved this work because he loved color. Gordon loved to use color in his paintings as illustrated in....

In later years he taught Art at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan for two years. He had a hard time convincing young artists to use color. Gordon often said they were, “Afraid of color.”  

Gordan won an award for Outstanding artistry for a self-portrait billboard which he painted for Farm Crest Bakeries. (Shown Here)    He had accounts at his advertising agency with Farm Crest Bakeries, Dolly Madison Bakeries, Hiram walker Whiskey, Ivory Soap Co. and Heinz foods, Schering Corp Ltd a pharmaceutical Company in Montreal. To mention just a few. He won an award from Chicago Art League for best advertising poster of the year. Gordan’s exacting character studies set his work apart from that of other artists in the commercial field.  

The Great Depression affected Gordon’s advertising business like it affected everyone else. He had to let all of the 17 artists go.  During this time is when Gordan taught Art at Marygrove College and ran a business out of his home, often working in his studio until 2 or 3 in the morning.  

In 1953 Gordan wanted to retire, so he closed his commercial art studio after 34 years of being in business starting from 1919-1953. He painted every day after that. Carus would have to pull him away to eat or sleep. Between 1953 and 1968, Gordon sold over 500 paintings.  

Gordon held membership at the Lion’s Club, the Society of Western Artists and Peninsula Art League in Burlingame. His art was featured at Clark Lake Community Church, Savings and Loan Association in West Covina and other commercial buildings. He also would leave paintings at Obrian Art Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona to sell.  Art displays were held all over the country for Gordan right up to his death in 1977. He was paid for his work from 1911-1976. However, Paintings done in 1976 lacked detail due to his poor eyesight.

Style & Works

Gordan choices for his medium included, Oil,  watercolor, pastel, acrylic and dry brush. His subjects ranged from still-life to scenery to portraits. Gordan had the ability to capture fleeting expressions, gestures and character. One of his trade-marks was the realism of his paintings. In fact, Gordon went to New York for one week to take lessons from an art teacher who also taught Norma Rockwell. This art teacher specialty was “transparency” by realism. She said that Mr. Rockwell and Mr. Krieghoff were the only two students in all her years of teaching that ever mastered the technique.  

Since Gordan often spent time on the water, he was able to master sailboat paintings and that was easily what he became best remembered for. Gordon loved children and sometimes even used his own little ones as models. Many of his paintings with children and animals were used as advertisements. He once used one little girl in several paintings shown at various angles and with different expressions in each painting, so that people thought it was five different little girls

Gordan Krieghoff was able to capture not only the likeness of his subjects but also personalities. Gordan enjoyed painting Portraits but didn’t want to be known as a portrait artist. He painted Arturo Toscanini “The Maestro” & Jascha Heifetz for fun but he also painted celebrities such as Fred Waring and Sir Edmund Hillary who sought out his talent for their portraits.

Gordan painted Native Americans from tribes in Southwestern US and South America including Sioux, Chyenne, Navajo and Peruvian. Gordan's paintings of people around the globe illustrate his love for people everywhere. Areas such as Polynesian, India; Himalayan, Yangtze River, Holland, San Francisco, Canada, Oregon, Montana, Michigan, California, Mexico, Wyoming, Maryland.  

He showed such versatility as an artist as shown in by the subject matter, style and detail. Gordan often put people in his landscapes to add interest. And he was able to introduce suspense even in landscapes.  

Gordan Krieghoff and his work were featured in such newspapers as The Exponent, Better Living, The Magazine of The Women's City Club, where he created the cover for their magazine, Early Detroit: St. Mary's Hospital, as well as many others. ,

Criticism  

At times Gordon took photos of subjects or scenes and did such a flawless representation that people could not tell the difference. His art was so realistic that they were sometimes mistaken for photos, this ability did not go unnoticed by critics or art enthusiasts. He could take subjects from one scene and plant them in another. While no two paintings were identical, they could be very similar. And a few of Gordon’s pieces were so similar to other works that he was criticized for copying or lack of imagination.