Gerald K. Geerlings

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Gerald K. Geerlings
Jacob Devers congratulates Geerlings after presenting him the Legion of Merit at a ceremony in Middlesex, England on October 16, 1943
Born	(1897-04-18)April 18, 1897 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died	January 25, 1998(1998-01-25) (aged 100) New Canaan, Connecticut
Resting place	Darien, Connecticut 41.0608° N, 73.4844° W
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Known for	Architectural prints
Spouse(s)	Betty F. Geerlings (née Edmunds)

Gerald Kenneth Geerlings (April 18, 1897 – January 25, 1998) was an American artist, printmaker, architect, and author.

Geerlings is known for his early-20th century architectural etchings, aquatints, and intaglio prints depicting the rise of American metropolises and urbanization during the interwar period.

His prints showcase the Gilded Age and Art Deco architecture of American cities, often depicting the skylines and early skyscrapers of New York City and Chicago.

Biography[]

Geerlings was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 18, 1897.

He lived most of his life in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he died on January 25, 1998, at the age of 100.^[1]

Early life[]

As a young man, Geerlings worked as an architectural draftsman and newspaper reporter. He then enrolled in art school. However, with the start of World War I, he was forced to interrupt his education and career ambitions to enlist in the U.S. Army.

Military career[]

World War I[]

In 1917, Geerlings began his military service with the 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery Regiment (also known as the "Red Fox Battalion") in Wisconsin Rapids.^[2] While with the Red Fox Battalion, Geerlings joined the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.^[3] By 1918, Geerlings had been promoted to second lieutenant.^[4]

His entire division was soon ordered to Europe. The 120th Field Artillery Landed at Liverpool, England and then traveled by rail to South Hampton and across the English Channel to Le Havre, France. The 120th Field Artillery went into action in the Château-Thierry sector on August 1, 1918, in support of the 32nd Divisional Artillery.^[5] After the 32nd Divisional Artillery had taken Juivgay, it was relieved by the 2nd Moroccan Division, which included the famous French Foreign Legion. The 120th Field Artillery remained in the line of support to the Foreign Legion, assisting in blasting a path for the final charge of the Foreign Legion.^[6]

World War II[]

Gerald Geerlings returned to the military to fight in World War II, this time joining the U.S. Army Air Forces. In 1942, while serving as captain in the Command Office of the 8th Special Operations Squadron in England, Geerlings spearheaded critical cartographic innovations for the U.S. Air Force. Adept at aerial perspective drawings, Geerlings devised target maps to aid Allied bombers in key aerial military campaigns. Geerlings originated and developed the "Target Identification Unit", and later became an intelligence officer.^[3] He went on to serve in both the European and the Pacific theaters of World War II.

In 1943, Geerlings was awarded the Legion of Merit medal with an oak leaf cluster for his navigational and bombing innovations, which were used in the Battle of Ploiești.^[7] He retired from active service in 1945 holding the rank of colonel. Between 1948 and 1952, Geerlings served as a part-time civilian consultant to the Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.^[8] In 1953, Gerrlings finally ended his long chapter as an active member of the armed forces.

Education[]

Undergraduate and graduate work[]

During World War I, Geerlings spent a number of years abroad. He was stationed in both England and France. Though his plans to complete his schooling had been by global conflict, after spending 18 months as a commissioned officer in France, he was invited to study at St John's College, Cambridge in England.

After World War I, Geerlings resumed his academic pursuits in the United States. In 1919, he enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania School of Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, he earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree with summa cum laude honors in 1921, and received his Master of Architecture degree in 1922.

Geerlings was awarded the Arthur Spayd Brooke Memorial Prize in his senior and graduate years of study (receiving a silver medal and gold medal for his achievements, respectively).^[9] That same year, Geerlings won second place in the national Rome Prize competition, hosted by the American Academy in Rome.^[7]

Post-graduate work[]

In the fall of 1924, Geerlings received a Woodman Traveling Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania, allowing him one year's travel abroad.^[10] With that, Geerling embarked on a chapter of international travels and academic research. For the next eight years, Geerlings traveled between New York City and London in six-month intervals. While abroad, Gerald sketched constantly and honed his knowledge of European architecture, metalworking, and printmaking.

Gerald K. Geerlings pictured with his wife, Betty F. Geerlings (1924).

In 1928, Geerlings enrolled in an etching course at London's Royal College of Art, which he completed in 1932.^[11] Inspired by London's neoclassical architecture and his growing interest in lithography, Geerlings published his first academic project in 1928 with the help of his wife, Betty Filby Geerlings.

Published by Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, Color Schemes of Adam Ceilings compiled a limited collection of colorful lithographs, made from watercolor sketches that Betty and Gerald created together. These prints carefully reproduced original architectural studies of Robert Adam, whose renowned ornate designs graced many interiors of great English homes and estates.^[12]

Following the success of his folio of lithographs, Geerlings used his European research work to publish two books in 1929.

His first book explored metalworking and its applications in architecture (Metal Crafts in Architecture: Bronze, Brass, Cast Iron, Copper, Lead, Lighting Fixtures, Tin, Specifications).^[13]

In his second book published that year, Geerlings detailed the varieties of wrought iron decor found in classic European architecture (Wrought Iron in Architecture: Wrought Iron Craftsmanship; Historical Notes and Illustrations of Wrought Iron in Italy, Spain, France, Holland; Fixtures and Knockers; Specifications).^[14] These books remain reference works on the subjects of metalworking and wrought iron.

Architecture and graphic design[]

Upon the completion of his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Gerald Geerlings joined the New York architectural firm of York & Sawyer alongside etcher and architect Louis C. Rosenberg. He then went on to work at Starrett & Van Vleck, but ultimately decided to open his own architectural practice. During the 44 years of his architectural practice, Geerlings became an accomplished draftsman, designing personal residences, and assisting with land planning.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, Geerlings worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and a color 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.^[15] As a regular contributor, Geerlings authored articles and columns on the topic of domestic architecture.^[15]

As a product consultant for companies such as Kohler Company, Remington-Rand, and Spalding, Geerlings assisted with product designs and their patents.^[16]

Art[]

Historical context[]

The turn of the 20th century ushered in a period of increased wealth and urbanization in the United States. The interwar years and the economic boom of 1920's led to a frenzy of real estate speculation and commercial development.

Technological innovations such as tube-frame structures, elevators, fireproofing, and structural steel led to the nation's first skyscraper projects, most notably in America's new financial centers, New York City and Chicago.^[17] Buildings now reached previously-unseen heights. As described by historian Merrill Schleier, the 1920's set off a period of "skyscraper mania."^[18]

These architectural constructions became showcases of the period's popular aesthetic styles. Their designs were infused with elements of the Art-Deco movement, the Beaux-Arts architecture movement, the Chicago School of architecture, and neoclassical architecture.^[19]

Early work[]

Geerlings made his first print in 1926. During his early printmaking career (1926–1932), Geerlings created fewer than sixty prints.^[7]

In short time, Geerlings became well-known for his meticulously-detailed and "architecturally precise" intaglio prints, aquatints, and etchings featuring early-20th century urban American architecture.^[15] His preferred subjects were the famed skylines of New York City and Chicago.^[15] These breakthrough cityscapes would become his most recognizable and iconic works.

In these early works, Geerlings captured the nation's booming urban metropolises and their architectural transformation. With names like Colossus, The Vertical Mile, and Olympus, Gerald's etchings captured the zeitgeist of urban pre-war America. Gerald's depictions of urban constructions were a testament to this period's collective optimism, society's belief in human progress, and the nation's confidence in boundless growth and opportunities.^[15]

Geerlings' works were well-received by critics and peers, resulting in numerous awards and exhibitions.^[15] In 1931, Geerlings won his first award for a print from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for his print Jeweled City.^[20] In 1933, Geerlings was awarded the First Prize for "Best Etching" for his work Grand Canal, America at the Century of Progress Chicago World's Fair exhibition.^[21] Geerlings's prints were also prominently exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair.^[22]

Later work[]

Despite the critical acclaim received for his early prints, the economic conditions of the Great Depression forced Geerlings to temporarily abandon printmaking.^[23] He spent the next four decades exploring commercial opportunities through his architectural practice and authoring additional books on metalworking and wrought iron.^[15]

In the 1970s, Geerlings resumed printmaking. In these later years of his career, Geerlings experimented with a variety of mediums in his artworks, including colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, and "new type[s] of lithographic pencil and aluminum plate, that produce[d] the effect of a soft-ground etching."^[15] This was a departure from his early signature monochromatic aquatint, ink, and graphite works.

He produced a "highly praised" collection of drawings and lithographs of Paris,^[15] which were published in the volume, Paris Along the Seine.^[24] Geerlings also created a collection of architectural drawings as a homage to New York's Bicentennial celebrations.^[22]

In 1980, Geerlings donated much of his work to the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives.^[25] 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.^[3]

Published books[]

• Color Schemes of Adam Ceilings (1928)^[12]
• Wrought Iron in Architecture: Wrought iron craftsmanship; historical notes and illustrations of wrought iron in Italy, Spain, France, Holland, fixtures and knockers; Specifications (1st Edition) (1929)^[14]
• Metal Crafts in Architecture: Bronze, Brass, Cast Iron, Copper, Lead, Lighting Fixtures, Tin, Specifications (1st Edition) (1929)^[13]
• Wrought Iron in Architecture: Wrought iron craftsmanship; historical notes and illustrations of wrought iron in Italy, Spain, France, Holland, fixtures and knockers; Specifications (Reprint) (1957)
• Metal Crafts in Architecture; Bronze, Brass, Cast Iron, Copper, Lead, Lighting Fixtures, Tin, Specifications (2nd Edition) (1957)^[26]
• Wrought Iron in Architecture (1972)^[27]
• Wrought Iron in Architecture: An Illustrated Survey (1984)^[28]
• Gerald K. Geerlings (1984)^[3]
• Paris Along the Seine (1987)^[24]

Museum collections[]

Today, Geerlings' works can be found in the permanent collections of many museums, including:

• The Whitney Museum of American Art^[29]
• The British Museum^[30]
• Smithsonian American Art Museum^[31]
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art^[32]
• The National Gallery of Art^[33]
• The Art Institute of Chicago^[34]
• The Victoria and Albert Museum^[35]
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art^[36]
• The Delaware Museum of Art^[37]
• The Brooklyn Museum^[38]
• The Carter Museum of American Art^[39]
• The Gibbes Museum^[40]
• The Mattatuck Museum^[41]
• The Princeton University Art Museum^[42]
• The Davis Museum at Wellesley College^[43]
• Grinnell College Museum of Art^[44]
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art^[45]
• Indianapolis Museum of Art^[46]
• Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum^[47]

References[]

External links[]

• Geerlings' website