FERNBERGER

Gertrude Abercrombie (b. 1909, Austin, d. 1977, Chicago) studied at the University of Illinois and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A central fixture of Chicago’s mid century jazz and Hyde Park Arts scene, Abercrombie is often coined the “queen of bohemian artists.” Her painted dreamscapes feature recurring motifs inspired by her daily life, grounding components of her fantastical scenes in an identifiable reality. Abercrombie explains, “Surrealism is for me because I am a pretty realistic person but don’t like all I see. So I dream that it is changed. Then I change it to the way I want it. It is almost always pretty real. Only mystery and fantasy have been added. All foolishness has been taken out. It becomes my own dream.”

Selected solo exhibitions include the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Karma, New York; Illinois State Museum, Springfield; and Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Abercrombie’s work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Illinois State Museum, Springfield; Milwaukee Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.