Gertrude Abercrombie
Blue-chip#10
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
8/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
9/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
9/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
1/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
1/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
Auction Record
$864,100
Silo at Aledo (1953)
November 20, 2024
- Pricing
- Current 2023 2025
- Low End
- $20,000-$50,000 USD (small works, less significant)
- High End
- $150,000-$500,000 USD (important works)
- Mid Range
- $50,000-$150,000 USD (typical small to medium works)
- Masterworks
- $500,000-$900,000 USD (major paintings)
- Historical Low Pre 2020
- $600-$20,000 USD
- Median Price Progression
- 2021
- $55,000
- 2022
- $125,000
- 2023
- $100,000
- 2024 Avg 12 Months
- $182,687
- Transition Period 2020 2022
- $15,000-$100,000 USD
- Auction History
- Date
- November 20, 2024
- Work
- Silo at Aledo (1953)
- Price
- $864,100 USD
- Venue
- Bonhams New York
- Significance
- 83% increase over previous record, sold 8.5x low estimate
- Scale Premium
- Note
- Small works (postage stamp to postcard size) can command higher prices than larger works due to rarity and precision
- Sweet Spot
- 1950s paintings - described as artist's best period
- Previous Records
Work Date Price Venue Note The Magician (1956) September 2024 $469,900 USD Freeman's/Hindman Small work (8 x 10 inches), 6x estimate The Dinosaur (1964) February 2022 $387,500 USD Hindman — Self and Cat (Possims) (1953) September 2022 $375,000 USD Hindman 34 x 24 inches, rare larger scale for artist - Market Statistics
- Top 20 Prices
- 16 of top 20 set in last 7 months (as of Sept 2022)
- Lowest Overall
- $875 for Clown and Pedestal (1939) woodcut, Heritage Auctions 2022
- Lowest Painting
- $1,150 for Black Cat (1957), Sotheby's Chicago 1998
- Works Over 100k
- 60+ works
- Price Range Lifetime
- $600 - $864,100 USD
- Total Auction Results
- 305+ artworks at auction (MutualArt data)
- Estimate Performance 2023
- 70% of works exceeded high estimate
- Sell Through Rate Last 3 Years
- 95%+
- Collector Warnings
- Fakes
- Market growth has attracted forgers - expert authentication essential
- Condition
- Critical factor given age and materials (oil on masonite common)
- Authenticity
- Dr. Susan Weininger (Roosevelt University) is leading authentication expert
- Provenance Issues
- Artist sold and gifted works directly throughout career - record-keeping imperfect
- Major Sales Events
- Maurer Collection 2022
- Date: September 28, 2022; Lots: 21 artworks; Title: Casting Spells: The Gertrude Abercrombie Collection of Laura and Gary Maurer; Total: $2.8 million; Venue: Hindman, Chicago; Top Lot: Self and Cat (Possims) - $375,000; Sell Through: 20 of 21 sold (95%); Significance: Single-owner, single-artist sale; all lots met or exceeded estimates
- Recent Sales 2024 2025
Work Date Venue Silo at Aledo, 1953 November 20, 2024 Bonhams Snail, 1967 November 19, 2024 Sotheby's The Flight, 1949 November 19, 2024 Sotheby's Carnations, 1960 December 11, 2024 Auction closed Owl for Emil, 1958 February 20, 2025 Auction closed Blue Shell, 1956 (oil on board, 10.8 x 13.7 cm) May 14, 2025 Bonhams
- Market Position
- Liquidity
- High - works appear regularly at major auction houses
- Trajectory
- Dramatic upward trend from 2021-2024
- Broader Trend
- Part of larger Surrealism revival and renewed interest in women artists
- Auction Houses
- Bonhams, Sotheby's, Christie's, Freeman's/Hindman, Wright, Toomey & Co.
- Relative Value
- Still considered bargain compared to European Surrealists (who command 7+ figures)
- Price Volatility
- Stable upward trajectory with strong demand
- Comparable Movements
- Magic Realism, mid-century female surrealists (Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo)
- Key Inflection Points
- 2018: Karma Gallery NYC exhibition (first NY solo since 1952)2022: Hindman single-artist sale breakthrough2024-2025: Major museum retrospective driving further demand
- Market Characterization
- Former 'regional Chicago thing' now national/international market
Institutional Presence
- Exhibitions
- Solo Exhibitions
Dates Venue January 18 - June 1, 2025 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh August 9 - September 23, 2018 Karma Gallery, New York January 20 - March 4, 2018 Elmhurst Art Museum 1977 Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago March 18 - May 17, 1991 State of Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago July 28 - October 25, 1991 Illinois State Museum, Springfield 1940s Art Institute of Chicago 1940s-1950s Associated American Artists, New York 1952 Steven-Gross Gallery, Chicago - Recent Inclusions
Venue Timeframe Arts Club of Chicago Recent years Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Recent years Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark Recent years Marianne Boesky Gallery, NY Chelsea — - Major Group Exhibitions
Title Year Venue In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States 2012 Los Angeles County Museum of Art Extra Ordinary: Magic, Mystery, and Imagination in American Realism 2021 Georgia Museum of Art Supernatural America — — Chicago Society of Artists 1934 Chicago — — Katharine Kuh Gallery, Chicago — 1930s Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh 1939 World's Fair 1939 New York — — Art Institute of Chicago Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity
- Museum Collections
- Exhibition Peak
- Late 1930s through 1950s - exhibited widely in Chicago and New York
- Major Museum Collections
Works Institution 11 works (from museum API data) Art Institute of Chicago 11 works (from museum API data) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. 1 work - Out in the Country (1939) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Multiple works Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Large portion of collection Illinois State Museum, Springfield Collection holdings Milwaukee Art Museum Multiple works including 'Where or When (Things Past)' (1948) Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin Collection holdings DePaul Art Museum, Chicago Including 'Self-Portrait, the Striped Blouse' (1940) Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Including 'Charlie Parker's Favorite Painting' (1946) Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Including 'Letter from Karl' (circa 1940) Union League Club of Chicago - Note on Institutional Legacy
- Estate systematically placed works in major Midwest institutions; recent acquisitions by Whitney (2020) signal growing national recognition
- Awards and Recognition
Year Award 1936 Prize at Art Institute of Chicago Annual Exhibition 1938 Prize at Art Institute of Chicago Annual Exhibition
Career & Biography
- Career
- Early Career
Years Role early 1930s Commercial illustrator - Mesirow Department Store (glove advertisements) early 1930s Commercial artist - Sears 1934-1940 WPA Federal Art Project painter
- Identity
- Birth
- Date
- February 17, 1909
- Location
- Austin, Texas, United States
- Death
- Date
- July 3, 1977
- Location
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Marriages
Divorced Married Spouse 1948 1940 Robert Livingston (lawyer) 1964 1948 Frank Sandiford (music critic, pen name Paul Warren) - Later Life
- Estate
- Gertrude Abercrombie Trust established, distributed her work and her collection to Midwest cultural institutions
- Health Decline
- From late 1950s - alcoholism, arthritis, financial troubles, became reclusive
- Ceased Painting
- After 1959, output diminished in number and scale
- Final Exhibition
- Major retrospective at Hyde Park Art Center, 1977
- Key Locations
- Primary Residence
- Hyde Park, Chicago (5728 South Dorchester) - Victorian house from 1940s-1977
- Artistic Inspiration
- Aledo, Illinois - father's hometown, source of landscape imagery (slaughterhouse ruins, pruned trees)
- Social Circle
- Writers
- Thornton WilderJames Purdy (featured her in his works)Saul Bellow
- Jazz Musicians
- Dizzy Gillespie (close friend, described her as 'the first bop artist')Charlie ParkerSarah VaughanSonny RollinsMax RoachJackie CainModern Jazz Quartet
- Musical Legacy
- Richie Powell wrote 'Gertrude's Bounce' inspired by her walk
- Hyde Park Salon
- Her Victorian house on South Dorchester Street was central to Chicago's bohemian art and jazz scene, 1940s-1960s
- Family Background
- Parents
- Tom and Lula Janes Abercrombie - traveling opera singers
- Upbringing
- Strict Christian Scientist household
- Early Locations
- Born in Austin (parents on tour), lived in Berlin 1913 (mother's career), Aledo Illinois 1915, settled Hyde Park Chicago 1916
- Artistic Development
- Influences
- René Magritte (called him her 'spiritual daddy')Gertrude Stein (met 1935, influenced approach to repetition and inside/outside)Giorgio de Chirico (architectural elements)Paul DelvauxJazz music - bebop aesthetics
- First Exhibition
- Chicago Society of Artists solo show, 1934
- Artistic Philosophy
- Self-described as largely self-taught; 'I am not interested in complicated things nor in the commonplace. I like to paint simple things that are a little strange. My work comes directly from my inner consciousness and it must come easily.' Also stated: 'I don't think I'm a very good painter but I do think I'm a good artist.'
- Began Serious Painting
- 1932
Artistic Profile
- Influences
- Influences and Context
- Jazz Bebop
- Flatted fifth' aesthetic - offbeat, way out there, improvisational, mysterious
- European Surrealism
- Magritte (primary influence), de Chirico (architecture), Tanguy (skies), but more American and pragmatic
- Influence on Others
- Chicago Imagists (Christina Ramberg, Jim Nutt, Roger Brown); contemporary artists like Christina Quarles and Loie Hollowell
- Midwest Regionalism
- Psychological landscape of Midwest, Aledo imagery, Chicago specificity
- American Magic Realism
- Part of broader American movement 1930s-1970s blending fantasy and realism
- Themes and Subjects
- Symbolic Meanings
- Choice
- Doors as thresholds, forking paths, decisions
- Duality
- Shadows that don't match figures, split personalities, inside/outside ambiguity
- Identity
- Self-portraits exploring different roles and facets
- Isolation
- Spare interiors, solitary figures, barren landscapes
- Interiority
- Room as psychic self-portrait, inner consciousness externalized
- Witch Imagery
- Brooms, cats, owls, black attire - embraced witch persona
- Recurring Subjects
- Solitary female figures (often self-portraits)
- Cats (black cats, familiar spirits)
- Owls
- Barren/dead trees (especially pruned tree from Aledo)
- Doors (freestanding, demolition doors)
- Moons (crescent and full)
- Shells
- Eggs
- Dominoes and dice
- Ladders
- Towers and pyramids
- Carnations (pink)
- Victorian furniture
- Gloves
- Masks
- Paintings within paintings
- Movements and Periods
- Signature Works
Title Year Significance Silo at Aledo 1953 Auction record holder, iconic Aledo landscape Charlie Parker's Favorite Painting 1946 Political work with lynching imagery (noose in tree), jazz connection Self-Portrait, the Striped Blouse 1940 Key self-portrait, last year of WPA The Magician 1956 Second-highest auction price, small work (8x10 inches) Self and Cat (Possims) 1953 Rare larger scale (34x24 inches), artist with her cat Demolition Doors 1964 Response to Hyde Park urban renewal and racial displacement The Door and the Rock 1971 Late work, signature door series Out in the Country 1939 Recent major museum acquisition (2020) - Art Historical Positioning
- Peers
- Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo (female surrealists); Ivan Albright (Chicago dark surrealism); Peter Blume, George Tooker (American Magic Realists)
- Legacy
- Expanded boundaries of American modernism beyond New York; prefigured Chicago Imagists; model for autobiographical surrealist practice
- Movement
- American Surrealism / Magic Realism / Midwestern Surrealism
- Distinctiveness
- Only major female surrealist based in Chicago; unique fusion of European surrealism, American regionalism, jazz aesthetics, and feminist autobiography
- Current Relevance
- Resonates with contemporary concerns about identity, isolation, witchcraft/occult revival, feminist revisionism
- Techniques and Mediums
- Scale
- Mostly small (postage stamp to postcard size common), occasionally medium (24x30 inches rare), almost never large
- Palette
- Restrained - greys, whites, blacks with occasional rich tones (azure, forest green, shell pink, oxblood); grey skies often infused with purples and blues
- Materials
- Oil on canvas, oil on masonite, oil on board
- Technique
- Self-taught approach, criticized for drawing ability (reportedly couldn't draw legs well, hence long skirts), but effective compositional sense
- Painting Style
- Precise, controlled, smooth surfaces
- Working Method
- From inner consciousness, dreams, real objects and places transformed; easy, intuitive process; selection and reduction
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Key Scholars
Name Affiliation Contribution Role Dr. Susan Weininger Professor Emerita of Art History, Roosevelt University, Chicago — Leading scholar, authentication expert Robert Cozzolino — Essays on her artistic context and jazz connections Curator and Abercrombie scholar Eric Crosby Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art — Co-curator of major 2025 retrospective Sarah Humphreville Lunder Curator of American Art, Colby College Museum of Art — Co-curator of major 2025 retrospective Jeffrey Richmond-Moll — Curator of 'Extra Ordinary: Magic Realism' exhibition, scholarship on American Magic Realism — - Dissertations
- Growing academic interest
- Major Reviews
Date Note Publication April 2025 Featured review in April 2025 issue Artforum March 2025 — Art in America Multiple articles 2022-2025 — Artnet News March 2025 — Frieze April 2025 issue Major feature article Apollo Magazine March 2025 Art criticism specialist publication Two Coats of Paint March 15, 2025 — Wall Street Journal 2025 Exhibition coverage Hyperallergic February 13, 2025 — New City Lit 2022 — The Art Newspaper — Featured in articles (MutualArt data) ArtLyst — Featured in articles (MutualArt data) Observer February 2025 — Puck - Archival Resources
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art - extensive papers collection (5.9 linear feet, 1880-1986)
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Status
- No published catalogue raisonné
- Authentication
- Dr. Susan Weininger serves as authentication expert
- Documentation Challenges
- Artist sold/gifted works directly, imperfect record-keeping
- Critical Consensus
- Key Quotes
- Dizzy Gillespie: 'She was the first bop artist. Bop in the sense that she has taken the essence of our music and transported it to another art form.'
- Abercrombie: 'Incongruity is the secret of art.'
- Abercrombie: 'I don't think I'm a very good painter but I do think I'm a good artist.'
- Roberta Smith (NYT critic): Exhibition afforded artist 'a new visibility that should be coaxed into an even greater fullness.'
- Classification
- American Surrealist, Magic Realist (though never perfectly categorized)
- Distinctiveness
- Distinctly American, female voice to European male-dominated Surrealism; terser, more pragmatic sensibility than European counterparts
- Key Characteristics
- Personal iconography (cats, owls, doors, moons, barren trees, shells)Autobiographical content transformed through dreamsSmall-scale works with meticulous detailRestrained palette (greys, whites, blacks, occasional rich tones)Repetition as strategy (influenced by Gertrude Stein)Jazz/bebop sensibility - 'flatted fifth' aestheticPaintings within paintings, inside/outside ambiguity
- Critical Reception Evolution
- 1930s-1950s: Successful local (Chicago) reputation, critical praise
- 1960s-1990s: Largely forgotten, 'regional' artist
- 2018-present: Major revival, national/international recognition
- Current: Positioned as important American modernist, influence on contemporary artists
- Institutional Interest
- High and growing - major museums organizing exhibitions
- Conference Presentations
- Increasingly featured in American art and Surrealism conferences
- Publications and Media
- Podcasts
- Gertrude's Bounce playlist (Spotify) curated for Carnegie exhibition by John Corbett
- Broadcast
- Studs Terkel interview July 1977 (shortly before death)
- Recent Surge
- 2024-2025 retrospective generating extensive press
- Social Media
- Growing Instagram and online presence through galleries and museums
- Major Publications
Title Year Significance Essays Publisher Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery 2025 Definitive scholarly volume, 200+ color images Katie Anania, Donna Cassidy, John Corbett, includes Studs Terkel interview Carnegie Museum of Art / Colby College Museum of Art Gertrude Abercrombie 2018 First major monograph, accompanied Karma Gallery exhibition Robert Storr, Susan Weininger, Robert Cozzolino, Dinah Livingston (daughter), Studs Terkel interview Karma Books, New York Gertrude Abercrombie 1991 Exhibition catalogue, early scholarly treatment — Illinois State Museum
Gallery & Representation
- Representation
- Address
- 188 East 2nd Street, New York
- Relationship
- Represents estate, began showing 2018
- Significance
- Tastemaker gallery credited with reviving her market and reputation
- Other Dealers
Name Note Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York Currently showing work at multiple venues Ortuzar Projects, New York Has shown work Lincoln Glenn Gallery, New York Private collection works Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery, Montecito Shown in exhibitions Schoelkopf Gallery Exhibition supporter - Market Presence
- Art Fairs
- Work appears at major fairs through representing galleries
- Availability
- Limited - estate controls supply, works increasingly held by museums and collectors
- Secondary Market
- Strong presence at Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Hindman/Freeman's, Wright
- Primary Gallery
- Karma, New York (East Village)
- Estate Management
- Trust
- Gertrude Abercrombie Trust
- Executor
- Don Baum (artist/curator, Hyde Park Art Center, d. after organizing 1977 retrospective)
- Current Management
- Works through galleries including Karma
- Distribution Strategy
- Systematic placement in cultural institutions, selective market release
- Pricing Structure
- Price Drivers
- Size (small works premium), period (1950s peak), subject matter (self-portraits, door series command premiums), provenance, condition
- Primary Market
- Contact Karma Gallery for available works and current pricing
- Secondary Market Transparency
- High - regular auction results provide price guidance
- Historical Gallery Representation
- Note
- Artist 'peddled her wares' at art fairs, sold directly to collectors, gave works to friends - unconventional distribution
- Primary Sales Channels
- Katharine Kuh Gallery, Chicago (1930s-1940s exhibitions)Marshall Field's department store gallery (1960s)57th Street Art Fair, Hyde Park (direct sales)Direct sales and gifts to friends/collectors from her home
- Lifetime Representation
- Never had major gallery representation during lifetime
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