The Hockaday Museum of Art is hosting a long term exhibition dedicated to one of the most tallented, yet sadly rather unknown American artists, John Fery (1859 - 1934), best remembered today for his impressive landscapes depicting the US nature.
 | John Fery was born Johann Nepomuk Levy, in Strasswalchen, Austria on the 25th of March 1859. The future artist studied at the Vienna Academy of Art and in 1883 emigrated to Wisconsin, changing the name to John Fery. He would return to Europe, where he married Mary Rose Kraemer and in 1885 the family moved to Milwaukee. Over the next years the artist often left his family, living and working in the West, where he found the best landscapes. |
He caught the attention of Louis Hill, of the Great Northern Railway, who decided to hire him for the "See America First" campaign. So, from 1910 to 1913 Fery would work for the Great Northern, completing 347 oil compositions, mostly landscapes. These would eventually be used to decorate the lodges of the Glacier National Park, ticket agent offices, depots of the company, and the name of the artist became rather popular. Also, Fery produced several paintings for the Many Glacier Hotel. He returned to his family for good in 1923. Or so he thought, for two years later he was once again approached by Louis Hill.
This time, Fery had the task of making 4 - 6 paintings every month, a deal that he accepted gladly. After 1929, in a dramatic fire, much of the latter work of the artist was destroyed, when his new studio burned down.
Photo : hockadayartmuseum.org
2007-09-28
