Nellie Knopf (1875-1962)
Nellie Knopf, known for still life and landscape paintings, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Nellie Knopf became a painter of mountain, pueblos, seascapes, and other outdoor scenes that brought her international recognition. She graduated with honors from the Art Institute of Chicago, a student of John Vanderpoel and Frederick Freer. For 43 years she taught and was Director of Art at Illinois State Woman’s College, later MacMurray College, in Jacksonville, Illinois. She managed to combine effective teaching with a successful painting career of her own. She sketched every summer from 1910 to 1917 with Charles Woodbury in Ogunguit, Maine, and beginning 1923, she traveled widely in the West during summers and sabbaticals, to paint the landscapes and pueblos of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, California, etc. She was deaf but overcame that handicap to do what was described as “miles of paintings” (Dawdy).
Information courtesy of Wickliff & Associates Auctioneers Inc.