Karlan, Gertrude (1901-1998)

Born in New York, from a young age Karlan’s artistic endeavors cut across different forms. In the early 1920s her orchestral compositions were performed at New York’s Third Street Music School Settlement; by 1931 she was composing (and playing) avant-garde pieces written for Léon Theramin’s new electronic instrument in collaboration with modern dancer Sophia Delza. Meanwhile she was, according to a 1927 news feature, one of the few women silversmiths in America and thinking of the decorative arts in terms of self-expression: “The rudest tribes and the most luxurious civilizations realized this fact. It is by their jewelry that we know them” (Gross). She was mentioned in Rockwell Kent’s influential Creative Art magazine, and several of her pieces were selected for the Museum of Modern Art’s 1946 show “Modern Handmade Jewelry”. 1 work at the Museum of Arts and Design. 4 more images at FAP.

Sources consulted: Pearl Gross / Universal Service, “Barbaric Gems in Favor,” San Francisco Examiner 30 Oct. 1927: 42.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Gertrude Karlan:

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Virginia Deer
Virginia Deer

We see at close range a female of Odocoileus virginianus, also known as white-tailed deer. Their range encompasses most of the United States, and they are the most numerous of that family here. Karlan’s painting depends less upon its anatomical accuracy than the proximity at which we view a living Virginia deer; her effect is that of extending a short, but unforgettable, moment of beholding one in the wild before the deer raises its white tail in alarm, and then is gone.

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