Rollo, Joseph “Jo” (1904-2001)

Born Giuseppe Rollo in Ragusa, Italy, he immigrated with his family to the US in 1913 and lived in Chicago (the spelling of his name possibly dating to this time so as to differentiate him from a well-known boxer living in the city). He worked as a newsroom copy boy while studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, then moved to New York in the late 1920s. His work was exhibited in places like the Whitney Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, and at different venues in Woodstock, NY. Based upon extant works, Rollo appears to have moved easily between landscape, still life, and portrait genres. In 1934 the PWAP commissioned him to paint the portrait of Chicago mayor Edward Joseph Kelly (Chicago Tribune 15 Jan. 1934: 4). 3 works at the Whitney Museum of American Art. 3 works at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. 1 work at the National Gallery of Art. 1 work at Detroit Institute of the Arts. 2 works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 4 more images at FAP.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Jo Rollo:

Featured
September Bouquet
September Bouquet

The vividness of this still life is the result of its muted brown background, combined with Rollo’s free use of white paint to highlight the tips of flowers in a vase. Shadows from light at the left side of his painting are minimized, creating an effect of the bouquet glowing with an illumination of its own. Casual field flowers thus transform a subdued domestic space.

Yellow Bouquet
Yellow Bouquet

A white vase, holding what appears to be baby’s breath and several varieties of marigolds, sits upon a table. Its blaze of yellow, orange, and red overwhelms muted pinks and mauves of the table covering and wallpaper. Rollo accentuates this emphasis through his extemporaneous patterning of the wallpaper, a casual backdrop to the painting’s more detailed flowers. Note: this digital image comes from a photograph taken during the 1990s; the painting has disappeared from the New Deal Gallery.

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