by John Tucker

1914 – 2004

Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, names Gerome Kamrowski as the most authentic of the American Surrealists and lauded him for the quality, originality, and experimentalism of his work. Robert Motherwell called Gerry “the most Surrealist of us all.”

Kamrowski was born in Warren, Minnesota on January 29, 1914. He began his study of Art at the St. Paul School of Art. He left his home state in 1932 and went to New York City the following year where he took classes at the Art Students League. He returned to St. Paul to work on the Mural program in the Works Progress Administration in Minnesota about 1935. His exposure to Surrealist ideas, then much in fashion, came through not only his art studies but also publications. In 1937 he left Minnesota again to attend the short-lived new Bauhaus School in Chicago with his life-long friend, Richard Pavlichek, where both Alexander Archipenko and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy were instructors.

Max Ernst, a European Surrealist, was married to Peggy Guggenheim. She brought over a whole troupe of the Surrealists from Europe in her airplane, including Andre Breton. That same year Kamrowski was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and attended the Hans Hofmann School in Provincetown, MA. Returning to New York City, the year 1941 marked the beginning of Kamrowski’s dedication to Surrealism. Gerry met Andre Breton. Kamrowski was one of the first American artists to experiment with automatism, becoming more involved as his friendships with William Baziotes and Jackson Pollock developed, and he adopted many related techniques such as frottage, fumage, and the pouring of pigment.

The Chilean Surrealist Roberto Matta was a significant influence on Kamrowski’s work, as was the French artist Andre Masson. Gerry remained a committed Surrealist and continued his association with the European Surrealists following their departure from New York after World War II.

Gerry moved from New York City to Ann Arbor in 1946 after the death of his first wife, Maryanna Fargione, the mother of his eldest son, Felix. He became a professor at the University of Michigan School of Art, choosing Ann Arbor because it was half-way between St. Cloud, MN, where his family was caring for his son, Felix, and New York City. He achieved the position of professor emeritus from the U. of M. School of Art after nearly 40 years of service. Kamrowski’s work is exhibited in many prestigious collections, including New York’s Guggenheim Museum, the MOMA, the Whitney Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Phillips Collection, The Corcoran Gallery,the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Art.

With his second wife, Edith Dines, he fathered a second son, Kirby J. Kamrowski, who preceded him death.

In 1965. he married Mary Jane Dodman, his loving companion for forty years; she survives him. Also surviving are children Felix Kamrowski of Denver, CO,  Cynthia Fordon and husband, Gary; John R. Tucker, Jr. and wife, Thelma; and Melissa Bailey and husband Patrick. Also surviving are grandchildren Kelly Kamrowski, Charlotte Tucker, Michael Tucker and wife Megan, Sean Tucker, Katherine Bailey, and Jordan Bailey, and sister Helen Spies of St. Paul, MN.  A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at 11:00AM at MUEHLIG FUNERAL CHAPEL. The family will receive visitors from 10:00am until the time of services.  Those wishing may make memorial contributions to Arbor Hospice.

Gerry recently said of his work, “I don’t like to put labels on my sculptures or my paintings. I don’t like to say they’re surrealist, or cubist, or whatever. I hope my art puts people in a certain frame of mind, and that it isn’t just intellectual. I hope they feel a certain way, maybe happy. When you see the Grand Canyon or the ocean, you must feel a certain way. There are no labels for that.”