Gerrit Sinclair

American, 1890 - 1955


Gerrit V. Sinclair’s paintings chronicled American life in Wisconsin and the Midwest from the 1920s through the 1950s. While he served in Italy during World War I as an ambulance driver and also painted in Paris in 1930, Sinclair largely ignored modern European trends in art in favor of developing a warm figurative style that embraced the dignity of life in ordinary American towns and rural locales. Sinclair’s regionalist views of the American scene focus on the “virtues of family, patriotism, hard work and the simple pleasures of daily life”. An instructor at the Layton School of Art, Sinclair influenced numerous young artists getting their start in Milwaukee. In addition, Sinclair worked for the WPA during the Great Depression, completing murals entitled “Lumbering” and “Rural Mail” for the Federal Building in Wasau, Wisconsin.

Gerrit Sinclair’s paintings were exhibited at such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Carnegie Institute of Art, Pittsburgh; the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, The Century of Progress ; the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., among others.

  • Fall Landscape, ca. 1930
    Oil on canvas
    25 1/2 x 32 inches

    Signed G.V. Sinclair, upper right.

    #4428
  • Untitled (Paris Street), ca. 1928
    Oil on Masonite
    16 x 12 inches

    Signed G.V. Sinclair lower right

    #2603
  • Park St. Cloud, 1929-30
    Oil on canvas
    21 1/4 x 32 inches

    Signed G.V. Sinclair, lower right.

    #7819
  • Port Vicennes, 1930
    Watercolor on paper
    14 1/2 x 21 inches

    Signed, titled and dated G.V. Sinclair, lower right; Signed, titled and dated on reverse

    #17107
  • Cherry Street Bridge, 1928
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    15 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches

    Signed and dated G.V. Sinclair '28 lower right; signed, titled, dated and numbered on reverse.

    #4450
  • North Avenue (Near Jake's Deli), 1932
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    15 1/4 x 22 inches

    Signed and dated G.V. Sinclair '32 lower right; signed titled and dated on reverse.

    #2815
  • Milwaukee Lake Front, 1947
    Tempera over watercolor on paper
    15 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches

    Signed and dated Gerrit Sinclair 1947 upper right; signed, titled and numbered on reverse.

    #4438
  • Saugatuck Dance Hall, 1951
    Watercolor on paper
    15 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches

    Signed G.V. Sinclair ‘51 upper right; Signed, titled and dated on reverse

    #17105
  • Cigar Store, 1951
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    15 1/4 x 22 inches

    Signed Gerrit V. Sinclair lower right; signed, titled and dated on reverse.

    #2813
  • Untitled (Baseball Game), ca. 1950
    Lithograph on paper
    8 x 9 1/2 inches
    #17103

Gerrit V. Sinclair’s paintings chronicled American life in Wisconsin and the Midwest from the 1920s through the 1950s. While he served in Italy during World War I as an ambulance driver and also painted in Paris in 1930, Sinclair largely ignored modern European trends in art in favor of developing a warm figurative style that embraced the dignity of life in ordinary American towns and rural locales. Sinclair’s regionalist views of the American scene focus on the “virtues of family, patriotism, hard work and the simple pleasures of daily life”. An instructor at the Layton School of Art, Sinclair influenced numerous young artists getting their start in Milwaukee. In addition, Sinclair worked for the WPA during the Great Depression, completing murals entitled “Lumbering” and “Rural Mail” for the Federal Building in Wasau, Wisconsin.

Gerrit Sinclair’s paintings were exhibited at such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Carnegie Institute of Art, Pittsburgh; the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, The Century of Progress ; the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., among others.

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