Todros Geller

Todros Geller (1889-1949), sometimes called the “Dean of Chicago Jewish artists”, was an accomplished artist in several media (painting, woodcuts, wood engravings, and stained glass) and a key figure in the promotion of art exploring Jewish culture and identity in twentieth-century America. Born in the Ukraine, Geller immigrated first to Montreal, Canada in 1906 with his family, then to Chicago in 1919, where he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under Ashcan School artist George Bellows. Geller graduated from SAIC in 1922 and began exhibiting his work with the Art Institute of Chicago shortly after. 

In the late 1920s he traveled to Paris (where he met Marc Chagall), England, Prague, and Palestine in an effort to learn more about the history of Jewish art. After his return and throughout his lifetime, Geller continued to champion education on Jewish art in roles as the head of art at the Jewish People’s Institute, the supervisor of art for the Board of Jewish Education, a teacher at the College of Jewish Studies and the Hull House, and as a founding member of Around the Palette (later the American Jewish Art Club), alongside artists like William S. Schwartz and Aaron Bohrod.

Geller’s own art tended to center on religious themes, as well as his experience as an immigrant — specifically the intersection of the old country, where he was from, and the new world he occupied in Chicago. In addition to his paintings and prints, he illustrated books, created set designs for Yiddish theater, and made stained glass windows for synagogues and temples. His woodcuts and engravings received several awards from the Library of Congress. Today, Geller’s work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.