Carl Krafft was born in Reading, Ohio in 1884.  He was a Midwestern painter, known for his decorative landscapes and genre paintings of rural Illinois and the Ozarks.  Krafft painted at the Brown County art colony before traveling to the Ozarks of south central Missouri in the summer of 1914.  He and friend Rudolph F. Ingerle soon drew other artists to the region and created a major art colony.  Krafft’s paintings became very popular and were copied and sold as originals during the Depression.  As a result, Krafft put hi thumbprint on many of his works.  He died in Oak Park, Illinois in 1938.

Studied

AIC; Chicago FA Acad.; E.E. Savage; L. Kroll

Member

Soc. of Ozark Painters (pres., 1915); Chicago PS; Cliff Dwellers; All-Ill.  SFA; All. AA; Austin, Oak Park and River Forest Art League; Chicago Gal. A; Ill. Acad. FA; Grand Central AG

Exhibited

AIC; Municipal Art League; Chicago AG, 1916 (prize); PAFA Ann., (medal); Central States Exh., Aurora; Corcoran Gal. Biennials, 1923-28; All. AA, 1926 (medals); Chicago Gal. Art (prizes); Oak Park AL, 1930; Soc. of Ozark Painters

Work

South Shore Country CI., Chicago; Wichita Falls, TX; Richmond Indiana Art Assoc.; Glen Oak Country CI; Ryerson Col., AIC

Resources

WW40; 300 Years of American Art, 796; Gerdts, Art Across America, vol. 2; Falk, Exh. Record Series