George M. Ross skillfully captured a century of America on paper - with color, water, paintbrush and a fine eye.
Over the course of a lifetime which spanned the later 19th and most of the 20th century, George Ross enjoyed working as a commercial illustrator during the heyday of illustration in America. His work is a testament to the high level of versatility required of an artist during the 1920’s through the 1950s. He was equally at home working on a 19th-century pen and ink style reminiscent of illustrators such as Charles Dana Gibson, in a bold Art Deco manner using broad planes of color, to a more naturalistic style using watercolor in a way that seeks to imitate the look of photography. Ross studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was a staff artist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and established the Penthouse Studio in Cleveland, Ohio as art director for various trade publications including American Fruit Grower, American Vegetable Grower, Sterling Grinding, and Firestone Rubber Company.
He retired from commercial art in 1955 to devote his energies to painting in watercolor and traveling throughout the United States and Mexico. A broad range of subjects, from America's east coast to the west are reflected in a fluid, painterly style. Russell's influence is apparent in Ross's paintings of Indians, cowboys and rodeos. Serene farmlands embody his Iowa heritage. Cleveland steel workers, the Mexican marketplace, the Florida coast and Pennsylvania forests are captured with sensitivity and a keen eye for detail.
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