Karl Gasslander

Karl Gasslander was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1905 and attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1928. Subsequently, Gasslander earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Teacher’s College of Columbia University, New York, NY, in 1929. From 1929-1930, Gasslander taught at the Dallas Art Institute, serving as the head of the Department of Commercial Art and also taught at North Texas State Teacher’s College in the summers of 1930 & 1932. In 1930, he returned to Northwestern University as a professor of art and interior design and around 1932 was named the head of the Drawing and Painting Department. In 1936, Gasslander moved on to teach at the newly formed Evanston Collegiate Institute, which later became Kendall College. Additionally, Gasslander taught in Indiana, Michigan and Missouri.

A multi-talented artist and writer, Gasslander served as the art critic and had a weekly column on art and design called “The Art Portfolio” for the Evanston Daily News-Index, plus was a semi-professional dancer and reportedly spoke numerous languages fluently. He was affiliated with the Chicago Society of Artists and the Swedish-American Art Association.

Artworks by Karl Gasslander were exhibited at such institutions as: the Annual Exhibition of the State Fair of Texas, Dallas (honorable mention in 1929); the Art Institute of Chicago (1931-32, 1935, 1937), the Allied Arts Exhibition, Dallas; the Chicago Society of Artists; the Evanston Women's Club (1939 - prize); the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Watercolor Club, among others. Later in his life, Gasslander retired to to Lake Ozark, MO where he died at the age of 92 in 1997.