Gerald Cassidy (1879 - 1934)

Son of a builder, Gerald Cassidy grew up in Cincinnati. He was the pupil of Duveneck at the Institute of Mechanical Arts when he was 12. By the time he was 20, he was art director of a New York City lithographer. Stricken by pneumonia in 1899, he entered a sanitarium in Albuquerque where he first painted the Southwest, changing his signature from Ira Diamond Cassidy to Gerald Cassidy. When he recovered sufficiently, he moved to Denver as a commercial artist and lithographer specializing in theatrical subjects. After returning briefly to New York City where he studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League, he married Ina Sizer Davis and settled in Santa Fe in 1912, following Carlos Vierra (1904) and Kenneth Chapman (1909). He was also active in Los Angeles, California from 1913-1921.

Intending to devote his talent to recording Indian life in the context of New Mexican light and color, his first Indian drawings reproduced on post cards were sophisticated and art nouveau rather than the typical Victorian. Recognition came by 1915 with his mural The Cliff Dwellers of the Southwest. In the 1920s his small on-the-spot landscapes were most prized, as Cassidy’s style resisted the influence of the New Mexico modernist. He traveled abroad in 1926, visiting Europe and North Africa. While in France, he utilized many sketches of Navajo subjects to paint two oils, one commissioned by the Santa Fe Railway and the other for the French Government. Cassidy died of poisoning while working on a mural for the Santa Fe Federal Building.

We routinely beat the prices of auction houses—selling privately avoids the hidden expenses and risk potential of consigning to public auction.	Please call to discuss the value of your artwork and various selling options available to you.Zaplin Lampert Gallery has over THIRTY years of experience and expertise. We pay top dollar for American art of the 19th and 20th centuries.