Paul Kramer, artist
Self Portrait, 1964
We are sorry to note the passing of artist and gallery owner Paul Kramer. Kramer was not only a member of Minnesota’s Greatest Generation (having served in the armed forces during WWII) but a member of a generation of great Minnesota artists. His career and artistic output ranks him as one of the most important Minnesota artists of the twentieth century.
Kramer taught at a number of art schools in the Twin Cities; worked at the St. Paul Art Center (now the Minnesota Museum of American Art) and the Fine Arts Department at the Minnesota State Fair; and formed his own gallery in 1965. He won many awards and his work is represented in museums as well as private and corporate collections. He humbly “considered himself a painter who was good at his craft.”
The Minnesota Historical Society is proud to have several fine selections of work spanning his long and productive career. Please see his obituary for more about him.
Sixth Street Hill, St. Paul, 1955
View of St. Paul, 1956
Apartment Walls, 1959
Swede Hollow, 1984
Red Wing, 1984
Model in Blue Dress, 1988
Fountain City WI, 2005
October 10th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Hello,
I am wondering if you have any portraits that Mr. Kramer has done sometime in the early 70s. My mother was one of his subjects and my parents own a head-shot painting he did of my mom. We know there is at least one other painting of my mother out there, probably painted in 1971. She is of half-mexican ancestry and is pregnant (with me). I would be very happy if someone at MNHS knows of or could confirm you have this image on hand. I would love to see it.
Cheers,
Rena
Reply
Joan Kramer reply on March 10th, 2013:
Hi Rena,
I am Paul Kramer’s daughter and my daughter and I are on this site trying to confirm a date for an event in June. I believe I know the painting you are referring to. Have you already received a reply?
You can email please on my home email. Tanc...@wowway.com
Joan Kramer-Tanck
Reply
Brian Szott reply on March 12th, 2013:
With regard to the portrait inquiry, we have no knowledge of the whereabouts of Paul’s work other than what is in MHS collection.
With regard to the exhibition dates of Other Realities: The Work of Paul Kramer, I’m pleased to confirm those dates as June 29 – October 13, 2013. That exhibition will take place at the James J. Hill House Gallery on Summit Avenue.
BSz
Reply
Tina D. reply on March 20th, 2013:
Hello Joan Kramer-Tanck:
I’m trying to locate an online image for Mr. Kramer’s painting of the Linscheid family farm near Butterfield, MN. The B&W copy in “We Did Take Root: A Brief Saga of the Migrations to the New World by Galician Forebearers”
is not very good.
Did the painting survive? Tina
Reply