Gehr, Mary

Chicago painter, printmaker, and illustrator, active 1940-1997.

Mary Gehr (1913-1997) was born in Chicago in 1913; she attended Smith College for one year, then toured with theater companies and returned to Chicago, where she danced with the Chicago Opera Company and the Page-Stone Ballet. She turned to painting and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Institute of Design, and the Illinois Institute of Technology Summer School of Painting in Saugatuck, Michigan. Between 1945 and the mid 1960s she illustrated many children's books for the Chicago-based Childrens Press and the Henry Regnery Co. Her paintings were also used in advertising and reproduced in books and magazines designed by her husband, the prominent art director Bert Ray. She participated actively in the Chicago art scene well into the 1990s with numerous exhibits, essays, and lectures about her art and her travels.

Mary Gehr was born in Chicago, Illinois about 1910 and died November 19, 1997 in Chicago. She was a dancer, artist, educator, and author, but is probably best remembered for her art. Her art is part of the permanent collections of several museums. She began illustrating children's books in 1954, and her own books are self-illustrated.

Biographical Sources: Something About the Author vols. 32, 99