VON KLEINSMID, Professor Rufus Bernhard
Description:
Three-quarter length, in academic gown. Oil on canvas, 70” x 40”, signed and dated lower centre left ‘A. Muller-Ury 1932’.
Location:
Present whereabouts unknown.
Provenance:
University of Southern California, University Galleries, Los Angeles; anonymous purchaser; Paul Bachman, Los Angeles; WIM Fine Arts, Oakland (Walter A. Nelson-Rees) 1988; Stewart Galleries, Palm Springs, 1989; Haakman Gallery, Palm Springs, 1990.
Bibliography:
Antiques & Fine Art, June 1989. (Reproduced in colour inside front cover)
The sitter was born in Sandwich, Illinois, in 1875 and died July 9, 1964, and began his career in school administration in 1897 as the Illinois superintendent of public schools. He earned his A.B. and M.A. degrees from Northwestern University, and started his academic career at De Pauw University, where he was a Professor of Education and Psychology. He became the Seventh President of the University of Arizona (1914–1921) and the Fifth President of the University of Southern California (1921–1947). He died in 1964.
The portrait was presented by the Doheny family to the University of Southern California. It cost $6,000.00. Muller-Ury records the sittings in his Diary for 1931/32.
The duotone photograph in the artist’s papers is stamped ‘Keystone Photo Service, 1231 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, Calif.’
