Karl Zerbe (1903-1972) was a German-born American artist and educator. Zerbe studied chemistry in the 1920s at the Technische Hochschule in Friedberg, Germany, before studying painting under Josef Eberz at the Debschitz School in Munich. He fled Germany for the United States in 1937 when his work was labeled as “degenerate” by the Nazis and he soon became the Head of the Department of Painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. While in Massachusetts he was affiliated with the Boston Expressionist school of painting.
In 1955, Zerbe joined the Department of Art and Art History at Florida State University and continued in this position until his death in 1972. Zerbe had an avid interest in ornithology and created many paintings and photographs of local birds, including the works in this series. During his lifetime, Zerbe had many solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Today his work can be found in museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
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