biography of Elmer Ladislaw NOVOTNY (1909-1997)

Birth place: Cleveland, OH

Addresses: Kent, OH

Profession: Painter, educator

Studied: Cleveland Sch. Art (dipl.); Case Western Reserve Univ. (B.A.); Kent State Univ. (M.A.); Slade Sch., Univ. London; Acad. Zagreb, Yugoslavia; Yale Univ.

Exhibited: CI, 1941, Milwaukee AI, 1945; Butler AI, 1940-45 (purchase award for "Wingaersheer Beach," 1960); Akron AI, 1946, 1969 (jurors award for "Chateaux"); CMA, 1929-45 (prizes, 1930, 1937, 1938); CMA Ann. May Show, 1929-71; Canton AI, 1944-46 (prize, each yr.); Butler Inst. Am. Art Ann. Nat., 1935-71; Canton Art Inst. Ann. Show, 1937-65; Akron Art Inst. Ann. May Show, 1937-71; Directions in American Painting, Carnegie Mus., Pittsburgh, Pa., 1942. Awards: First prize for "Nancy" (portraiture), CMA, 1937

Member: Akron Soc. Artists (hon. life mem.); Int. Inst. Arts & Lett. (life fel.); Cleveland Soc. Artists.

Work: CMA; Butler Inst. Am. Art; Akron Art Inst.; Canton Art Inst.; Cleveland Munic. Collection; Coshocton Mus. Commissions: mural for game room, John Sherwin, Jr., Waite Hill Village, Ohio, 1937; History of Kent (mural), Portage Nat. Bank, Kent, Ohio, 1949; portrait of Gov. Martin L. Davey, comn. by family Kent, 1950; portrait of Robert Carr, Oberlin Col., Ohio, 1970; portrait of James A. Michener for Michener Collection, Kent State Univ., 1971.

Comments: Preferred media: oils, polymers, watercolors. Publications: auth., Byways, of Southern Europe, Kent State Univ. Press, 1969. Teaching: instr. portraiture, Cleveland Inst. Art, 1933-43; prof. painting & drawing, Kent State Univ., 1936-46, dir. sch. art, 1946-.

Sources: WW73; WW47.