Fernando Gerassi (October 5, 1899 – 1974) was aSephardic Jew born inTurkey. He was an accomplished artist who exhibited alongsidePicasso beforevolunteering to fight in theSpanish Civil War.[1]
In 1922 Gerassi met Stephania Avdykovych, aUkrainian, inBerlin and they were married in 1929.[2] In 1931, their son,John "Tito" Gerassi, was born in Paris.[2]
Gerassi and his family moved to the United States at the start ofWorld War II and he was hired byCarmelita Hinton, a progressiveeducator who was the founder and director of thePutney School inVermont, to teach art at the school.[3] Hinton also employed Gerassi's wife, Stepha, to teach "anything she wanted" and she would go on to teach a number of subjects during their years at the school, includingFrench,Spanish,Russian,German,ancient history,Latin, andEuropean history.[2] In 1955Time magazine reported that to support his family while establishing his art career, he tried "some 40 different jobs".[3] From 1944 to 1964 Gerassi was harassed by theCIA who tried toblackmail him by threatening todeport his family if he would not agree to work for them.[2] One of his friends eventually reported the harassment toAbe Fortas, then an aide toLyndon Johnson. Fortas obtained the CIA file and passed it onto theUnited States Attorney General,Robert F. Kennedy, who immediately gave Gerassi and his family American citizenship and apologized "in the name of America".[2]
Gerassi's early work was influenced byStanislas Stueckgold andPaul Cézanne.[4]
In 1951 Gerassi shared an exhibit with American artist,Georgia O'Keeffe,[2] and then in 1955 he exhibited alone, for the first time in 20 years.[3] His solo exhibition at the Panoras Gallery inManhattan "elicited rave reviews".[2]
Gerassi returned to Putney School where he painted until his death in 1974.[2]