Highland Park Public Library Sign

Rudolph Frank Ingerle (American, b. Austria 1879-1950)
Highland Park Public Library Sign
Wrought iron and wood
Approximately 24 x 24 x 2 in.

Rudolph Ingerle was born in Vienna, Austria and immigrated to the United States when he was 12. He studied at John Francis Smith’s Art Academy and at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (1891). He is most noted for his plein-air landscape paintings and travelled extensively in search of landscapes that appealed to him. His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and other museums and galleries. Art critic Eleanor Jewitt had this to say about Rudolph Ingerle, “He paints landscapes like poems. Ingerle pours beauty on a canvas as though it were a rich wine. No one can handle sun and shadows as he does.”

Rudolph Ingerle settled in Highland Park in 1922 and lived on Laurel Avenue. He was active in the community and an ardent supporter of the Library, serving on the Library Board of Trustees in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Ingerle’s work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Union League Club of Chicago, and the Illinois State Museum, Springfield, among other places. He died in Highland Park in 1950.

The sign stood at the corner of St. John and Laurel Avenues from 1940 until late 1960 when it was removed during renovation. The sign was restored and reinstalled in December of 2002.