William F. Kaeser

(Oct. 31, 1908-July 17, 1987). Born in Durlach, Germany, commercial artist and fine arts painter William F. Kaeser came to the United States in 1923. He attended the Leonardo da Vinci Art School in New York City and was a graduate of the John Herron Art Institute and Indiana University. Among his art instructors were Hoosier Group artists William Forsyth and Clifton Wheeler, watercolorist and art designer Paul Hadley, and illustrator Frank Schoonover.

Kaeser was a founder and the first teacher of the Indianapolis Art League in 1934 and president of the Indiana Artists Club from 1936 to 1938. In 1939, he painted the mural Loggers Clearing The Land for the Pendleton, Indiana post office. His award-winning still life, Rubber Plant, was one of four works from Indiana in the American Art Exhibition at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.

Kaeser was instrumental in the founding and promotion of The Twenty and The Hoosier Five—two groups of Indiana artists who exhibited their work in various locations throughout the state in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He had an extensive exhibition record with over 30 Hoosier Salon art exhibitions; and his paintings appeared in numerous juried competitions, including those at the Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh), the Midwest Arts Exhibition (Kansas City), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia), the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, D.C.).

In Indianapolis, his works are in the permanent art collections of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), the Jefferson National Life Insurance Company, the Second Presbyterian Church, the Indianapolis Art League, the Irvington Historical Society, the Indiana Employment Security Division, and AT&T.

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