Mid-Century Artist: George Keller

I'm still a little obsessed with the Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides. One of my favorites is poster number 2, Courage.


The artist is George J. Keller. He was the chairman of the fine arts department at Bloomsburg University, which makes sense since most of the Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides where designed by teachers.

But George Keller's life got a little more interesting after he stopped teaching. He became a wild animal trainer.


Keller had a big cat show at Disneyland called, "Feline Fantastics," which was rebranded as "Jungle Killers" after poor attendance. The new name didn't help and the act was eventually canceled. 


George then took his act on the road performing at Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's Circus, and other touring circuses.

It makes his Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides poster all the more interesting. The animal is actually the one showing courage in the poster and clearly Keller had a love of animals. And a good amount of courage himself.

3 comments:

  1. I've heard of career changes, but that's crazy. Good for him though. Lots of people have wanted to run away and join the circus, but few have really done it.

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  2. Are these prints valuable i have 4 different ones

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    Replies
    1. They're more rare than they are valuable. They tend to sell for $20-$30 if they're in good condition. Which ones do you have?

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