“a charming canvas” March 2026 UPDATE – Newly discovered article reveals Grell exhibited this painting at the Chicago Galleries in 1944 and that he had started “a series of paintings on legendary American characters.”
ABOVE – Jewett, Eleanor, “Exciting Color and Vigor in Fall Art Show.” Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1944, part 7, page 4 (retrieved March 29, 2026).
VIDEO – Summer 2025 UPDATE – watch Johnny play his fiddle for his animal friends as the river flows and smoke rises from the camps below.
Fall 2024 UPDATE – Pennsylvania Heritage magazine reproduces Grell’s version of Johnny Appleseed on the cover of its Fall 2024 magazine and inside along with an article on the history of Johnny Appleseed. Thank you Pennsylvania Heritage; Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
From wikipedia:
“John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia. He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. He was also a missionary for The New Church (Swedenborgian) and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio, and the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center in Ashland County, Ohio. The Fort Wayne TinCaps, a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Chapman spent his final years, is named in his honor.”
Grell presented this painting to his sister Helen in 1949. Notice the fractured bush or small tree at lower left and the violet hue to the clouds which are both prominent in many Grell imagineered compositions. The distant Indian and settlers camps.
Exhibited – Grell, Louis. Johnny Appleseed. 24th Exhibition by Artist Associates, September 1944, Chicago Galleries, Chicago, ILL.; and Grell, Louis. Johnny Appleseed. Grant Wood – Louis Grell two man show, 2012 to 2017, Pottawattamie County Courthouse, Council Bluffs, IA.
Literature – Jewett, Eleanor, “Exciting Color and Vigor in Fall Art Show.” Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1944, part 7, page 4.; Johnny Appleseed by Louis Grell, 1944, oil on canvas, private collection. Reproduced in “Visiting Sister Here…Grell Says Success in Art Is 90 Percent Hard Work,” by Staff Reporter, The Daily Nonpareil, 09 Nov. 1949, p. 14.; Johnny Appleseed by Louis Grell, 1944, oil on canvas, private collection. Reproduced in “Muralist Grell Predicts Great Art Future For U.S.,” by Staff Reporter, The Daily Nonpareil, 27 Dec. 1956, p. 14.; Johnny Appleseed by Louis Grell, 1944, oil on canvas, private collection. Reproduced in “Grell’s ‘Johnny Appleseed’ to be in County Courthouse display,” by Jon Leu, The Daily Nonpareil, 30 Sep. 2012, p. 7A.; Grell, Louis. Cover image. Pennsylvania Heritage, Fall 2024; and Grell, Louis. Johnny Appleseed, [Illustration]. Pennsylvania Heritage, Fall 2024, p. 10.
Magnitude – part of a SERIES of Legendary American Characters “that may well be one of the most fascinating groups of paintings being painted today (Jewett, Eleanor 1944).”
Sarvey, Don “The Appleseed of a Nation.” Pennsylvania Heritage, Fall 2024, pp. 10-17.
Johnny Appleseed, Oil on Canvas, signed l/r “LOUIS GRELL 1944″
painting = 31″ x 31″ frame = 35.5″ x 35.75”
