George Albertus

George Albertus

In the early ​‘60s — George Albertus was in the ADASF office after an officer’s meeting. George was the first socially conscious artist that I had met. (This was before Primo Angeli’s poster: ​“The Silent Majority”.) George’s current mission, then, was to feed poor and hungry chil­dren in the USA, working with the St. Andrew Pres­by­terian Church of Marin City. He was passionate in his causes, in his art with light and cheerful wit, and in his views…when the strength of his opinion was very obvious.
He once, gave much of his time and limit­less energy to the ADASF ​“Love-In” party honoring Adele Smith who held our club together! He painted a twenty-foot banner, featuring many of the club members. It was displayed again at the first GEEZER GATHERING in 1993. Draped along the far side of the swim­ming pool, a wind picked it up…so all I have now is a photo of part of it.

Just after I grad­u­ated from City College of San Fran­ciso, George Albertus taught there. I missed his class by a year! He and other profes­sional Bay Area artists such as: Stan Galli, Alice Harth, Dick Cheney, Amado Gonzalez, and more…brought first-hand knowl­edge to the students of commer­cial art.

There was an ADASF Minia­ture Auction held at ​“Gold Street” (where New Year’s Eve was cele­brated every night of the year…Champagne, noise-makers, confetti — the works!) and who else remem­bers that it also was the street in North Beach where ​“Conklin Brothers”…. Square-cut and his pal Carpet Head…put a perma­nent carpet on the one block of street? At the auction, I placed a winning bid on one of George’s entries. A woman at the auction (not one of our club members) argued with me on the defi­n­i­tion of ​“Art”. She insisted that only a conven­tional land­scape or such, was worth being framed and sold and hung on a wall. This framed ​“Albertus” (below) has been on my wall since then.

Also, below, is the section of the ​“Love-In” banner and many of his accepted entries found in the ADASF Annuals of that time.

Ann Thompson

Click on an image for a larger view, large images can be scrolled to see all the image

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

George Albertus Illustration 

Note: There’s more on the early styles of George Albertus on the ​“Today’s Inspi­ra­tion” website…(search his name). Then at the bottom…(Click on ​“14 posts”)…the last three: a letter from George’s son, Anthony, and two comments.