George G. Adomeit
b. 1879 — d. 1967
A major painter of American scene subjects, George Adomeit was born in Memel, Germany and came to Cleveland at the age of four with his family. He worked as a commercial printer and lithographer for most of his life. After serving an apprenticeship in a local photo-engraving shop, he cofounded the Caxton Company, an engraving and commercial art firm that gained national acclaim. He eventually served as company president and, although his duties at the firm were time-consuming, he continued to pursue painting and printmaking. His talent for drawing led to formal art training, first at the Art Club with Frederick Gottwald, Max Bohn, and Ora Coltman and later at the Cleveland School of Art, from which he graduated in 1911. Adomeit's first solo exhibition, at Taylor Gallery (1912), was of work painted during previous summers in Zoar, Ohio, a popular outdoor painting locale for artists interested in rural subject matter. One of the founders of the Cleveland Society of Artists, Adomeit exhibited with that organization through the 1930s, and his paintings appeared regularly in the May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1919-1959). His imagery was inspired by many locations, including the Cleveland area and vacation spots such as Cape Cod, Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine, and sites in Mexico, Canada, and Brazil. He also attained a national reputation by exhibiting in annual group shows at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1925-1941), the Toledo Museum of Art (1928-1935), the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1928-1937), and museums in Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and New York. During the 1940s, his paintings appeared in solo exhibitions at galleries in Cleveland and Washington, D. C. After his retirement from the Caxton Company in 1956, Adomeit continued to travel, paint, and exhibit. "Transformations in Cleveland Art" (CMA, 1996), p. 221. Biographical information exists in the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
