Gustav Rehberger
Gustav Rehberger (1910–1995) was an Austrian-born American painter, draftsman, illustrator, designer, muralist, and art teacher.
He was born October 20, 1910, on a farm in Riedlingsdorf, Austria, the youngest of three children. He showed artistic talent from a very young age. His family moved to Chicago in 1923. At 14, he won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago for three years and also studied at The Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis.
During the Depression he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator to help his family. He was Art Director at the Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation in Chicago from 1929 to 1931. In 1942, during World War II, he painted two murals for the interior of Chicago’s Union Station.
Rehberger moved to New York City in 1943 and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, where he created visual training aids. After the war, his illustrations were used in national ads for Celanese Chemicals, Philip Morris, and Sheraton Hotels, and appeared in major newspapers and magazines.
In 1969 he stopped commercial work to focus on painting. From 1972 to 1993 he taught drawing, anatomy, and composition at the Art Students League of New York. He valued education and believed worthwhile art comes from hard work.
His paintings were fast, energetic, and often described as volcanic expressionism with “chromatic fury.” He worked in oil, gouache, pencil, and pen, and he also explored performance art—painting and drawing live before audiences with music.
Rehberger participated in many group shows, earned awards, and had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Society of Illustrators in New York.
He died July 22, 1995, in New York City. Today his work is represented by Trigg Ison Fine Art in West Hollywood, California.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:55 (CET).