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In 1939 Lily was frequenting the Art Institute of Chicago. On one of these visits, she was attracted to a discussion of artists taking place in front of a painting on exhibit. She joined in on the discussion with one artist in particular... Carl Tolpo.

He wanted to see her work so she brought a portfolio to his studio at the Tree Studio Building... He was very impressed with her art and her many talents. They corresponded while she was on tour with The Hollywood Cowgirls.

They continued they relationship upon finding that they had much in common... Lily became Carl’s muse. The result was many paintings of Lily... The La Conga being one. They married in 1941.

Carl Tolpo painted this Teton landscape on site... Accessibility was not easy in those days and accommodations were rustic.

In the middle to late 1930s Carl Tolpo would go on painting trips to explore the landscapes of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming... During this time he painted onsite the Seacoast Sentinel in California, Mt. Massive Lake in Colorado, in Wyoming, the Yellowstone Lower Falls, Teton Mountains and in Montana, Saint Mary’s Lake, as well as, the White Sulphur Springs Valley.

In the late 1930s Carl Tolpo lived at the Tree Studio Building at 4 East Ohio Street, Chicago IL. It was well known as an artist colony of the
Near North Side.

During this time Carl did the portraits of Dorothy Littlefield of the Littlefield Ballet Company... Margery Mayer, opera singer of the Chicago Opera...
Beverly Lane, opera singer of the Chicago City Opera... Ebba Sundstrom, Conductor of the Chicago Civic Opera... Justice O.W. Holmes of the US Supreme Court... E. Einer Andersson, Editor Swedish American Tribune, as well as, prominent Doctors and Professors, Musicians and Entertainers
of that era.

The Midwest Landscape Paintings by Lily Tolpo and Carl Tolpo, cover the years from the 1920’s to 1980’s... These landscapes were created onsite (en plein air) while visiting locations of the old homestead states of Michigan and Illinois... They also painted where they lived and raised their family.

Since our last blog allot has happened:
A trip to Illinois was necessary to visit with Lily (a family reunion), make arrangements, take care of business, check the property, digitize the remainder of the Tolpo Collection and ready it for FAA.

In the next coming weeks we will upload images from the Tolpo Collection and continue with information about Lily and Carl and about various images

Carl Tolpo moved, in 1940, to the Italian Court Building on the Near North Side of Chicago where bohemian poets, artists, designers and writers resided. The buildings main attraction was an interior courtyard surrounded by an arcade with high-end shops, an Art Gallery, studios and offices on three floors. The Le Petit Gourmet Restaurant was the main feature of the courtyard.

At this studio Carl did the paintings of...Dr Nelson M Percy - Chief of the Medical Staff Augustana Hospital Chicago IL... Dr. Jakcob Bongren –Swedish Poet and Man of Letters... The Laconga - featuring his wife Lily, A charcoal drawing of Frank O Salisbury the English painter, as well as, Prominent Doctors, Professors, Politicians of the time.

At this time he also continued his annual painting trips to the West concentrating mainly on the Yellowstone Region.

In the mid 1930s Carl Tolpo went on a painting trip out West... He visited Colorado, Wyoming and Montana
On his trips in the 1930s Tolpo painted Mt. Moran...Yellowstone Lower Falls...and St Mary’s Lake in Glacier Park.

He was so inspired that for the next 45 year Carl would return every year or so.

The photo on the left shows Carl Tolpo in the 1930s painting at String Lake in the Tetons of Wyoming.

Carl Tolpo studied at the Art Institute from 1926 to 1929... He was a student of drawing and painting with Elmer Forsberg ... Jessie Pixley Lacey was the teacher of Figure Drawing. The photo on the left is of the Landscape painting class from the school of the Chicago Art Institute. It shows the class painting in Jackson Park, across the lagoon from the old Fine Arts Palace... Carl is the standing artist on the left side of the photo.

Carl Tolpo was interested in art when he was a child living on a farm in Michigan...
Here is a drawing he did when he was 10 years old in 1911.