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1900-1975
Germaine Verna was born in Paris, France. During the early 1920's the artist studied at a number of studios in Paris including André Lurcat, André Lhote, Othon Friez. In the years that followed she became closely associated with a group of artists known as the "les Montparnois", and was particularly close to Pascin, Soutine, Kisling and De Chirico.
During the mid-1930's the artist grew close to and later married the noted art critic Francois Verna, editor of the Cailliers Jaune.
At that time she stopped using her maiden name Germaine Marx and began signing her paintings Germaine Verna.
With the threat of war in 1939 it became clear that Francois Verna, as an Italian national, faced likely internment should Mussolini wage war on France. The Vernas therefore moved to Switzerland. There they settled in the picturesque town of Ascona, a leading art colony of the period, on the Lago Maggiore not far from the Italian border. Here the Vernas made their home for the rest of their lives.
During the Ascona years, from 1940 until Germaine Verna's death in 1975, her paintings were devoted to two primary subjects; townscapes and landscapes of Ascona and its lyrical environs, portraits of the artist's friends, acquaintances, domestics, and town characters. In the years after the war Verna's paintings found their way into the collections of prominent museums and were widely exhibited in gallery shows in Paris, New York, Switzerland and elsewhere.
  
Posters Created By Germaine Verna (NFS)
Germaine Verna's Villa Ludwig is secluded in the middle of 25,000 m/2 of its own gardens and forest above the Lago Maggiore, just south of Ascona. Many of her later paintings were created here. The main house and many terraces offer panoramic views of the Lago Maggiore below, Ascona and the snow capped Alps to the left and Italy on the right.
 
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Paris, Groupe des Independents at the Salon d' Automne
Paris, Galerie Drouant-David, 1952; Galerie André Weil, 1966
New York, Fine Arts Associates (Otto Gerson), 1953
Philadelphia, Coleman Art Gallery
London, Marlborough Gallery
Ascona (Switzerland), Galleria AAA, 1971
Kaiserslautern (Germany), Pfalzgallerie, 1973
Musée National d' Art Moderne, Paris
Unversity of Chicago Art Gallery, Illinois
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York
Alverno Collection, Wisconsin
Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Fine Arts Galleries, University of Wisconsin
Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Verna by Maximillen Gauthier, published by: Les Gerneaux, Paris, 1953
Maximillien Grauthier, Les Nouvelles Litteraires, Paris, 26 June 1962
Robert Metadier, Carrefour, Paris, 18 June 1952
Jean Bouret, Arts, Paris, 26 June 1952
Pierre Descargues, Les Lettres Francaises, Paris 11 July 1952
Adolphe de Falairolle, Le Provencal, Avignon, 22 June 1952
Rene Domergue, L'Information, Paris, 21 June 1952
Georges Turpin, La Revue Moderne, Paris, 1 August 1952
Elsa Franconi Poretti, Corriere del Ticino, Lugano 17 July 1952
Efrem Masoni, Il Dovere, Lugano, 15 July 1952
Jean Chabanon, Le Peintre, Paris, 15 June 1952
Pierre Imbourg, Une Semaine de Paris, Paris, 18 June 1952
Eros Bellinelli, Libera Stampa, Milano, 29 July 1952
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