George Joseph Mess (June 30, 1898 – June 24, 1962) was an American painter, printmaker, commercial artist, and art educator. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native began his career as a commercial artist and teacher; however, he became nationally known for his work as an etcher, printmaker, and painter. Along his wife, Evelynne Mess Daily, he became a prominent member of the Indianapolis and Brown County, Indiana, arts communities. Mess produced mostly Impressionist-style landscapes as a painter, but he was especially known for his aquatint etchings and prints of rural scenes in the modern styles of the 1930s and 1940s. Mess was also a founder of the Circle Art Academy, a commercial art school in Indianapolis, Indiana, that operated from 1927 to 1932, and founded a local engraving company. Mess was the recipient of several prizes and awards for his art from the Hoosier Salon, the Herron Art Institute (a forerunner of the Herron School of Art and Design and the Indianapolis Museum of Art), the Indiana State Fair, and various state and local arts clubs. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indiana Historical Society, and Minnetrista, among others. His illustrations also appeared in several print publications.
Early life and education
George Joseph Mess was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 30, 1898, to Anna Gleis Mess (1875–1960) and Joseph J. Mess (1871–1933). Mess's father was of German heritage; his mother's family was of German and Dutch ancestry. The Mess family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1899, when Joseph Mess took a job as a foreman of the photoengraving department at the Indianapolis News, one of the city's major daily newspapers.
George Mess, second of the family's three sons, became interested in art and wanted to become an artist at an early age. At the age of thirteen he received a scholarship to attend Saturday-morning art classes for children at the John Herron Art Institute, a forerunner to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Mess also attended Indianapolis's public schools, graduating from Emmerich Manual High School in 1916. His two brothers, Arthur and Gordon, also became artists.
After Mess graduated from high school he worked as a technician for Western Electric in Indianapolis before joining the U.S. Army in 1918. Although he served during World War I, Mess was never sent overseas. After receiving an honorable discharge from the military, Mess enrolled at Butler University and joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity. While attending Butler he earned extra money by working at a local lumberyard. Mess left Butler after a year and spent a semester at Teachers College, Columbia University, studying art under Arthur Wesley Dow. Mess returned to Indianapolis in 1921.
Marriage and family
Mess met artist Evelynne Bernloehr while attending one of William Forsyth's evening art classes at the Herron Art Institute. Within months of their first meeting, Mess and Bernloehr were married on April 28, 1925, at her family's home in Indianapolis. The couple set up an art studio in the living room of their home in suburban Broad Ripple. In 1941 they also bought a farm outside Nashville in Brown County, Indiana, to use as a weekend retreat from the city. Evelynne and George Mess had no children. Seven years after Mess's death in 1962, his widow married Edward Daily. Evelynne Mess Daily died on January 9, 2003, at the age of 100.
Career
Mess began his artistic career in 1921 as an artist in Indianapolis, where he established a commercial art business with his younger brother, Gordon, and continued his art training in the evening at the Herron Art Institute. In 1927 Mess founded the Circle Art Academy with his wife, Evelynne, and his brother, Gordon. The Mess brothers served as directors and art instructors at the academy. Evelynne Mess taught at the academy during its first year of operation before focusing fulltime on etching and printmaking. After the trio closed the school in 1932, the brothers organized the Circle Engraving Company, where George worked as the head of its commercial art department for the next five years.