LAVERN KAMMERUDE'S LEGACY
FARM SCENES PAINTED FROM
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
As a boy working alongside his father on their farm in Southwestern Wisconsin, Lavern grew up loving the land and his rural lifestyle. His life, like other farm children, was made up of milking cows and daily chores, and seasonal work of planting, making hay, and harvesting crops all done with the help of horses. He farmed until the late 1960s when hard economic times forced him to find work off the farm to support his family.
Lavern started painting late in life, in his mid-50s. For two decades, oil-on-masonite became his means of expressing the lifestyle he so loved. The paintings he created for friends and family were bright, colorful, highly-detailed images of everyday life in America's rural Midwest circa 1910 to 1945. The Meticulous and accurate details make his paintings a value historical record of this byegone era.
On Kammerude's studio bookshelves could be found books of the artists he admired: Norman Rockwell, Frederick Remmington, and Charlie Russell. Russell, who painted the American cowboy, was his favorite. Both Kammerude and Russell painted precisely detailed, action-filled paintings. Both had a strong feel for the seasons and rhythms of outdoor work. Both had a sense of humor and a preference for small scenes within the larger composition. Kammerude's trademark throughout many paintings was the young boy, patterned after himself or a son, carrying water to the men or driving a team, often followed by a dog.
His paintings gained local popularity with farmers and small businesses servicing a rural clientelle. Soon they could be seen in corporate offices of large agriculture-related companies and a Kammerude painting even graced the walls of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture's office. In 1986 Lavern was awarded the Wisconsin "Governor's Heritage Award" for his renderings of old-time rural life.
Recognizing the beauty and importance of Lavern Kammerude's work, Wisconsin Folk Museum published the popular book Threshing Days: The Farm Paintings of Lavern Kammerude, with text by Chester Garthwaite, in 1990.
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