Fernando Gerassi

Fernando Gerassi (October 5, 1899 – 1974) was a Sephardic Jew born in Turkey. He was an accomplished artist who exhibited alongside Picasso before volunteering to fight in the Spanish Civil War.

Personal life In 1922 Gerassi met Stephania Avdykovych, a Ukrainian, in Berlin and they were married in 1929. Hinton also employed Gerassi's wife, Stepha, to teach "anything she wanted" and she would go on to teach a number of subjects during their years at the school, including French, Spanish, Russian, German, ancient history, Latin, and European history.

Art career Gerassi's early work was influenced by Stanislas Stueckgold and Paul Cézanne.

In 1951 Gerassi shared an exhibit with American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, and then in 1955 he exhibited alone, for the first time in 20 years. His solo exhibition at the Panoras Gallery in Manhattan "elicited rave reviews".

Gerassi returned to Putney School where he painted until his death in 1974.