Rebec Player

Esther Geller is a Boston native artist, born in 1921, who trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, under the guidance of Professor Karl Zerbe. He was largely responsible for the revival of the encaustic technique, a method that involves the heating and combining of dry pigment and wax, which was first practiced by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Geller has been developing unique encaustic techniques since nineteen-forty. Many of the unique formal qualities of Geller’s work are formed by her particular brand of encaustic which is then applied to gesso-treated Masonite panels.

Geller, along with Barbara Swan and Lois Tarlow, was part of a group of accomplished women who studied at the SMFA and made their mark in the Boston art world despite numerous roadblocks.  Geller’s inspirations stemmed from natural forms and landscape, as well as figures in mythology, music, and dance.  Her works are filled with abstracted figures, fluidity of movement, and rhythmic line—a nod to her love of music and training as a dancer.