Leon A. Makielski, “Eleanor O’Keefe Kleis,” Oil on Wood Panel, 1946

Photograph of a painting of a woman.

An oval portrait of Eleanor O’Keefe Kleis, dressed in an elegant, black, strapless evening gown. There is a large red or amber stone in a gold setting pinned to the center front of the gown. O’Keefe Kleis wears a large ring on her left ring finger. She is seated; her left hand is resting on the bluish green seat of the chair, and her right hand sits open and upturned in her lap. A dark-colored fur coat is draped over the back of the chair. The subject is smiling–mouth closed. The background is mottled gold combined with hints of blue-green and red that is suggestive of wallpaper. Off to the right side, a door’s wood trim is visible above the chair’s backrest.

This painting was donated to the Eagle’s Nest Art Gallery in 2008 by the children of Eleanor O’Keefe Kleis.

40 x 32 1/2

(1885-1974)

Leon A. Makielski was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1900s. After winning a John Quincy Adams Traveling Scholarship in 1908 from the AIC, he went to Paris to study at the Julian and Grande Chamiere Academies. He later lived in Detroit where he won several prizes at the Detroit Institute of Arts. By 1933, he was teaching architecture at the University of Michigan, and classes in portrait painting at the Detroit School of Applied Arts. In the early 1960s, Makielski visited the Oregon Library Gallery to reminisce about the Eagle’s Nest Camp and his days as a student there.

When the Library opened in 1908, the first exhibit in the upstairs art room was Leon Makielski’s show of 100 paintings. The Oregon Woman’s Council purchased one, for $35.00 and gave it to the newly opened library. This would have been the first piece of our permanent collection.

Six Makielski paintings were featured in the 4th Annual Exhibit of the Eagle’s Nest Art Colony in the Oregon Public Library Gallery, held October 13-18, 1913.