Gertrude is a documentary film about the life and work of surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie
A GLIMPSE OF THE FILM
A lyrical exploration of the surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie’s life, work and posthumous fame, the documentary Gertrude follows the present-day story of art scholar Susan Weininger, an Abercrombie expert who is fighting to preserve Gertrude’s legacy as the art market sells her work at record prices into private hands.
Art historian and Abercrombie expert Susan Weininger admires Gertrude’s work at auction.
Mercer County High School students discover the work of Gertrude Abercrombie, whose ancestral home is in their hometown of Aledo, Illinois.
Art dealer Pat Albano prepares for the Chicago Art Expo, where he is showing two Abercrombie works.
Gertrude’s painting Dizzy Gillespie is auctioned at Rago/Wright in 2023 for over $300,000.
“Her Chicago was at the center of everything.”
—Robert Cozzolino, curator, Minneapolis Institue of Art
While Abercrombie's paintings now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, Gertrude’s work—and the twisting trajectory of her life—remain unknown to many.
Susan Weininger, a former art history professor at Roosevelt University, is enjoying her retirement when Gertrude Abercrombie, a little-known surrealist painter Susan has studied for four decades, gains posthumous fame—seemingly overnight. Suddenly, Susan is forced out of retirement and thrust into the center of the art world.
Faced with exploding demand for Abercrombie’s work, which only Susan can authenticate amidst a rapidly developing forgery market, Susan becomes the arbiter of Gertrude’s legacy. But as the artist’s paintings are bought by private buyers, Gertrude’s dream of keeping her work publicly accessible is slipping away and Susan begins to wonder who will pick up the torch after her.
Weaving together stories from an ensemble cast of those impacted by Gertrude’s rise, archival media and imaginative explorations of Gertrude’s paintings and the real life landscapes they depict, Gertrude ignites reflection on whose work we value and why.
