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The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

TEYRAL, JOHN W. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

TEYRAL, JOHN W. (10 June 1912 - 17 Feb. 1999) was one of Cleveland's most acclaimed artists who exhibited in galleries across the country. He was born in Yaroslav, Russia to Mary (Kalleta) and Alexander Teyral. The family moved to Cleveland when Teyral was one. Growing up on the near west side, he took to art as a young boy. He was twelve when he submitted a drawing at a branch library that won him admission to Saturday classes at the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART. Each year while a student at Lincoln High School, he won the Cleveland School of Art's high school competition. In 1934, he graduated from the Cleveland School of Art (See CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART) and received an Agnes Gund traveling scholarship to study at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. In 1938, he attended Ecole Grande Chaumiere in Paris. During World War II, Teyral served in the Army. Following the war, he studied at the Academia di Bella Arti in Florence, Italy through a Fulbright grant. He made a series of study trips to Europe, North Africa, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands throughout his career.

Teyral was an award-winner in the May Show of the Cleveland Museum of Art for decades. The museum has many of his paintings, and other museums in the country have collected his work. Mr. Teyral also painted portraits of many prominent Clevelanders. He taught painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art for 40 years. In addition to fine arts painting, Teyral did commercial art for McCann-Erickson Advertising Agency in the 1930s and 1940s. He moved to North Carolina in the 1970s and continued painting until shortly before his death.

During his life, Teyral married three times. His first wife, Hazel (Janicki) was a local artist who studied at the Cleveland School of Art with Teyral. In 1951, he married Joan (Kempsmith). Teyral married Valerie Howard Albel after moving to North Carolina.

Last Modified: 16 May 2001 03:43:37 PM

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