Learn About Deane Keller, New Haven’s Unsung Hero at The New Haven Museum

Deane Keller was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1901.  As a student at Yale, he earned degrees in history and science, before continuing at the Yale School of Fine Arts.  After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree he was a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (FAAR) for three years.  He then began his career as a member of the Yale faculty.

The Second World War interrupted his academic career when he was dispatched to Europe as part of a team known as ‘Monuments Men’, a handful of soldiers whose job it was to protect cultural heritage from the ravages of wartime.

Captain Keller was associated with the U.S. 5th Army in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program stationed in Tuscany, Italy, the center of the Italian Renaissance and a major site of Nazi looting.  His significant wartime undertakings included identifying, seizing and transporting artwork from bombed churches and museums, returning lost works to their country of origin, and preservation of murals.  He also documented damages to historical buildings and important murals through his many photographs.

At the end of the war Keller returned to teach at Yale’s School of Fine Arts.  In total, Keller taught at Yale for forty years, retiring in 1979.   The New Haven Museum has opened a special exhibit, “An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man,” celebrating Keller’s life, his contributions to Connecticut culture, and the preservation of many of the world’s most iconic works of art.   The 2014 release of the George Clooney movie, “The Monuments Men” (Sony, 2014),  highlights the dramatic real-life story of Keller and his cohorts.   This must see exhibit opened December 7, 2014 and runs through May 9, 2015.

An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man

Now through May 9, 2015

New Haven Museum

114 Whitney Avenue

New Haven, CT 06510

203-562-4183

www.newhavenmuseum.org