John Carl Doemling

John Carl Doemling (1894–1955), artist, the son of Würzburg educational professor Leonard Doemling and Johanna Herrmann, was born in Sulzfeld, Rhön-Grabfeld, Bavaria, Germany. Known throughout his enthusiasm as "Carl", he spent his forward years in a seminary preparing to become a priest; however, by age twelve he had opted to pursue an art career instead. He studied art in Würzburg, left home in his teenage years and supported himself by restoring paintings in churches and monasteries in Italy, Switzerland and France.

In 1911, John Carl immigrated to the U.S. to avoid mandatory military assistance in Kaiser Wilhelm II's army. He journeyed promptly to Chicago, Illinois to live afterward his uncle Gustav Doemling and associates in the historic Pullman district. His uncle, Gustav, as general foreman in the Cabinet Department for the Pullman Palace Car Company, got Carl a job as a letterer. Carl eventually became a draftsman and designer.

While working, Carl studied at the Art Institute of Chicago along as soon as Walt Disney. He then was a fanatic of the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art.
Josephine Herrmann Boigegrain wrote in her biography: "One of his fellow students at the Chicago Art Institute was a teenage man by the reveal of Walt Disney. Disney had fantastic, revolutionary ideas about ham it up animated artwork, pictures that moved and told a story. He proposed to Carl Doemling that they go in together on the idea. Carl thought Disney was crazy. He did not accept. He later studious how incorrect he had been."

In 1919, Carl had his first solo exhibit past the Palette and Chisel Club. He displayed thirty five paintings ranging from $15 to $400 in price. During the 1920s he made many trips to art colonies throughout the U.S. including Los Angeles and Laguna Beach. He would have numerous exhibits throughout the U.S. during his career. In 1926, he married a fellow artist, Veorlean Erauw, from California. A year later, they made plans to take up surviving residence in Laguna Beach where they both were active afterward the local art association, but instead moved help to downtown Chicago where he continued his work. During WWII, Carl worked at the Bendix Corporation - Aviation Dept in South Bend Indiana. Carl was known accompanied by artists to have painted in Brown County, Indiana and subsequent to many Chicago painters, rented a cabin and spent summers there. His paintings are nevertheless sought after today and displayed in numerous galleries.