Background
Gerrer, Gregory was born on July 23, 1867 in Alsace Lorraine, France. Son of F. X. and Caroline (Gross) Gerrer.
Gerrer, Gregory was born on July 23, 1867 in Alsace Lorraine, France. Son of F. X. and Caroline (Gross) Gerrer.
From 1900 to 1904, Gerrer studied art in Rome. When Pius saw the finished portrait by Gerrer, he selected it to be his portrait.
Shortly after the election of Pope Pius X, Gerrer participated in a competition of artists to paint the official portrait of the new pope. Pius said that he choose it because the artist painted the him true to life and did not minimize his facial warts. Gerrer also painted portraits of two World War I Choctaw code talkers, Otis Leader and Joseph Oklahombi.
The largest collection of his paintings are at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
His work is also in the Vatican art collection, Rome, Snite Museum of Art in South Bend, Indiana, and Fred Jones Junior. Museum of Art in Norman, Oklahoma.