Johan Keller [also known as Jan Keller] was born in The Hague, The Netherlands on 15 November 1863 and studied Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam under August Allebé and then in Brussels with Charles Vanderstappen and Julien Dillens. In the late 1880s he lived in Italy for two years, after which he returned to The Hague where he embarked on a career as a sculptor. In c.1898 he moved to Scotland and settled in Glasgow. He began teaching modelling at Glasgow School of Art in 1898 and in 1900 was appointed Professor of Modelling at the School, a post he held until 1910. A key exponent of the Glasgow Style, he produced portraits and architectural sculpture, often in collaboration with Albert Hodge and the architects James Salmon Junior and J.
Keller exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh; and at the Paris Salon. He also participated in the International Exhibition in Glasgow in 1901. He was a member of the Nederlandse Kring van Beeldhouwers (Dutch Circle of Sculptors).
Commissions on which he worked included the carving of the column capitals at Salmon's British Linen Bank, 816-18 Govan Road, Glsagow from models by F D Wood (1897-1900); a statue representing Religion for Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow (1898); woodcarving for the interior of the home of Walter Macfarlane at 22 Park Circus, Glasgow (1900); and the seated figure of Wisdom for Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow (1907-11). In 1908 he designed the Lord Lister Medallion for the Royal Infirmary.
Keller's address was given as Albany Chambers, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow in 1898 and 1900; 534 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow in 1899 and 1911; and 7 Woodside Place Lane, Charing Cross, Glasgow in 1911. In 1915 he returned to The Hague. He was involved in the construction of the city hall tower in Rotterdam for which he designed the gilded statue of Peace.
Keller died in The Hague on 2 September 1944.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
