Gertrude Howland Balch

Balch was a printmaker and watercolor artist who captured scenes of everyday life in Wilmington, Delaware, from the 1920s through the 1950s. Born in Flushing, New York, Balch moved to Wilmington as a girl. She studied at the Wilmington Academy of Art from 1936 to 1940 and developed an interest in the city's African American neighborhoods. An art teacher at the Tatnall School from 1942 through 1958, in her free time Balch traveled through the city (sometimes with her Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera), looking for scenes to paint and etch. Balch exhibited her work regionally, at the Delaware Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Print Club. The Delaware Historical Society owns many works by Balch.