Herbert Louis (painter)

Herbert Louis (born December 8, 1923 in Berlin ; † 2006 in Santiago de Chile ) was a German painter who first lived and worked in the Netherlands, later in Chile and the USA.

family

Herbert Louis was born as the child of the bank branch manager Martin Louis and his wife Käthe Louis b. Bergmann born in Berlin-Charlottenburg . His siblings were Marion and Thomas Louis.

First training

Herbert Louis completed his first artistic training with Emmanuel Berg in Berlin. Berg was withdrawn from his training permit in 1935 and emigrated to France.

Emigration to the Netherlands and self-taught training

Because of their Jewish origins, the Louis family had to leave Germany in 1936. The family settled in Scheveningen / Netherlands.

Herbert Louis hiked through the Netherlands on his bicycle and captured his impressions in pictures and sketches. On his trips he visited the museums and studied the technique of the great Dutch masters. He also visited painters in their studios and occasionally asked for advice to perfect his artistic skills.

Herbert Louis initially painted with charcoal and pencil, switched to colored pencils and finally to watercolors during his time in the Netherlands.

In 1938 Herbert Louis was asked in the street by a passer-by who was watching him paint, to sell him the picture. He was so proud of his first self-earned money that he decided to make painting his profession.

Emigration to Chile

Because of the approaching war, the Louis family fled the Netherlands. Herbert Louis' mother managed to get a visa for the family to Chile. The Louis family took up residence in Santiago de Chile in 1939 .

Since the Louis family had to leave their wealth behind when they fled Germany and consequently arrived penniless in Chile, and the parents were exhausted by the years of flight, Herbert Louis and his siblings Marion and Thomas had to look after the family. Qualified by his autodidactic studies of painting in the Netherlands, Herbert Louis received jobs as a commercial artist in industrial companies. He pursued this activity until 1942.

Shaken up by the death of his mother Käthe in 1941 and his brother Thomas in 1942, he gave up his work as a commercial artist and turned back to painting. He crossed Chile from north to south, partly on horseback, partly on foot, and captured his impressions of the landscape in watercolors. In between, he works again and again to cover his living expenses and travel expenses, for various companies and advertising agencies, but keeps returning to his painting hikes.

It was not until 1953 that Herbert Louis had a solo exhibition in the "Sala del Pacífico" in Santiago, which was positively received by the press.

Europe

With the proceeds from his exhibition in Santiago, Herbert Louis undertakes an extensive study trip through Europe.

His first stop is France, which he travels from Provence to Nice . He visits the studios of Pablo Picasso , Georges Braque , Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse , experiments with acrylic paints, but ultimately remains true to "his" watercolors.

Herbert Louis fills up his travel budget as a commercial artist in the branch of J. Walter Thompson in Frankfurt am Main , in order to then wander through Spain on foot. In 1953 he brought a large portfolio with watercolors back to Chile , on which he recorded the impressions of his trip.

United States

In 1956 Herbert Louis was invited to an exhibition in New York by the renowned Aron Young gallery . Due to the great success of his exhibition, Herbert Louis moved to the USA and settled in California in 1957 .

Here, too, Herbert Louis crosses the country on foot again and paints the landscapes he is walking through. His painting style is becoming increasingly abstract; The landscapes that Herbert Louis captured in his pictures remain recognizable, but the shapes and colors gain the upper hand over the concrete representation.

Thanks to David Park , whom Herbert Louis met in California, he got in touch with other graduates of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), including Ronnie Landfield , Joan Brown and Ron Davis . With Richard Diebenkorn, with whom he also had an exchange of letters, and Elmer Bischoff , he shares a friendly discussion about the nature of art.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Herbert Louis exhibited regularly at the art galleries " Gumps " in San Francisco , "The Beach Gallery" at Rancho Mirage, and "Lowitz" in Beverly Hills and Palm Spring .

Return to Chile

In 1986 Herbert Louis returned to Chile. He feels exhausted by the stressful life in the USA, longs for peace and quiet, and takes up residence in Pichidangui on the Pacific Ocean. He wanders through the Chilean highlands and the coastal regions again, continues to paint his watercolors, and records his impressions of the landscapes, the animal world and the people.

After a long and serious illness, Herbert Louis died in Santiago / Chile in 2006.

Further links and literature

• Bernhardt / Traubner in exile archive [1]
• Diego Salazar Gómez, Herbert Louis, Un pintor alemán-chileno, 1956, Santiago
• American Artists of the XX. Century, compiled by Arthur Klein, 1978, Los Angeles
• Herbert Louis, Célebre artista chileno-americano regresa a Chile, "El Mercurio", 1986

Individual evidence

1. ↑ including the Gibian brothers, J. Walter Thompson and the Xicota company
2. ↑ Catálogo de las Salas del Pacífico, Tomo del año 1953, Santiago