Featured Artists' Biographies (L)

View larger image and more information for 'Winnowing Buckwheat' by Frederic Auguste Laguillermie

Frederic Auguste Laguillermie (Paris 1841 - 1934): A nineteenth century French painter, illustrator and etcher, Frederic-Auguste Laguillermie studied in Paris under Leopold Flameng and Bourguereau. He first exhibited his art at the Paris Salon in 1863 and received many awards and honours during the following years. In 1866 Laguillermie was awarded the coveted Prix de Rome which enabled him to further his studies in Madrid, Rome and Athens. He was appointed Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur in 1882 and a full member of that institution several years later.

As an etcher Laguillermie was equally well known for his original designs and for his interpretive etchings after the art of Delacroix, Hebert, Gainsborough and many contemporary French painters.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Oskar Laske

Oskar Laske (Czernowitz, 1874 - Vienna, 1951): In the first two decades of the twentieth century Oskar Laske was a leading etcher and painter in the influential Austrian modernist movement known as Secessionism. Generally, Secessionism was founded as a revolt against the academic standards of the day. Other leading artists within the movement were Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin and Egon Schiele. Oskar Laske moved to Vienna at around the age of thirteen. There he studied landscape painting under Anton Hlavacek (1888-1889) and general art courses at the Technische Hochschule, mainly under Karl Konig (1892-1898). His studies were then completed at the Vienna Academy under the directorship of Otto Wagner (1899-1901).

Oskar Laske first worked upon architectural commissions before turning solely to etching and painting. His first published etching appeared in 1904. For the following fifteen years most of his creative oeuvre was within this medium. After 1919 Laske worked mainly with oils and watercolours. His art was frequently included in major exhibitions in Austria, Germany, Italy and England.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Robert LeBlond and Abraham LeBlond

Robert LeBlond (1816 - 1863) and Abraham LeBlond (1819 - 1894): During the 1840's and 1850's the famous English artist, publisher and printer, George Baxter, created a complex method of printing images in colours with oils by means of combining wood blocks and metal plates. The complex technique met with great success and thus some of the earliest and most accomplished Victorian era colour prints bear the names of George Baxter and of his immediate followers.

The best known followers of Baxter are the LeBlond Brothers. In 1840 they established the engraving and printing firm of 'LeBlond & Company' in Walbrook, London. In 1849 they had become Baxter's principal licensees (Baxter had taken out patents on his invention and charged a fee to those who used it). However, by the mid 1850's the brothers had become Baxter's chief rivals. The LeBlond Brothers proved to be particularly skillful at pirating Baxter's images and thus cashed in on an already developed market. Yet most of their prints (most notably their views) were original creations, and it is with very fine works of original art such as this example that their fame now rests. Both LeBlond brothers designed and engraved the plates until 1863 when Robert Died.

View larger image and more information for 'Formal Garden' by Leonard Lehrer

Leonard Lehrer (Philadelphia, Born, 1935): The former professor and chairman of the department of art at New York University, Leonard Lehrer's original drypoints and engravings have been published and exhibited throughout the United States since the mid 1960's. He has engraved plates as well for illustrated books such as, Venus and Adonis (1984) and Moorish Roses (1986). Leonard Lehrer's original engravings are now included in such major collections as the Butler Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

After New York University, Leonard Lehrer accepted the post of director of the School of Art, Arizona State University and acted as a trustee for the International Print Center, New York. Since 2001 he has been Dean, School of Fine and Performing Arts, Columbia College, Chicago. Leonard Lehrer's original prints are currently published by Anchor Graphic, Chicago.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Jack Levine.

Jack Levine (Boston, born, 1915): Post World War Two American art was largely guided by the current fashions of the day. Curators and critics alike rushed from abstract expressionism to pop art to post modernism as moths to the flame. With an almost brainwashed zeal they condemned any work of art that looked vaguely realistic. One might almost say that in these decades representational art was viewed as 'counter revolutionary'. Yet such great painters and printmakers as Leonard Baskin, Charles White, Ben Shahn, Philip Evergood, Chaim Koppelman and others produced outstanding etchings and lithographs of a non abstract nature. Perhaps the most important and influential of these fine artists was Jack Levine.

Jack Levine's paintings and prints are included in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Museum of American Art, Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. A full member of the National Academy of Design, Levine was also an influential teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

View larger image and more information for 'Repose - Pheasant and Wisteria' by Sir Lionel Arthur Lindsay

Sir Lionel Arthur Lindsay (Victoria, Australia, 1874 - Melbourne, 1961): One of Australia's most renowned artists of the early twentieth century, Sir Lionel Arthur Lindsay started his artistic career at the age of fifteen when he worked as a pupil assistant at the Melbourne Observatory (1889-1892). He then completed his studies at the National Gallery School, Melbourne. From 1903 to 1926, Lindsay was employed as an illustrative artist for the 'Sydney Evening News'. After that period his art had gained an international reputation and he traveled and worked in such locations as India, North Africa, Spain and England. His original wood engravings and etchings were often commissioned and exhibited by the large London publishing house, Colnaghi & Company.

Lionel Lindsay received a knighthood from Britain for his achievements in art. His famous wood engravings and etchings are now included in many major public collections in Australia and throughout the world.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Maurice Loirand

Maurice Loirand (La Montagne (Loire-atlantique), Born, 1922): A French twentieth century landscape painter and lithographer, Maurice Loirand began his career in 1937 as an apprentice in the Arsenal de la marine d'Indret on the estuary of the Loire. In 1949, he resigned from the Arsenal to dedicate himself to art and moved to Paris. In that city he exhibited his paintings in various salons. Several years later, however, Maurice Loirand moved back to his native region of the Loire and concentrated upon depictions of the landscapes and villages of this area.

Today the fine art of Maurice Loirand is included in such international museums as Nantes, Laval, Buenos-Aires and the National Gallery of Australia.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Nat Lowell

Nat Lowell (Riga, Latvia, 1880 - New York City, 1956): A strongly regarded New York City artist, Nat Lowell was famous for his etched views of Manhattan and its surroundings. Born in Latvia, Lowell came to New York at an early age and studied under Carroll Beckwith and Siddons Mowbray at the Art Students League. His first published etchings date from around 1907. During the following forty years, Lowell concentrated his artistic talents upon the ever changing skyline of the city. Some of his etchings were published by the influential Associated American Artists, New York, who also published original graphic art by such leading individuals as Reginald Marsh, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton.

During his career Nat Lowell was also highly respected in New York as an art lecturer and as a teacher. Collections of his original etchings are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. His etched views provide a most important historical and artistic record of New York during the first half of the twentieth century.