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Paul Lauritz

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Paul Lauritz
Born18 April 1889
Larvik, Norway
Died31 October 1975
Occupation(s)Painter, art teacher

Paul Lauritz (18 April 1889 - 31 October 1975) was a Norwegian-born American oil painter and art teacher. [1]

Biography

[edit]
Paul Lauritz. A Song of Spring. Silkscreen. 1924

Paul Lauritz was born at Larvik, Norway, the son of Lauritz Olsen, a day laborer, and his wife Maren Sofie. His initial art training came at age 14 when he attended a local art academy, spending two years drawing and getting some informal instruction from an English watercolorist. Because none were available to him he made his own oil pigments, a technique he used for many years. [2][3]

He emigrated to eastern Canada at age 16 to live with relatives, working his way west to Nelson, BC, where his older brother Martin had established himself as a successful butcher. Here he tried hard rock mining and hunting, even travelling as far as northern Alberta. He also found time to paint, later exhibiting a work done at Nelson called "Kootenay Landing" in a show in Portland in 1914.[4][5]

Lauritz arrived in Portland, Oregon, in 1907 and worked as a painter in a paint store, eventually forming the Pacific Sign Company with his brother Ludvig. He married Mary Potterton, a Portland bookkeeper, in 1912. [6] Interest in continuing his fine art studies led him to lessons from noted local artist Clyde Leon Keller. [7] They, along with newly-arrived eastern artist Dana Bartlett, became executive board members of the new Mutual Art Association, exhibiting works through 1916. [8] Here Lauritz was exposed to many artists who had trained in eastern schools. Bartlett, himself trained at the Art Students' League, moved to California where he and Lauritz would exhibit together often.

In March 1916 Lauritz sailed the Inside Passage aboard the SS Admiral Watson from Seattle to Cordova and Valdez, Alaska, where he camped on the beach for a month, painting. [9] Noted artist Sydney Laurence then had his photography studio in Valdez. Eventually Lauritz arrived in Anchorage and became a partner in a paint store. Within a few months his brother arrived and they began operating as 'Lauritz Bothers' offering paint, wallpaper, and advertising signage.[10]

Lauritz took hunting and painting trips to places like the Chugach Mountains, Eklutna Lake and the Willow Creek gold district.[11] He returned to Oregon to show and sell his works in Portland. Seeing his work in Portland prompted the president of the University of Oregon to host a show in Eugene as well.[12]

In the summer of 1919 he returned to Anchorage and continued to paint, showing fourteen canvasses alongside works by Sydney Laurence at the Pioneer Hall in Anchorage, to great reviews, the writer stating: "each one a striking example of the modern school of art." This writer also claims Lauritz studied under Frits Thaulow, but this is hard to accept as the famed artist was residing in Paris at the time of Lauritz's school years.[13] Lauritz described his Alaska experience as "business wasn't successful, but painting was".

By late 1919 he moved to Los Angeles and opened a studio at the Lyceum Theatre. He eventually developed the technique of field sketching the mountains and deserts of southern California and working them up to a finish in his studio. [14] Besides painting, he also taught at the Chouinard Art Institute and the Otis Art Institute, and he was the president of the California Art Club.[14][15]

He exhibited regularly at the Kanst and Stendahl galleries in Los Angeles. His work is in the permanent collections of the Crocker Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Irvine Museum, San Diego Museum of Art and Carnegie Art Museum (Oxnard, California). [14][15] [16][17]

References

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  1. ^ "Paul Lauritz". Norsk Kunstnerleksikon. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  2. ^ "Artist Who Grinds His Own Pigments", The Desert Magazine, Volume 4, Number 5. March 1941, page 22
  3. ^ Ruth Westphal, Plein Air Painters of California, The Southland, Westphal Publishing.
  4. ^ "Sidelights on Art", Progressive Arizona and the Great Southwest. Volume 6, Number 4, April 1928.
  5. ^ "Exhibit by Local Artists is Open", The Morning Oregonian, May 8, 1914, page 1.
  6. ^ Portland, Oregon, City Directory, 1916
  7. ^ John E. Impert, Hidden in Plain Sight - Northwest Impressionism 1910-1935, University of Washington, Doctoral Thesis, 2012.
  8. ^ "Product of Factories and Farms Attract Thousands", Sunday Oregonian, November 1, 1914.
  9. ^ "Sidelights on Art", Progressive Arizona and the Great Southwest. Volume 6, Number 4, April, 1928.
  10. ^ Anchorage Daily Times, various dates from 1916 to 1920.
  11. ^ "Lauritz Will Make Sketches of District", Anchorage Daily Times, July 16, 1918
  12. ^ "Lauritz Paintings Shown", Oregon Emerald, Eugene, Oregon, May 18, 1919.
  13. ^ "Art Exhibit a Great Success", Anchorage Daily Times, September 29, 1919, page 8.
  14. ^ a b c "Paul Lauritz". LACMA. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  15. ^ a b "The High Sierras, circa 1929". Paul Lauritz (American, born Norway, 1889–1975)". Crocker Art Museum. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  16. ^ "Lauritz, Paul". The Los Angeles Times. November 3, 1975. p. 18. Retrieved October 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Gallery Sets Holiday Show". The Desert Sun. December 12, 1975. p. 28. Retrieved October 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.