Louis Pohl(1915 – December 22, 1999) was an American painter, illustrator, art teacher, printmaker and cartoonist. He was born inCincinnati,Ohioin 1915. A childhood illness made it impossible to walk without pain and prevented Pohl from entering school until he was 8 years old. To keep him occupied, his parents would give him papers and pencils with which to draw. When 14 years old, Pohl spent his summer caddying at a local golf course. A regular foursome of well-to-do women made an unusual wager—the loser would make their caddy's wish come true. Mrs. Yaeger paid for Pohl's tuition at theArt Academy of Cincinnatifor two years. He spent the next 4 years as a teacher's assistant. He did most of the hands-on teaching given to the art students, and he also taught art to underprivileged kids on Saturdays. Eventually, Pohl received his certificate of art upon the completion of a full standing nude copy of aRembrandtthat hung in theCincinnati Art Museum.
WhenWorld War IIbroke out, Pohl enlisted in theUnited States Navy,which sent him toHawaiiand assigned him to paint ships in dry dock. He was injured when a destroyer caught fire, and the explosion knocked him off the second level of a scaffold. Pohl was medically discharged and reluctantly returned to Cincinnati, where he was hired by theWorks Progress Administrationto supervise other artists. In that capacity, he painted a portrait of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1946, Pohl got a call from a former teacher and friend, Bill Stamper, who had talked the Board of Directors of theHonolulu Museum of Artinto establishing a professional art school. Stamper invited Pohl to come to Hawaii to start the school, where Pohl taught for 35 years. Pohl also taught art at theKamehameha Schoolsfor 15 years. In 1960, he wrote and illustrated the book,It's Really Nice!published by Little, Brown & Company.
Pohl died December 22, 1999, inHonolulu.His widow has continued to operate the Louis Pohl Gallery, also in Honolulu. TheFine Arts Museums of San Francisco,theHawaii State Art Museum,theHonolulu Museum of Art,and theIsaacs Art Center(Waimea, Hawaii), are among the public collections holding works by Pohl.
Selected works
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'Kids', oil painting by Louis Pohl -
'Kalapana, Day Seven', oil on canvas painting by Louis Pohl -
Pikai,lithograph byLouis Pohl,1951
References
edit- Haar, Francis and Neogy, Prithwish,Artists of Hawaii: Nineteen Painters and Sculptors,University of Hawaii Press, 1974, 96–103.
- Hartwell, Patricia L. (editor),Retrospective 1967-1987,Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts,Honolulu, Hawaii, 1987, p. 54
- Morse, Morse (ed.),Honolulu Printmakers,Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2003, pp. 32 & 45,ISBN0-937426-58-X
- Pohl, Louis,It's really nice!,Boston, Little, Brown, 1960.
- Yoshihara, Lisa A.,Collective Visions, 1967-1997,[Hawaii] State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1997, 64.