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Louis Freund Painter American (Clinton, Missouri, 1905 - 1999, Little Rock) View objects by this artist.

Louis Freund was born in 1905 in Clinton, Missouri.  by the 1930s, he was in Arkansas traveling through the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains working in the government-assisted art program called the WPA (Works Progress Administration) project.  Among his commissions was a painted mural for the post office in Pocahontas.  Later, he received commissions for murals in Heber Springs, Fort Chaffee, Rogers and Eureka Springs.  Louis received part of his education and training at the Colarossi Academy, Paris; La Grande Chaumiere, Paris; and Princeton Univ., New Jersey.
Louis met Elsie Bates in 1936 while she was living in Branson, Missouri and working at the Bates Gift Shop.   When Louis was given an artist-in-residence post at Hendrix College in Conway, he and Elsie married and took up residence in Eureka Springs.  Their home was to serve as a summer art school for the next decade.
In the early 1940s the couple traveled east.  Louis studied art history at Princeton for a year before being drafted into the army.  After the war, Louis was able to continue his studies under the GI bill.  During this period he used his painting to convey the horrors of war.  Madonna of the Blitzkrieg and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, both from 1946, reflect Louis' strong pacifism.  
In the early 1950s the Freunds became artists in residence at Stetson College in Deland, Florida and were to remain there for eighteen years.
After Louis worked through his anti-war pictures,  he returned to landscape as a theme and religion would also become more prominent in his work.  His versions of the Descent from the Cross and Study for Nativity reflect his interest in time-honored themes prominent during the 15th century European Renaissance.
Both Louis and Elsie were interested in the landscapes of ancient cultures.  Their interest paralleled that of archaeologists who began serious study in the area.
Louis and Elsie championed each other's work and were thrilled whenever their work was in a new show.  For their long and distinguished careers in Arkansas, Elsie and Louis can rightly be called the founders of the visual arts in this state as well as pioneers in American art.
Source:  exhibition catalogue Louis and Elsie Freund: A Lifetime Creating


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