Louis (Luigi) Bosa | Italian, 1905-1981

Luigi Bosa grew up in a small town near Venice and would become a painter best known for his genre depictions, often incorporating figures within cityscapes of scenes familiar to his early upbringing.

The influence of his instructor, the social-realist artist John Sloan is certainly recognizable in this work.

1920 - at 15 years of age he enrolls in the Academia delle Beau Arti, Venice.

1923 - 24 - emigrates to Canada to join his brother, then to Buffalo, New York, and finally to New York City where he takes classes at the Arts Student League whose director / instructor was the famous American painter, John Sloan.

1926 - marries Theresa Krakowska, they struggle financially through the 1930s and 1940s

1938 - wins his first award, John Wanamaker Prize in Washington Park, New York.

1944 - wins $ 1,500. prize for painting, The Balcony from Pepsi-Cola giving him his first big break accompanied with much acclaim.

1943 - 46 - Instructor at both The Arts Student League, New York and the Cape Ann School at Rockport, Massachusetts

1951 - accepts assignment form Life Magazine to visit his Italian hometown to paint the people and landscapes of his earlier years.

1959 - instructor at Cleveland Institute of Art

1950s - 70s - represented by a number of galleries including Kleeman Galleries, Milch Galleries, Frank Oehlschaeger and Foster Harmon.

1981 -  Dies in Doyleston, Pennsylvania, the Bosas had owned an 18th century cabin, Casa Bosa, in Bucks County for many decades, at first a summer place and then a permanent residence

Dimensions: 12 inches x 15.75 inches, oil on wood panel, now framed in a contemporary black frame, overall 13 x 17 inches.

Bears two gallery labels (verso): Cart. A. Testolini, Venezia #170 and Frank J. Oehlschlaeger, 107 East Oak Street, Chicago 11, / 285- (price?)

Provenance: through descent, prominent Saint Louis Collecting Family.

Price on Request.