Louis Delsarte
Encyclopedia
Louis J. Delsarte is an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 artist known for what has sometimes been called his "illusionistic" style. He is a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

ist, printmaker, and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

. When Delsarte was growing up, he was surrounded by music including jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

, and the blues. From this experience, as well as from his knowledge of African history and culture, he has drawn much of the inspiration for his art. Delsarte is now a professor of Fine Arts at Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....

 in Atlanta, Georgia where he resides. For the past 13 years his work has been exhibited around the United States.

Education, exhibitions, and critical recognition

Delsarte went to high school in Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....

, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, NY., received a Certificate in Fine Arts Education from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

, earned his Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

, and obtained a Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

.

Delsarte’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at museums, galleries, and other venues throughout the United States, including the Studio Museum in Harlem
Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American contemporary art museum in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, New York. It was founded in 1968 as the first such museum in the U.S. devoted to the art of African-Americans, specializing in 19th and 20th century work as well work of artists of...

, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, the Schomburg Center in New York, the Bodley Gallery
Bodley Gallery
The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art gallery in New York City, USA, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in contemporary and modern art. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art...

 (also in New York), the California Afro-American Museum, the Camille Hanks Cosby Museum at Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...

 in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

 fine arts gallery. In 2001, Delsarte's work was included as part of a national traveling exhibition entitled “When the Spirit Moves: African-American Dance in History and Art”. The traveling exhibition was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, having originated as a 1999-2000 exhibition at Spelman College (entitled "When the Spirit Moves: African American Art Inspired by Dance" http://www.spelman.edu/museum/pastarchive.shtml).

In 2001, Delsarte completed a large public mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

 commissioned by the city of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. The monumental work, entitled "Transitions", is located at the Church Avenue
Church Avenue (IRT Nostrand Avenue Line)
Church Avenue is a station on the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Church and Nostrand Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, it is served by the 2 train at all times, and the 5 train on weekdays.This station has two tracks and two side...

 station, on the Brooklyn IRT line. http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork_show?83

Delsarte received further national recognition in August 2005 when the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 issued a stamp featuring a Delsarte painting. The stamp depicts the march from Selma to Montgomery
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...

, Alabama, taken from a Delsarte painting created in 2000.

Also in 2005, Delsarte completed another monumental public mural, this one entitled "Spirit of Harlem". The 30 ft X 11 ft glass mosaic was assembled in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany, and is located at North Fork Bank on 125th Street in New York City.http://louisdelsarte.com/ld_mural/muralmain.html http://louisdelsarte.com/ld_artist/info/info_html/info_press_subway.htm http://www.flickr.com/photos/97402095@N00/409458341 http://mosaik.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/spirit-of-harlem-by-louis-delsarte/

In January 2010, Delsarte's 125-foot-long Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Mural was dedicated at Peace Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/atlanta/mlk-memorial-tribute-mural/1.whtml.

Significant critical recognition of Delsarte's contribution to American art has included discussion of his work in Samella Lewis
Samella Lewis
Samella Sanders Lewis is an African American artist , author, and former educator. Widely exhibited and collected as an artist herself, she is nevertheless perhaps even better known as a historian, critic, and collector of art, especially African-American art...

's African American Art & Artists: a history of African American art from the seventeenth-century to the 1990s (University of California, Berkley, 1990, 302 pp.).

Style and technique: a synthesis of chaotic abstraction and disciplined figuration

Delsarte's paintings are generally figurative and notable for their complex, layered look, enlivened with rapidly executed strokes in strong colors, as Adrienne Klein notes in an interview with the artist available online at the Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...

 website http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/ECODEPT/kleind/artists/louis_delsarte.htm. Delsarte describes how he often creates a painting "over 10 to 12 sessions", sometimes laying the canvas on the floor and applying colors from every direction, "without even looking at the drawn image." Next, he allows the paint to dry and then works on the canvas vertically again for another phase of "disciplined drawing" — often going back to the floor for yet more work "when they [the images] have become too literal". Thus, Delsarte's technique reflects a concern for synthesizing the chaotic, unpredictable, irrational aspects of art-making with the tradition of making disciplined, representational images.

Klein draws a connection between these stylistic and technical features, taken together, and the influence of music on the artist's work: "In his paintings, the relationship between the figure and ground – the painted space outside of the figure – shifts and alters. The patterned liveliness of this space draws our eye and suggests the enveloping sound of music. The figures are woven into this vibrant atmosphere." http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/ECODEPT/kleind/artists/figure_in_its_diversity.htm

Monographs and solo shows

[Main sources for this list: (1) Worldcat; and (2) African American Visual Artists Database (AAVAD.com; Director: Susan Denker, Faculty, Visual and Critical Studies Dept., School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

 / Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

); see 'External links']

Atlanta (GA). Modern Primitive Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE.
2001.
Solo exhibition.

Brooklyn (NY). Dorsey Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE: Recent Works.
1993.
Solo exhibition.

Harris, Michael D..
The Spiritual and Mystical World of LOUIS DELSARTE, 1998.

Los Angeles (CA). California Afro-American Museum.
LOUIS DELSARTE: Gallery of Greats.
1991.
Solo exhibition.

Miami (FL). Frances Wolfson Art Center, Miami-Dade Community College.
The Art of LOUIS DELSARTE.
February 12 - March 13, 1987.
Solo exhibition. [Smithsonian Archives of American Art].

New Orleans (LA). Amistad Research Center.
LOUIS DELSARTE.
1999.
Solo exhibition.

New Orleans (LA). Stella Jones Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE: Reflections.
1998.
Solo exhibition.

New York (NY). Bodley Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE. 1980.

New York (NY). Gallery 62, National Urban League.
LOUIS DELSARTE: New Visions.
February 7-March 11, 1982.
Solo exhibition.

New York (NY). Gallery 62, National Urban League.
LOUIS DELSARTE: No Place Like Home.
1991.
Solo exhibition.

New York (NY). NoHo Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE: Between Heaven and Earth.
1990.
Solo exhibition.

Washington (DC). Curtis Lewis Gallery.
LOUIS DELSARTE: Recent Works.
1998.
Solo exhibition.

Wichita (KS). African American Museum.
LOUIS DELSARTE.
2005.
Solo exhibition.

Overview

• Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute

• Master of Fine Arts, University of Arizona

• Professional artist for 25 years

• Delsarte has taught for over 23 years in university settings

• Past 13 years Delsarte work has been exhibited throughout the U.S.

Books

  • Alkalimat, Abdul; Elaine Westbrooks. African American history and culture on the Web : a guide to the very best sites (Wilmington, Del. : Scholarly Resources ; London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

     : Eurospan, 2003) ISBN 0842051015; ISBN 9780842051019; ISBN 0842051023; ISBN 9780842051026 [Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/51737930&referer=brief_results)

  • Childs, Adrienne L.; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.). Art Gallery. Successions : prints by African American artists from the Jean and Robert Steele collection (College Park, MD : Art Gallery, University of Maryland, 2002) ISBN 0937123420; ISBN 9780937123423 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/49547823?tab=subjects)

  • Delsarte, Louis; Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.) Louis Delsarte [solo exhibition catalogue] (New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

     : Bodley Gallery
    Bodley Gallery
    The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art gallery in New York City, USA, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in contemporary and modern art. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art...

    , 1980) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     55522158 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/55522158&referer=brief_results)

  • Delsarte, Louis; Gallery 62. New visions : paintings and drawings by Louis Delsarte, February 7 - March 11, 1983, Gallery 62 (New York, NY : National Urban League
    National Urban League
    The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...

    , 1983) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     38160393 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/38160393&referer=brief_results)

  • Delsarte, Louis; John Riddle; Eloise E Johnson; Stella Jones Gallery. Dream variations (New Orleans, La. : Stella Jones Gallery, 2001) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     55673120 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/55673120&referer=brief_results)

  • Frances Wolfson Art Gallery. "Louis Delsarte : paintings and drawings : February 12, 1987-March 13, 1987 : Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, Mitchell Wolfson New World Center Campus, Miami-Dade Community College" ( Miami : Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, 1987) ISBN 0916203239; ISBN 9780916203238 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/55648908&referer=brief_results)

  • Glazer, Fred; illustrated
    Illustration
    An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

     by Louis Delsarte. A dream of music (Mad River Press, 1971) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     3499658 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/3499658&referer=brief_results)


  • Jackson, Donna; Parish Gallery.Fifteen years : Parish Gallery 1991 to 2006 ([Washington, D.C.] : Parish Gallery, 2006) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     81148594 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/81148594&referer=brief_results)

  • Lewis, Samella S
    Samella Lewis
    Samella Sanders Lewis is an African American artist , author, and former educator. Widely exhibited and collected as an artist herself, she is nevertheless perhaps even better known as a historian, critic, and collector of art, especially African-American art...

    . African American art and artists (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1990) ISBN 0520087887 ISBN 9780520087880 ISBN 0520085329 ISBN 9780520085329 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/29255724&referer=brief_results)

  • Lewis, Samella ; Stella Jones Gallery (New Orleans, La.). Ebony soliloquy : a five year retrospective (1996–2001) (New Orleans : Stella Jones Gallery, 2001) OCLC
    OCLC
    OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

     52642493 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/52642493?tab=details)

  • McWorter, Gerald A. The African American Experience in Cyberspace (London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

     ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2004) (orig. Pluto Press, 1994) ISBN 0745322239; ISBN 9780745322230; ISBN 0745322220; ISBN 9780745322223 (Worldcat link: http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/53192313&referer=brief_results)

External links

  • Askart.com pages on Louis Delsarte, including an image, museum listings, etc.
  • AAVAD.com: African American Visual Artists Database (Director: Susan Denker, Faculty, Visual and Critical Studies Dept., School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

     / Tufts University
    Tufts University
    Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

    ): bibliography page on Louis Delsarte
  • Louis Delsarte website
  • http://ephraimturner.com/bios.html#delsarte
  • NY City Subway, record of 2001 Delsarte mural, "Transitions", with many color images
  • http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1546/is_n1_v8/ai_13563246: Article from American Visions magazine, Feb-March, 1993 by Anthony C. Murphy, about a mural
    Mural
    A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

     by Delsarte employing his "illusionistic" technique. The project also shows Delsarte's interest in making art that enhances the experience of daily living:

"Painter Louis Delsarte, known for his illusionistic paintings of African Americans on the home, church and music scenes, has taken his impressions into the home with his latest project.

"Assisted by Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College is a private, coed, liberal arts college located in the Vine City community of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is a historically black college affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church...

students Ricky Jackson and Donetha and Gerald Ball, Delsarte recently completed a mural for Morrison Homes' model home in Atlanta's Yorkshire community. Located in the nursery, the painting depicts the final scene of an African folktale, "The Child in the Silk-cotton Tree," and expresses the tale's moral, that neither time nor distance can break the bond of love between mother and child...."
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