Dorothea Lau

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BORN: 1916  in Star Prairie, Wisconsin

DIED:​

Dorothea was active in the 1930s and early 1940s as a painter and printmaker.  The 1930 federal census records her living with her mother on Fremont Avenue South in Minneapolis.  She is listed as a stenographer in the 1938 census; this job might have been the way that she earned money for tuition at the Minneapolis College of Art, which she attended from 1936 to 1938.

She exhibited paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1937, 1938 and 1939 while still a student.  By 1939 the Minneapolis City Directory lists her occupation as “artist.”  Lau entered the exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for three years and in 1940 she was selected to participate in the WPA (Works Progress Project) Federal Art Project in Minnesota, where she produced a serious of multicolor lithographs and oil paintings of Minneapolis scenes.  

Her work is in collections at the Minnesota Historical Society and the Central Lakes College WPA Federal Art Project collection.

Wisconsin born artist Dorothea Lau was active in the 1930s and early 1940s as a painter and printmaker. She studied at the Minneapolis School of Art from 1936 to 1938 and exhibited paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on a number of occasions in these years. She was selected to participate in the WPA [Works Progress Project] / Federal Art Project, Minnesota. The artists were charged with capturing a portrait of life in America, and thousands of paintings, watercolors, and prints were produced. While Lau often brought to light the difficult plight of rural America and the urban poor—joblessness, hard labor, flooding—Vegetable Market is uncharacteristically cheerful. The brightly colored print represents a bountiful fruit and vegetable market, with customers carefully selecting their purchases.

Dorothea E. Lau (1916 - ?)

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Dorothea Lau was born in 1916 in Star Prairie, Wisconsin and she was active in the 1930s and early 1940s as a painter and printmaker.  

The 1930 federal census records her living with her mother on Fremont Avenue South in Minneapolis.  She is listed as a stenographer in the 1938 census; this job might have been the way that she earned money for tuition at the Minneapolis College of Art, which she attended from 1936 to 1938.  

She exhibited paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1937, 1938 and 1939 while still a student.  By 1939 the Minneapolis City Directory lists her occupation as “artist.”  Lau entered the exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for three years and in 1940 she was selected to participate in the WPA (Works Progress Project) Federal Art Project in Minnesota, where she produced a serious of multicolor lithographs and oil paintings of Minneapolis scenes.  

Her work is in collections at the Minnesota Historical Society and the Central Lakes College WPA Federal Art Project collection.