Louis Mayer

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BORN: Nov. 26, 1869 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

DIED: Jan. 21, 1969 in Carmel, California

Louis Mayer was a Wisconsin-born artist, the youngest of seven children from German immigrant parents. His father was a shoemaker, and in Louis's early life, he worked as a photographer and woodcarver - later deciding to become an artist.

He got his first training at the Wisconsin Art Institute studying with Wisconsin immigrant artists, Richard Lorenz and Otto von Ernst. When the scholl closed in 1892, Mayer worked briefly as von Ernst's assistant decorating the mansion of Captain Frederick Pabst.

Later, he continued his studies in Germany at the Weimar Art School and then went on to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts 1894-1896 where he encountered fellow Milwaukeean Carl von Marr.  In 1897, he became a student at the Academie Julien in Paris and returned to Milwaukee at the turn of the century.

When he returned to Milwaukee, he began teaching at the Wisconsin School of Art and opened his studio. Director of the school was Alexander Mueller. Also teaching at the school was George Raab who was also a student of George Raab.

In 1900 he was instrumental in the formation and the first president of the Society of Milwaukee Artists, exhibiting with them frequently. In 1913 the Society of Milwaukee Artists became the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors. At the same time, he wrote art reviews in English and German for local newspapers in the city. 

In 1913, he left Milwaukee, and settled in New York. and opened a studio on West 42nd Street. Although he was an accomplished painter, he began sculpting when he moved from Milwaukee - partially because the light was so poor in this studio. In 1915 he purchased a very large property near  Fishkill, New York (45 miles north of NYC). 

Later, he lived more frequently in Carmel, California while still maintaining a home and studio in Fishkill. Mayer's first wife passed, and in 1957 he remarried - at the age of 87!

Mayer was an exceptional portrait artist and notable landscape painter. Throughout most of his career however, Mayer's chief ativity was sculpture - creating both small and monumental bronzes and portrait busts.

Photo Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 12, 1954 via Wisconsin Historical Society 

Biographical reference: German-American Artists in Early Milwaukee by Peter C. Merrill