Profile for Louise August

Louise August’s artistic talent was recognized early, and she was enrolled in the New York City’s Public Schools art program while still in grade school. Her paintings and handmade prints have gained a nationwide following since the 1960s. She has accomplished massive murals and other major architectural art commissioned for landmark locations in New York City (Grand Central Station, The Essex, Shraft’s, Harry’s Restaurant) and around the country.  She is a well-known illustrator, educator, and an active participant in the New York City arts community.

Louise August finds inspiration in the everyday world. Many of her works present a story or playful moment.  Her style encompasses classical fine art figurative work through contemporary compositions with lavish color and texture. Repetitive patterns and simple forms reminiscent of folk art evoke a nostalgic, Old World presence in much of her work.  Although her work includes Judaic imagery, the body of her work encompasses far more than ethnic Jewish subject matter.

Louise August has refined the lino-block print, her favored medium.  She applies oil paint to her carved linoleum plate, varying the color placement with each print so that no two are ever the same.  Using a printing press, the color is transferred to a black ground, which results in a thin film of colored oil paint that seems to float with an iridescent shimmer, almost a three dimensional effect. She devotes great attention to the negative space in her compositions (the skies, the otherwise empty spaces) as well as to the expertly drawn, expressive faces and bodies of her figures.

Because much of her work is illustrative, i.e. depicts a story from folklore or mythology, or conveys a story or situation, her work has been widely published in book jackets, magazines and children’s book illustrations.

Her monoprints, each a unique composition, are generous fields of color and contrast, with delicate texture imparted from the rice paper ground. Very different from her block prints with their exact drawing and intricate patterns, monoprints by Louise August are free flowing, many-layered, often with softly suggested forms.

Works by Louise August are in numerous private and public collections throughout the United Stated and abroad.