American, 1867 - 1952
Brought to New York by his parents at age six, Louis Paul Dessar enrolled in the City College of New York in 1881. Two years later, he was able to convince his French father to allow him to leave school by successfully painting his portrait. Dessar then entered the Academy's antique and life classes in 1883. He remained until 1886, winning a Bronze or Silver medal in each of the two academic years he attended. While in the Academy school, he became friends with Eanger Irving Couse and Alfred Mayer and met his future wife, Elizabeth Coombe, a more advanced student. During the summers, Dessar sketched at his family home in Nyack, New York.
In the autumn of 1886, Dessar and Couse left for Paris, where they were later joined by Mayer. Dessar began study at the Académie Julian under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. Two years later, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. During the summer of 1887, he spent time in London, on the island of Jersey, and in Normandy. He subsequently visited Spain and Fontainebleau and Etaples in France. In 1891 Dessar made a brief trip to New York to execute portraits and marry Coombe. The couple returned to France, spending eight months at Giverny with Theodore Robinson. In 1892 they built a house in Etaples and began an eight-year cycle of spending summers in France and winters in New York.
Toward the end of the century, Dessar began receiving recognition in New York. He was elected to the Society of American Artists in 1898, and he received the Julius Hallgarten Prize in the Academy's annual exhibitions of 1899 and 1900. It was at about this time that he decided to concentrate primarily on landscape painting, a decision that perhaps reflected the influence of his friend Henry Ward Ranger. The house in Etaples was sold in 1901, and the Dessars moved to a six-hundred-acre farm near Old Lyme, Connecticut. The artist maintained a New York studio during the winter, but the subjects he painted-sheep, oxen, and agricultural workers in a broad manner and subdued light-usually came from his farm. Dessar continued to paint such scenes well into the twentieth century and to show them in Academy annual exhibitions through the mid-1930s.
In the autumn of 1886, Dessar and Couse left for Paris, where they were later joined by Mayer. Dessar began study at the Académie Julian under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. Two years later, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. During the summer of 1887, he spent time in London, on the island of Jersey, and in Normandy. He subsequently visited Spain and Fontainebleau and Etaples in France. In 1891 Dessar made a brief trip to New York to execute portraits and marry Coombe. The couple returned to France, spending eight months at Giverny with Theodore Robinson. In 1892 they built a house in Etaples and began an eight-year cycle of spending summers in France and winters in New York.
Toward the end of the century, Dessar began receiving recognition in New York. He was elected to the Society of American Artists in 1898, and he received the Julius Hallgarten Prize in the Academy's annual exhibitions of 1899 and 1900. It was at about this time that he decided to concentrate primarily on landscape painting, a decision that perhaps reflected the influence of his friend Henry Ward Ranger. The house in Etaples was sold in 1901, and the Dessars moved to a six-hundred-acre farm near Old Lyme, Connecticut. The artist maintained a New York studio during the winter, but the subjects he painted-sheep, oxen, and agricultural workers in a broad manner and subdued light-usually came from his farm. Dessar continued to paint such scenes well into the twentieth century and to show them in Academy annual exhibitions through the mid-1930s.
