Louis Bosa

Painter Louis Bosa's work has been compared with artists ranging from Pieter Breughel the Elder to John Sloan and the Ashcan School. Bosa's paintings, which are primarily oil on canvas, often focus on people and street scenes from his native Italy. Bosa would follow his subjects around, making sketches and mental notes, but the way he combined his observations in the final work often resulted in more fantastical images that conflated several separate scenes. His figures are highly stylized and expressionistic, bordering on caricature. They reveal comedy in the midst of tragedy. He explained, "People are so funny at times they are sad." His work includes whimsical paintings of nuns riding bicycles and similar authority figures engaged in mundane activities. After studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, Bosa emigrated to the U.S. and studied under John Sloan, a member of the Ashcan School, at the Art Students League in New York. He often returned to his native Italy and traveled extensively throughout Europe. Bosa painted for the Works Progress Administration and the Whitney Museum. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the New York Art Students League, the Parsons School of Design, and Syracuse University.

Education and Training
Accademia di Belle Arti, Venice, Italy
Art Students League, New York, New York, graduated during the Great Depression

Teachers and Influences
Bosa studied under John Sloan at the Art Students League in New York. Sloan belonged to an informal association of partners called "the Eight" (later known as the "Ashcan School"), which aimed to portray scenes from everyday life honestly and sympathetically. Additionally, he was a friend of painter Jackson Pollock.

Connection to Bucks County
Bosa was a summer resident of Bucks County beginning in the 1930s. He resided full-time in Upper Black Eddy, at his house "Casa Bosa," from 1970 until his death in 1981. The center core of the house was a 1720 log cabin that Bosa and his wife, Teresa Krakowska Bosa, discovered on a Sunday drive to Philadelphia. They acquired the cabin and a small acreage from a farmer for a $150 down-payment. Over the years, the Bosas kept enlarging the house to include a studio and a sculpture garden. An accomplished carpenter, stone mason, and architect, Bosa built everything himself. It is said that a plaque on the back door read: "George Washington did not sleep here. Bosa did."

Colleagues and Affiliations
Sculptor Charles Rudy and his wife, Lorraine, were among Bosa's friends. He was a member of the Delaware Valley Art Association and the Milford Art Association. Bosa exhibited locally at Stover Mill in Erwinna, Pennsylvania, and at the Coryell Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersey. He won First Prize at the Phillips' Mill Annual Exhibition in New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1959-1961, and Second Prize in 1962.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Oehlschaeger Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, and Sarasota, Florida, 1954, 1959, 1965, 1973, total of eight one-man shows
Milch Gallery, New York, New York, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1965
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, 1968
Kleeman Gallery, New York, New York, 12 one-man shows
Coryell Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, 1982, 1989
The Visual Heritage of Bucks County, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Major Group Exhibitions
Wanamaker, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1938
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1937-1946
National Academy of Design, New York, New York, 1937-1946
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1937-1946
Schneider-Gabriel Gallery, 1941
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1938-1946
Pepsi-Cola, 1942-1946
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1946-1948
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rockport Art Association, Rockport, Massachusetts
Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Springfield, Massachusetts
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Objects of Desire: Treasures from Private Collections, Michener Art Museum, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 2005-2006
An Evolving Legacy: Twenty Years of Collecting at the James A. Michener Art Museum, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2009-2010

Major Collections
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Ohio
Encyclopedia Britannica Collection
Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pepsi-Cola Collection
Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Springfield, Massachusetts
Toronto Art Museum, Toronto, Canada
University of Illinois, Bloomington, Illinois
U.S. State Department
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Art Students League, New York, New York, 1930s
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, 1949-1970 (Head of Advanced Painting, 1953-1970)
Parsons School of Design, New York, New York
University of Notre Dame, Summer 1960
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Major Awards
Prize, Wanamaker, 1938
$1500 Prize, Portraits of America, 1944
Honorable Mention, National Academy of Design, 1944
Prize, Rockport Art Association, 1945
Prize, Pepsi-Cola, 1944, 1946, 1948
$1000 Award, Academy of Arts and Letters, 1948
Purchase Prize, University of Illinois, 1949
Gold Medal, Audubon Artists, 1949
$500 Carnegie Prize, National Academy of Design, 1954
Gold Medal, National Academy of Design, 1957
$900 Award, Hallmark International Competition, 1958
$400 Award, National Academy of Design, 1960, 1961
First Prize, Butler Art Institute, 1960
$750 Purchase Award, State of New Jersey, 1963