Artist : louis james
 

Louis James was an accomplished Australian artist who was most notably influenced by his great friend Alan Reynolds , with whom he painted during the 1950's when he resided in Hampstead, London , England.

Louis James was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1920 and first worked as a draughtsman in the Lands and Survey Department in Adelaide. He was called up at the outbreak of the Second World War and served for the duration in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force. He served in England, the Middle East, the Siege of Tobruk, Palestine and Syria. He then returned to Australia and New Guinea, where he suffered severe malaria, causing him to spend time in various hospitals. 

After the war James married and returned to the Department of Lands and Survey. He  joined the Royal South Australia Society of Artists and enjoyed considerable success and held his first solo exhibition three years later at the John Martin’s Gallery, Adelaide. He then moved to London during this time he joined Artist International Association with whom he exhibited along with London Group while also worked as a draftsman at the Geological Museum, South Kensington. He travelled to the Dordogne region of France, and worked with other painters, including Alan Reynolds. In 1960 he established a business restoring antique furniture, gilding and framing and from 1963 he taught part time at the Shoreditch Technical College, drawing and the history of furniture and textiles. Please visit our blog here at Blondes Fine Art for more details about this wonderful artist.

Louis James returned to Australia in 1965 and was employed as a tutor at the University of New South Wales in drawing in the Architecture faculty.

In England he showed in the 1950s and 1960s in the Redfern Gallery, also at Stone Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne. He had a retrospective show at Bonythou-Meadmore Gallery, Adelaide in 1986.During his career he held no less that forty- eight solo exhibitions, and took part in almost forty group exhibitions. He was awarded many prizes, including the Life Prize of the Royal South Australian Society of Artists, the Sulman Prize twice and the Newcastle Gallery Prize. 

Today Louis James work are held by many galleries in the UK, including the Tate, which has a self-portrait, and two Oxford Colleges, and practically all of the major art galleries and educational establishments of Australia.

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