Louis Bosa Biography
Louis Bosa was born in Codroipo in 1905, the son of a stonemason. Bosa emigrated to the United States at the age of 18 after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and became an American citizen. He then studied with John Sloan, of the Ashcan School, at the Art Students League in New York. A distinguished painter, Louis Bosa's work has been compared to that of artists ranging from Pieter Breughel the Elder to John Sloan and the Ashcan School. As a keen observer of the human condition, Bosa's paintings, which are primarily oil on canvas, often focus on people and street scenes from his native Italy. Bosa was known for following his subjects around, making many mental sketches and notes, and combined his observations in the final work to create visionary and fantastical images. The subjects of his paintings are highly stylized and expressionistic and border on caricature. “People are so funny sometimes they are sad,” he said: the people in his paintings are accessible and seem to portray human emotions and everyday life, capturing concepts such as mortality, humility and sometimes futility . His work often reveals the comedy in the midst of tragedy. Many of his paintings include whimsical images of nuns riding bicycles and similar authority figures engaged in worldly activities. He traveled extensively throughout Europe and often returned to his native Italy. Bosa painted for the Works Progress Administration and the Whitney Museum. He has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the New York Art Students League, Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University, and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. His paintings and watercolors are exhibited in many well-known art studios and museums throughout the United States
