Louis Delsarte (American, 1944-2020)
The Letter, 2003
Serigraph, ed. of 100, PP 11/15
24 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, St. Petersburg College, gift of James G. Sweeny in memory of Martha M. Sweeny, 2020.4.7
Born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, Louis Delsarte was a muralist, printmaker, painter, illustrator and educator. He was a figurative expressionist known for his “illusionistic” style. Growing up in the post Harlem Renaissance, Delsarte was influenced by African history and opera and jazz music, including family friends Cab Calloway and Count Basie. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Institute and was a fixture in the 1960s New York art scene. Among his circle of friends were artist Robert Mapplethorpe and musician Patti Smith. Delsarte earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona, Tuscon, in 1977. He was a professor of art at Morehouse College and Morris Brown College, both in Atlanta, Georgia. His public projects in New York and Atlanta include vibrant large-scale mosaic murals that depict Civil Rights leaders and events. The United States Postal Service featured his painting of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on a postage stamp in 2005. His work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Harvard University Art Museum; and many other institutions.
The Letter was painted during the 1991 Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn and pays homage to Delsarte’s mother, Llewellyn. Published as a silkscreen print, it was featured on the cover of American Psychologist magazine in 2004.
Louis Delsarte Website: