Louis Delsarte

b. 1944 - 2020

The late Louis Delsarte was a noted painter, muralist, and poet whose work celebrated African American history and culture. Delsarte’s dreamlike paintings examine how we document our experiences, life, death, tragedy, happiness, sorrow, and birth. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Delsarte became known for creating monumental murals throughout New York City. He was deeply influenced by listening to his father’s jazz records, making it fitting that his art would embrace improvisation. His murals were grounded in a juxtaposition of this exploration of life, spirituality, and other abstract ideas with vibrant, complementary colors. His explorations pulled images of African American life from the margins and depicted them as uplifting scenes of Black life. 

Delsarte was in residence at Raven in the summer of 2018. During this residency, Delsarte and Master Printmaker Curlee Holton collaborated to create this richly colored print in Delsarte’s style. 

“This was the second time I had worked with him, the first at the Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College. Louis was a consummate artist whose creativity and superior painterly skills distinguished him and his work. I am honored to have had the opportunity to have worked with him.” - Curlee Holton, Founder of Raven Editions. 

Delsarte received a  Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, in 1967 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, in 1977. Delsarte’s work can be found in the public collections of the Harvard University Museum of Art, Cambridge, MA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, and the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA.