Louis Kronberg

Louis Kronberg (1872–1965) was an American figure painter, art dealer, advisor, and teacher. Among his best-known works are Behind the Footlights (Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia) and The Pink Sash (Metropolitan Museum, New York).

Biography

Kronberg was born in Boston, and studied at the Boston Museum School, under Edmund C. Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson, where he earned a Longfellow Traveling Scholarship. Kronberg also studied at the Art Students' League, New York, and at the Académie Julian (1894–1896) under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, and privately with Raphaël Collin. In Paris, Kronberg became enamored with the works of Edgar Degas and proficiently painted ballet and Spanish dancers within theatre settings.

Establishing himself in Boston, Kronberg was appointed instructor in the portrait class of Boston's Copley Society of Art. Kronberg was vastly supported by Boston's great art matron Isabella Stewart Gardner, and hence his work is represented in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as in the museums of Boston and Indianapolis. After Bernard Berenson, Kronberg frequently went to Paris to buy art for the Gardner Museum. He lived in Boston until 1919, when he moved to New York. From 1921-1922 he painted in Algiers and Spain. Later, he lived in Palm Beach, and throughout his career he traveled back and forth to Paris.

Kronberg was an Associate of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1935). He was known for his philanthropic efforts and financed painter Arthur Clifton Goodwin's career for over fifteen years.

Art style

Although Kronberg is considered a "Tarbellite" because he trained with Tarbell and Benson, he was highly influenced by the French Impressionists and especially the pastels and oils of ballerinas painted by Degas. His work shows the influence of his French training — his compositions are good and his colors soft and harmonious, yet with decided contrasts. His best work was executed prior to 1915 before he became nearsighted.

Memberships

Boston Art Club
The Guild of Boston Artists
Salmagundi Club
Lotos Club
Salon des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Copley Society of Art
American Water Color Club
New York Water Color Club
Rockport Art Association

Awards

Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco (1915)
Salmagundi Club (1919)
International Exposition, Paris (1937)
Chevalier Legion of Honor, France (1951)

Represented in permanent collections

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Butler Art Institute
San Diego Museum of Art
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Joslyn Art Museum
New York Historical Society
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Art Institute of Chicago
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Luxembourg Museum (Paris, France)
Société Nationale (Paris, France)
Musee D'Orsay (Paris, France)
La Petite Danseuse at the Zuckerman Museum of Art located at KSU, Marietta Campus