Louis K. Harlow

Louis Kinney Harlow (1850-1913)

Born in Wareham, Massachusetts, Louis Kinney Harlow was familiar with Martha's Vineyard, which he painted in 1875. Although his later works are very different in style, coastal scenes were a favorite theme. Harlow is perhaps best known for his work as an illustrator and as an artist for the Prang Company, which produced a vast selection of chromolithographs that popularized the works of many late-nineteenth-century artists.

Harlow began his career as a professional artist in 1880 and exhibited with the Boston Art Club in 1883, 1885, 1887, and 1894. He traveled to England, Paris, and Holland to study the work of the masters. Harlow exhibited at the Boston Art Club, the Jordan Art Gallery (located in the Jordan Marsh Company), and at the Newton Club in Newtonville, Massachusetts where in 1895 and 1896 he helped put on three important art shows. Working with Newton Mayor Henry B. Cobb, who was said to be an art connoisseur, Harlow solicited works from a number of well known American artists and from expatriates such as Edwin Lord Weeks. The shows rivaled those of some of the best Boston art clubs and were serious efforts to offer the public a chance to enjoy art as well as to provide artists with an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work.

Louis K. Harlow's work is represented in the collections of the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta.